Problem with FBX imports 3DS Max 2019

[Anonymous]

OK, I think I may just be missing an option somewhere, but here is my problems (for today):

I am exporting FBX models from the WoW Model Viewer app (used to access model and animation data from World of Warcraft), then importing the model(s) into 3DS Max 2019. I have done this many times before, but I have always used the "Bone conversion: Convert as Dummy" option in the importer; however, I am experiencing a lot of weird problems with those files (as I try to animate them) that I believe are related to using "dummies" instead of actual bone objects in the rigging.

So I am starting over by re-importing models with the "Bone conversion: Leave as bones" option:

Here is the initial result of that:

OK, so the importer ignored my Width/Height/Taper settings; no big deal, I just open Bone Tools and reset them all to a uniform size:

...and UGH! The "spikey" bones are the ends of hierarchies (no children), while the stumpy bones are part of a chain (despite the pic above, these are the "useful" bones - most of the spikes above are remnants of "helper" bones from WoW's engine that do nothing for me here). 

Here is a closeup of the stump bones:

Notice how they are all concave? The X-axis has turned into itself; also, where a "normal" bone would point at and taper to the next bone in the chain, these do not - they are oriented to the world axis in every case.

Now, I could still use these weird-looking bones the same way i have used dummy objects in the past... the hierarchies are correct and I can access/animate the transformations, but this is not really what I want.

Is there a way to...

A) fix this during import, so this looks like a human bone system instead of a bunch of floating point?

B) fix this AFTER import, by manipulating the diamond bone proxy shapes thru some option(s)?

C) create NEW (Max) bones, and replace the cruddy imported ones WITHOUT losing the skinning/position/animation data? (I'm willing to put in the work to create a whole new skeleton, but I can't lose access to the mesh and the hundreds of animations already created)?

D) failing all of the above, is there a way to convert dummy objects or cruddy imported bones into "real" Max bones? Or CAT bones, even?

Thanks in advance for any light y'all could shed on this.

[david_lovecchio]

I have the same issue but good luck getting an answer on this. Autodesk's response time is among the worst I've ever encountered in any industry. I feel sorry for the people at Autodesk who are tasked with handling these questions but it's just not a good way to maintain customer relations. 🤢

[david_lovecchio]

Just came back to this post a little more than a year later to see that there's still been no response from Autodesk.