First time exporting rigged character for use in Unity. Export error

[Anonymous]

Hello, 

This is my first time rigging, skinning, animating a character in Maya for use in Unity. After I finished animating, I selected my mesh and all of the joints and controls in the hierarchy and exported but I got this error: 

Warning: skin definitions (4)

The plug-in has found the following skin definition problems :

Unable to find the bind pose for :  / FrogRig. Use the DAG node current transform.

Unable to find the bind pose for :  / FrogRig / Hip / Spine3 / Spine2 / Spine1 / L_ArmCollar. No bind poses in the hierarchy containing the object will be exported.

Unable to find the bind pose for :  / FrogRig / Hip / Spine3 / Spine2 / Spine1 / L_ArmCollar / L_ArmShoulder / L_ArmElbow / L_ArmWrist / L_Hand / L_Hand3Finger1 / L_Hand3Finger2. No bind poses in the hierarchy containing the object will be exported.

Unable to find the bind pose for :  / FrogRig / Hip / Spine3 / Spine2 / Spine1 / R_ArmCollar / R_ArmShoulder / R_ArmElbow / R_ArmWrist / R_Hand / R_Hand3Finger1 / R_Hand3Finger2 / R_Hand3Finger3. No bind poses in the hierarchy containing the object will be exported.

I opened a new scene and tried importing the fbx and got this error:

Warning:BindPose - Incomplete BindPose [nodes parents] (2)

The following parent and/or ancestor node(s) is/are not part of the BindPose definition.

R_EyeGroup

L_EyeGroup

And in that new scene sure enough none of my controls effect the model at all.

I also tried importing the mesh into Unity and it crashes the program as soon as I click the import button. Will I have to redo everything? It took me a long time to figure out the whole process, and I'm really happy with the animations. This is a project for my job so I can't spend tons of time redoing the whole process again.

Is there a simple fix that will keep my animations safe? I can send you the file for you to look at! Thank you!

[faline.custodio.da.silva]

@Anonymous 

Can you send the scene file? I'd be happy to test it for you. Did you follow a tutorial for this? Do you have steps to reproduce?

[Anonymous]

@faline.custodio.da.silva 

Thank you for your response!! Here is a link to the google drive file for you to download https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ROjeZDVjiBkdN-aqD1UXzRRsk5jwMKPN/view?usp=sharing

I followed a few different tutorial videos:
-This series for rigging and weightpainting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWrKiOKuK4o
-This video specifically for eyes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EUKYkZMlww
-This video for Animating: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XG7kErNNM-Q
-This video from 1:45 for exporting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8cmDK_O-1g

I stumbled over rigging a few times but eventually got it right and moved on and never had a problem until I exported.
The export video says to select everything in the hierarchy and export, but if I do that the error comes up and then when I import the fbx to a new scene none of the controls work anymore. 

I have researched the problem online and think I've found similar problems in other forums but I'm so novice at this aspect of maya that the solutions given are too difficult for me to understand on my own. I really would like to solve it without having to re-rig/re-animate if possible. Thank you so much for your help!!

-Spencer 

[Anonymous]

@faline.custodio.da.silva 
Hello,

Were you able to open my file to see what the issue(s) might be?

Is there anyway to make this thread a higher priority? I really need a solution soon.

Thank you for your hard work,
Spencer

[faline.custodio.da.silva]

@Anonymous 

Thanks for your patience! I wanted to let you know that me and my team are looking into this today. Thanks for providing those links and files. I'll update you asap!

[sean.heasley]

Hi @Anonymous 

Instead of selecting everything in the Outliner, can you try going to File->Export All and then open that in Unity?

I just tried that with your file into Unity 2017 and while I did get some of the error messages you are seeing the model opened fine in Unity with the animation.

[Anonymous]

@sean.heasley Hi, thanks for your reply!

When you export all, what checkboxes do you check in the export screen? I'm not getting a clean result as you described. Would you mind recording your screen from when you export until you put the model in the scene in unity and show the animation works? I'm working in Unity 2018, but I doubt that's why it's not working for me.

Thanks!
Spencer

[sean.heasley]

Hi @spencer.cLAB 

Here's my export settings.

[Anonymous]

@sean.heasley Sean,

Wow, thank you for the amazingly clear video! I followed it and got the exact same results as you! We are almost there I think! There's just one issue with the animation that I think might be related to the export skin definition errors we got in Maya. I'll attach a video to show the problem, but basically, it looks like the animation in unity is missing the part that controls the frogs whole body translations. For example, his breathing idle in unity he looks like he is hovering but his feet are supposed to be planted on the ground.

Thanks again for the help!

[sean.heasley]

Hi @Anonymous 

That's so minor I wouldn't really worry about it. You could just move him in game a tiny bit down so his feet are sitting properly on the ground. I don't believe it would really be worth the pain to change anything in Maya for such a minor detail that most people won't see.

[Anonymous]

@sean.heasley Thanks for your reply.

It isn't minor to me. The whole animation is jacked and not how it is intended to be. Is the fix for this really that time consuming? If it is, do you know the cause of it so I can at least avoid it happening in the future? Sorry, but I don't really want to accept "don't worry no one will notice" as an answer, haha. I'm trying to make a polished game and letting a broken animation slide through is against my way of doing things.

Thanks,
Spencer

[sean.heasley]

Hi @Anonymous 

Is the animation still broken though? From the last video you sent the animation looks fine and the only problem is that it slightly hovers over the ground?

Also, while it looks like he is floating a bit in Unitys preview window have you tried putting it on a platform in game yet? Because while the preview may show it that way the in game result may look how you want it to be.

[sean.heasley]

Hi @Anonymous 

Ah ok  I see the issue now with the hop not looking the same as it does in Maya that is indeed an issue.

I still recommend putting the frog into the level itself so you can see how it looks in game but I'm going to dig a little deeper and see if I can figure out whats causing this.

[sean.heasley · Accepted solution]

Hi @Anonymous 

Can you try baking the animation and then export again?

It seems to be that the IK connections aren't being properly imported because in Maya the centerpoint is the feet but in Unity its the torso which is why the animation isn't looking right.

[sean.heasley]

Hi @Anonymous 

I'm just checking in again to see if you need more help with this. Did the suggestion I provided yesterday work for you?

If so, please click Accept as Solution on the posts that helped you so others in the community can find them easily.