Exporting Rig problems

[Anonymous]

Hi, I've just rigged a character in Maya and I wanted to export it as Fbx, which I believe is the best option, however when I do and then import it back to the scene again, the controllers dont work! what do I do? I checked all the boxes in the option box including exporting constraints and all. please help!

[hamsterHamster]

Depends on the features you have used to rig, as FBX might not support them.

And, "controllers dont work" is not conclusive - find out what went missing by comparing to your rig before exporting.

[Anonymous]

So basically the constraints are missing, even thought I’ve had the export constrain box checked when exporting.. Isn’t it strange?!

[hamsterHamster]

Assuming you are doing it right and Maya's FBX exporter supports it, strange it is.

All I can suggest is to post (or make anyhow available) pre-export stage zipped MA file, so anyone here can test and comment on that.

[Anonymous]

Alright sounds good! Here's the scene;

[hamsterHamster]

Ok, doing little research I came up with conclusions that exported FBX constraints won't support input connections, e.g. you there have IK/FK switches, that feed weights of constraints.. upon export those either have baked keys or you lose them.

Also, upon importing, it could be important to specify FBX file type, not AllFiles - some people report it being a bug for some Maya versions.

The main question is, why do you need it if? If you plan to animate it elsewhere, then use the rigging tools of target package, otherwise bake all animation to bones and export without the rig.

[Anonymous]

Thanks that was actually really helpful. I tried to import with FBX specifically so now the controllers work except that they do this weird thing which is the problem with Ik and Fk constrains, just like you mentioned. As for why im doing this, I'm trying to help some friends out by rigging this character, but they don't have access to Maya and they want to animate in 3dmax, and needed their character to be rigged. Anyway thanks again!

[hamsterHamster · Accepted solution]

According to FBX docs, Maya constraints won't translate into Max. See for yourself the article, especially the Constraints section (you might wish to change 2019 in the address to your Maya version number).

As I see it, working in Maya all you can offer them is a skinned model with basic skeleton, no rigging. If you intend to animate it in the Maya, then you would bake rig-animation to joint keys and export with no rig. Otherwise, the animation rig should be done within Max, I believe, they have own humanoid primitive system, or, at least there should be some quick rig plugins.

[Anonymous]

Oh really?! Well I just talked to them and now I guess im doing animation for them too! So then I can bake the animation, and send the whole thing there. Anyway thanks again!