FBX 2012 : Blendshape Morph Target Naming Nightmare

MotionBuilder and FBX 2013 update:

Export from Maya to Motionbuilder with Blendshapes and back is now working correctly with out the renaming shape bug. (custom names for the blendshape node are exported and imported correctly in all 3 software Max, Maya, MotionBuilder)

Export from Max to FBX- This is working correctly except the Morpher Modifier name is still not stored with the file. This is minor as it doesn't cause problems for importing animation, but It is just frustrating if you are recreating a file from the FBX file in another software.

@Maya paint skin weights error after FBX import from MAX- Fixed, this was a giant pain in the 2012 version of FBX and I am super excited to report that it is fixed and working very well.


New FBX bug-Can't rename shapes after creation.
Currently if you create your blendshapes and then later want to rename them, something that is easy to do in both Max and Maya, it won't save to FBX,instead it will use the original name so when you open the FBX file again it will have reverted your naming.
So for now this will have to be fixed by script as a post process run in the software or you will have to rename the object /name it how you want before creating the targets and hope it doesn't have to change.

New Bug- Max export of custom attribute type STRINGS does not work
From Max- string attributes write out as empty, they don't store the string content.
Now- Export file from Max, Import in to Maya, add string data , export to FBX and Open in Max- the string data is there BUT if you then export that file to FBX again all the custom attributes are deleted.
  


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Brad here:  Crispin at Motus Digital, hit this bug today and I confirmed. He does some amazing rigging work there for face rigs in MotionBuilder and this sent him down a 5 hour bug hunt...full disclosure I am a consultant for Motus and help in situations like this. On with the show.
This is an FBX problem, not MotionBuilder that I can tell. The 2011 versions of the plugin seems to work but the 2012 versions don't when dealing with blendshapes from Maya.  There are some other problems with skinning in 2012 but lets talk blendshapes for now.  - We tested with a very basic 3 sphere test and default settings to make sure it wasn't us.

Bug- FBX export is not storing the name of the blendshape node correctly. In addition the actual shapes names (attributes) in the  blendshape node are being renamed: Example if the maya blendshape node name is pSphere3, after export and looking at it in MotionBuilder it is named pSphereShape3, where shape is being added to the middle of the name!

Result: Importing the animated MotionBuilder file in to Maya with (update animation selected) FBX creates a brand new blendShape node named something like FBXASC000_ncl1_1  with the renamed blendshape attributes.

3ds MAX:Even worse- opening the exported file in Max created a Morpher modifier with the default name and the renamed attributes, not even trying to use crazy FBXASC000_ncl1_1 name. Now Exporting from Max and trying to merge the animation in to Maya, FBX can't resolve the name for the Morpher and the Maya blendshape node. Regardless of the name of the morph modifier ( I renamed it to FBXASC000_ncl1_1 to match Maya) the FBX export from Max left it named Morpher. FBX from Max is ignoring the Morph modifier name completely.

Workaround at this time: The only way I could get the FBX to import with out a problem was to add the exported file to a clean Maya scene to get the name of the "new" blendshape node , FBXASC000_ncl1_1. I copied this, opened my source file  and then rename by original blendshape node in my source scene the new name. Only then would the FBX animation import work with out adding an extra blendshape node and the Animation worked, not caring what the blendshape shape attribute name was.

There was no workaround for Max that I could create where I could name it in Max and have it come over so in Maya, the blendshape node has to get named Morpher for it to load.  Depending on the flow of assets and what software the teams are using, this can be a big giant artist error prone mess.

Fix: FBX shouldn't be renaming/losing the blendshape node name and it shouldn't be renaming the blendshape attributes. They should export from Maya to MotionBuilder with the exact names so that Animation can load in and out of Maya with out having to rename anything or breaking anything if exporting from Max and MotionBuilder.

Thanks,
Brad

MotionBuilder 2009 announced

The new MotionBuilder looks great with built in rag doll and a real python script editor now. Also all those of you who have been wanting to use some nice fancy cgfx shaders in there for better preview of final assets should be happy.

MotionBuilder 2009 release notes

Also to follow up about FBX from my last post , they just made it even a better choice for a true 3d format by including "published source code for the reader/writer that enables users to extend and adapt it for use in custom pipelines. "

Sweet!, as always, check the main fbx site often for updates, they do it often and make working between , Maya, Max and MotionBuilder so much better... now here is hoping they get layer animation supported between all 3 software now that Maya 2009 has layer anim ability as well.

Autodesk® FBX® 2009.3

FBX - interchange file format and how we used it for our chracter

I wanted to do a quick post on working with .FBX as an interchange format and talk over some uses and how we have used it in the past.

Both on this DVD project and the character rigging book I wrote, the character creation process happened in several software packages by many diffrent people. FBX let us work this way and not worry to much about getting the files back and forth between Maya and Max and MotionBuilder.

Book Character:

• The mesh was built in Maya, (but could come from any where)
  
• Exported as FBX
  
• Imported in to Max- UVs were created and textures were done
• Exported out as FBX
• I had all ready started skinning the mesh in Maya, so I imported the FBX file and copied the skinning on to the textured final mesh from Max.
  
• I also use the FBX export and import process to check the mesh during building of the model to check for normal/scale/bad geo issues, much like you would with the .OBJ format

Animator Toolkit Character:

• Mesh and Skeleton Built in Maya
• FBX out to MotionBuilder to start rigging prcoess
• Final skinn weighting and texturing were done in Maya
• Final chracter exported back to FBX to update the rigged file in MotionBuilder

Some other notes about FBX. There is an option to install it in to Apple Quicktime Player, this has a few nice bonuses.

• Any one that needs to see a model or animation or pre-viz can use Quicktime to open the .FBX file, but they can't edit it and they don't need to have MotionBuilder,Max,Maya etc. installed to do it.

• This is a full 3d viewer inside quicktime so it saves the trouble of having to render out previes or genereate a whole seperate set of content for approvals or presentations. Letting the production file and the aproval files stay up to date

A few more ideas of how you can work with FBX.

• Animation transfer- I like to use FBX as a fast way to save and load animaiton data between Maya files instead of useing other animation saving tools. It will only load data on to attributes that were animated.
• Skinning- Max has some nice skin tools and it is for some people faster to skin and edit weights in MAX than Maya. An artist I worked with uesd this wrokflow since he was faster in MAX and it worked well.
• Point Cache- For rendered scenes you have the option to cache out data from all 3 apps to FBX and this lets you animate with all the rig and deformation tricks of your software and then just export the animated mesh to render where you want.
  

If you have not used FBX in a few versions , give it a second chance as there are lots of updates and more features making it a great option for helping your art team work in the software of there choice. How ever you end up useing FBX make sure you read the help files and do some tests in your own pipeline as well as check for updates often.