Maya Export Noob Question

Hello FaceFX People!

I just got Maya and FaceFX so I can start to try and get faces animated and I am having trouble on the Maya side. I have this model rigged and animated. It looks great in Maya but when I import it into FaceFX the eyes aren't connected to the head and the lower lip is animated below the lip.

I am getting four warnings from Maya when I export the model:
Warning1:

The plug-in has found the following skin definition problems :
Unable to find the bind pose for : / Group / Main / DeformationSystem / Root_M / Hip_R. Use the DAG node current transform.
Unable to find the bind pose for : / Group / Geometry / polySurface198. Use the DAG node current transform.
Unable to find the bind pose for : / Group / Geometry. Use the DAG node current transform.
Unable to find the bind pose for : / Group / Main / MotionSystem / FKSystem / FKParentConstraintToChest_M / FKOffsetNeck_ ... d_M / eyebrowControls_grp / L_eyebrow_control02_grp / L_eyebrow_control02 / L_eyebrow_02. No bind poses in the hierarchy containing the object will be exported.

Warning2:

The plug-in has changed some animation curves tangents type to User to ensure interoperability. This mode change will not affect the animation curves' values.

Then a long list of all my lip and eyebrow bones

Warning 3:

1763 attributes had complex animation. Complex animation was exported as baked curves. (442513 evaluations done)

Warning 4:

This scene contains at least one transform node with multiple shape nodes. The plug-in will export only one of the shape nodes.
The name(s) of transform node(s):
|Group|Main|MotionSystem|FKSystem|FKParentConstraintToChest_M|FKOffsetNeck_M|FKExtraNeck_M|FKNeck_M|LipControls_GRP|upperLip_controlGRP01|upperLip_control01

This goes on for a few as well.

I am sure this all comes from me not being very good in Maya and the model being high poly count but any help at all would be so great!

Thank you!
J

Permalink

Hi J,

Are you using the Maya Ogre plugin to export the content? If so, try exporting an FBX file instead. Then drag the FBX file onto the FaceFX Studio Preview tab.

If you are already using the FBX pipeline, (or if for some reason you are stuck using the Maya Ogre plugin), it still may help you to do a round trip through the Maya FBX importers/exports to fix some of these problems. So Export an FBX file from Maya, then create a new Maya scene and import the FBX file into it, then save. Use that version of the character to export (either though the Maya Ogre plugin if you must, or the FBX pipeline). Oddly enough, this technique fixes many common problems with the export. If it doesn't can you send your content to us and provide some detailed instructions on how to reproduce?

Best,
Doug