First time FaceFX user here.
I've followed all the pipeline documentation as best I can tell. I've got my targets all set up in Maya and exported as characterName@facefx_poses.fbx in the same folder as my base file characterName.fbx. I dropped the base file into FaceFX and it looks as it should. I've got three animations loaded into the FaceFX scene from audio files.
When I press play, the character remains in the bind pose.
I must say the documentation isn't very clear as to how the base_file relates to the facefx_poses file or how exactly they should be named. My understanding is that the base_file is just the skinned geometry and joints with no animation, while the exported facefx_poses file is just the animation. I drop the base_file into FaceFX, and it reads the poses.fbx so long as they're in the same folder.
Should I just be dropping the poses.fbx into FaceFX with no base file? Either way I do it, my character doesn't move to the audio.
Thanks.
When you are starting off, it's probably easiest to have just a single FBX file: characterName.fbx. Then we'll use the geometry and the poses from that single file. It's only when you want to iterate on the FaceFX poses without changing the geometry (or visa versa) that you need to split them out.
Dragging the base file onto FaceFX is the correct way. We'll find the @facefx_poses.fbx file if it is there.
As far as your primary question is concerned, why there is no animation, here are a few things to check:
1) What poses are keyed in your facefx_poses.fbx file? Did you specify their names and frame numbers correctly in the batch export text file? If this part worked correctly, you should be able to select from the top left of the preview, then select a face graph nodes on the left of the application, and then drive the node in the preview. Does this drive the correct pose?
2) If the above #1 looks OK, the next question is if your nodes are being driven by curves in the animation. With the default mapping, we'll create curves like "open" and "PBM" that will drive those nodes if they exist. Names are case sensitive, so the "open" curve won't drive the "Open" node.
If that doesn't get you moving in the right direction, can you email us your log file?
Also, take a look at the Brute sample content in Samples/Src. He uses an @facefx_poses.fbx file and you can drag on his FBX file to test how things should work and compare your results to that.
I'm using the defaults for everything based on your Default Character Setup and FBX Import Pipeline documentation.
The sliders move properly for each node in the Face Graph window, but the character doesn't move in the Preview window.
I'll send you the log files.