Replace reference in Reference editor and lost keyframes animation.

[artoboi]

Hi,

Here is my troubleshot. I was animating characters and others props in a file with multilply references. Those file were suffer modifications because we were testing differente kind of textures and renders. We didnt have any trouble until we used Arnold. 

I realized the reference editor change the path of the nurbs, so it didnt recognize my older animations of the object. When I modify the name of the nurb it doesnt recognize the path because the original had two points in the name, so when a I write it again, it only recognize the text after the two points. For example:

In the first reference (before I used arnold) I have this name>
techo_maquina_Peluche:Garra_Nurb_4

When I refresh the reference with the new texture, only takes this name and do not recognize the animation of the nurb:

Garra_Nurb_4

Well, I hope someone could help me. Thank you!

[jmreinhart]

If you change the name of an object in the file you are referencing from, then it will break any edits you made that object in the scene you referenced it into (this includes any animation). This happens because Maya stores any values you set on a referenced node or any connections you make to it, but it stores it using the name of the node. If you go into the reference editor, right click on the reference, and click file>list reference edits. You'll see a list of all those edits Maya saved. They will be split into setAttr, failed_setAttr, connectAttr, and failed_ConnectAttr, you need to look at the failed_connectAttr to find out which connections it couldn't make (because of the name change), and make them manually. You can use the filter search bar in the top right to help you with that.

Another way to find that lost animation is to use the node Editor, all the nodes that could not be connected by the reference node, get connected to the reference node so that they don't get deleted. You'll just need to reconnect them to your nurbs. Hope that helps.

[artoboi]

@jmreinhart Thanks a lot, I'll try your solution and let you know!

[artoboi]

I find the problem and the solution in Knowledge Autodesk topic:

Problem: (like you said) everytime I change names of the objects that will be referenced, Maya saves a root for each name. So when I replace an old reference for a new one Maya doesn't recognize the properties (textures, animation etx).

Solution: Delete namespace from old files. You have to go to Windows> General Editor> Namespace editor. Select old roots and press delete. When Maya asks how merge it, you have to choose Merge with root. You only have to preserv the names of the objects.

Thanks a lot @jmreinhart 

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/maya/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2016/ENU/Maya/fil...

[jaredwaynepotter]

You saved me more than you'll ever know!! Thank you so much for this explanation, it worked perfectly.