Blendshapes don't stay deformed when exporting FBX

[Anonymous]

I have blendshapes set up and working in Maya 2020. I duplicated the base mesh, edited the vertices to create the blendshapes, connected the blendshapes to a controller, and I can animate them in the channel box no problem in Maya.

The issue comes when I try to export the animation to an FBX. When I export, I select all the meshes, the full hierarchy of the skeleton, and my FBX export settings are:

Animation checked

Bake Animation checked with the proper range

Deformed Models section checked (i.e. Deformed Models, Skins, Blendshapes

Connections Section checked (i.e. Include Children and Input Connections)

Version = FBX 2014/2015

When I import the FBX into a fresh Maya scene, the animation of the blendshapes isn't working. When I unhide the blendshapes, I see they are the same, original shape as the base mesh, even though I translated/scaled/deformed the vertices of each blendshape and they work fine in Maya. 

I cannot figure out why they won't stay deformed at export. Any ideas??  

Thank you for any help!! 

Tagging @mspeer as you've been so helpful in the past with my own forum posts and the majority of other forums posts I find with my same issues. 🙂 Thank you!

[hamsterHamster]

What is your Maya version? Can you test the newer FBX version?

[mspeer]

Hi!

For fastest possible help, I highly recommend to provide a Maya file and an exported FBX file with enough content to check this.

I would guess that there are problems related to history and/or there are some nodes used that are not supported by FBX.

[Anonymous]

@hamsterHamster - Maya 2020. I had tried other FBX versions before without any luck, but I'll try again.

@mspeer please find a zipped file of the Maya file of the rig (no textures) and exported fbx file, with the settings I initially described. The selected controller in the attached image is how I'm animating the blendshapes.

Thank you!

[mspeer]

Hi!

Sorry for the late response, I hoped to have more time at the weekend to check this scene, but that wasn't the case.

After a quick check I doubt you can solve this with a few different settings for the export.

1. There are some Maya unique features used in the scene

2. I get errors when exporting the scene

3. I get errors when importing the FBX file.

The scene does not seem to be made for an export to an other application in mind. (I wonder if there was ever been done a test of FBX export during building this rig.)

The scene is very complex and it seems you have to do a lot of work, if you want to make this character compatible with FBX/Unreal.

[Anonymous]

Hi, thank you for the reply. I rigged the character with Advanced Skeleton 5, and even though it gives errors on export and import, it still functions fine in Unreal. The only thing I can't seem to understand is what causes their deformations to be ignored at export. I managed to get a different character's eye blendshapes working, and I created this character's blendshapes in the exact, identical way, but for whatever reason the blendshapes don't stay deformed at export. 

[hamsterHamster]

The reason could be simple: The FBX exporter doesn't maintain constraints. If you want to export the animation to the FBX, you should execute this script:

// WARNING: EXECUTING THIS SCRIPT WILL DEACTIVATE THE RIG
// THIS WILL BAKE THE ANIMATION RANGE 1 TO 200
// YOU CAN CHANGE THIS DEPENDING ON YOUR ANIMATION RANGE
bakeResults -simulation true -t "1:200" -sampleBy 1 -oversamplingRate 1 -disableImplicitControl true -preserveOutsideKeys true -sparseAnimCurveBake false -removeBakedAttributeFromLayer false -removeBakedAnimFromLayer false -bakeOnOverrideLayer false -minimizeRotation true -controlPoints false -shape true {"Root_M", "Hip_R", "HipPart1_R", "HipPart2_R", "Knee_R", "Ankle_R", "Toes_R", "RootPart1_M", "RootPart2_M", "Spine1_M", "Spine1Part1_M", "Spine1Part2_M", "Chest_M", "Neck_M", "NeckPart1_M", "NeckPart2_M", "Head_M", "FaceJoint_M", "EyeJoint_R", "EyeJoint_L", "upperLidMain0_R", "upperLidMain1_R", "upperLidMain2_R", "upperLidMain3_R", "upperLidMain4_R", "upperLidMain5_R", "upperLidMain6_R", "upperLidMain7_R", "upperLidMain8_R", "upperLidMain9_R", "upperLidMain10_R", "upperLidMain11_R", "upperLidMain12_R", "upperLidMain13_R", "upperLidMain14_R", "upperLidMain15_R", "upperLidMain16_R", "upperLidMain17_R", "upperLidBaseJoint_R", "lowerLidMain1_R", "lowerLidMain2_R", "lowerLidMain3_R", "lowerLidMain4_R", "lowerLidMain5_R", "lowerLidMain6_R", "lowerLidMain7_R", "lowerLidMain8_R", "lowerLidMain9_R", "lowerLidMain10_R", "lowerLidMain11_R", "lowerLidMain12_R", "lowerLidMain13_R", "lowerLidMain14_R", "lowerLidMain15_R", "lowerLidMain16_R", "lowerLidMain17_R", "lowerLidMain18_R", "lowerLidMain19_R", "lowerLidMain20_R", "lowerLidMain21_R", "lowerLidMain22_R", "upperLidMain0_L", "upperLidMain1_L", "upperLidMain2_L", "upperLidMain3_L", "upperLidMain4_L", "upperLidMain5_L", "upperLidMain6_L", "upperLidMain7_L", "upperLidMain8_L", "upperLidMain9_L", "upperLidMain10_L", "upperLidMain11_L", "upperLidMain12_L", "upperLidMain13_L", "upperLidMain14_L", "upperLidMain15_L", "upperLidMain16_L", "upperLidMain17_L", "upperLidBaseJoint_L", "lowerLidMain1_L", "lowerLidMain2_L", "lowerLidMain3_L", "lowerLidMain4_L", "lowerLidMain5_L", "lowerLidMain6_L", "lowerLidMain7_L", "lowerLidMain8_L", "lowerLidMain9_L", "lowerLidMain10_L", "lowerLidMain11_L", "lowerLidMain12_L", "lowerLidMain13_L", "lowerLidMain14_L", "lowerLidMain15_L", "lowerLidMain16_L", "lowerLidMain17_L", "lowerLidMain18_L", "lowerLidMain19_L", "lowerLidMain20_L", "lowerLidMain21_L", "lowerLidMain22_L", "EyeBrowInnerJoint_R", "EyeBrowOuterJoint_R", "EyeBrowCenterJoint_M", "EyeBrowInnerJoint_L", "EyeBrowOuterJoint_L", "LipJoints_M", "upperLipJoint0_M", "upperLipJoint1_R", "upperLipJoint1_L", "upperLipJoint2_R", "upperLipJoint2_L", "upperLipJoint3_R", "upperLipJoint3_L", "upperLipJoint4_R", "upperLipJoint4_L", "upperLipJoint5_R", "upperLipJoint5_L", "upperLipJoint6_R", "upperLipJoint6_L", "upperLipJoint7_R", "upperLipJoint7_L", "upperLipJoint8_R", "upperLipJoint8_L", "upperLipJoint9_R", "upperLipJoint9_L", "upperLipJoint10_R", "upperLipJoint10_L", "upperLipJoint11_R", "upperLipJoint11_L", "upperLipJoint12_R", "upperLipJoint12_L", "upperLipJoint13_R", "upperLipJoint13_L", "upperLipJoint14_R", "upperLipJoint14_L", "upperLipJoint15_R", "upperLipJoint15_L", "LipJoint_R", "LipJoint_L", "lowerLipJoint0_M", "lowerLipJoint1_R", "lowerLipJoint1_L", "lowerLipJoint2_R", "lowerLipJoint2_L", "lowerLipJoint3_R", "lowerLipJoint3_L", "lowerLipJoint4_R", "lowerLipJoint4_L", "lowerLipJoint5_R", "lowerLipJoint5_L", "lowerLipJoint6_R", "lowerLipJoint6_L", "lowerLipJoint7_R", "lowerLipJoint7_L", "lowerLipJoint8_R", "lowerLipJoint8_L", "lowerLipJoint9_R", "lowerLipJoint9_L", "lowerLipJoint10_R", "lowerLipJoint10_L", "lowerLipJoint11_R", "lowerLipJoint11_L", "lowerLipJoint12_R", "lowerLipJoint12_L", "lowerLipJoint13_R", "lowerLipJoint13_L", "lowerLipJoint14_R", "lowerLipJoint14_L", "lowerLipJoint15_R", "lowerLipJoint15_L", "lowerLipJoint16_R", "lowerLipJoint16_L", "lowerLipJoint17_R", "lowerLipJoint17_L", "SmileBulgeJoint_R", "FrownBulgeJoint_R", "SmileBulgeJoint_L", "FrownBulgeJoint_L", "CheekRaiserJoint_R", "CheekRaiserJoint_L", "CheekJoint_R", "CheekJoint_L", "JawJoint_M", "upperTeethJoint_M", "lowerTeethJoint_M", "NoseJoint_M", "NoseCornerJoint_R", "NoseCornerJoint_L", "Head_M_orientConstraint1", "Scapula_R", "Shoulder_R", "ShoulderPart1_R", "ShoulderPart2_R", "Elbow_R", "ElbowPart1_R", "ElbowPart2_R", "Wrist_R", "MiddleFinger1_R", "MiddleFinger2_R", "MiddleFinger3_R", "ThumbFinger1_R", "ThumbFinger2_R", "ThumbFinger3_R", "IndexFinger1_R", "IndexFinger2_R", "IndexFinger3_R", "Cup_R", "PinkyFinger1_R", "PinkyFinger2_R", "PinkyFinger3_R", "RingFinger1_R", "RingFinger2_R", "RingFinger3_R", "Scapula_L", "Shoulder_L", "ShoulderPart1_L", "ShoulderPart2_L", "Elbow_L", "ElbowPart1_L", "ElbowPart2_L", "Wrist_L", "MiddleFinger1_L", "MiddleFinger2_L", "MiddleFinger3_L", "ThumbFinger1_L", "ThumbFinger2_L", "ThumbFinger3_L", "IndexFinger1_L", "IndexFinger2_L", "IndexFinger3_L", "Cup_L", "PinkyFinger1_L", "PinkyFinger2_L", "PinkyFinger3_L", "RingFinger1_L", "RingFinger2_L", "RingFinger3_L", "Hip_L", "HipPart1_L", "HipPart2_L", "Knee_L", "Ankle_L", "Toes_L"};

On import you will get skin and joints deformations.

Basically you might wish to use the Game Exporter.

[Anonymous]

thank you, I will give that a try!

[hamsterHamster]

After editing my post, the links to youtube tuts have been removed.. https://youtu.be/jym60Jnet90