What is the correct way to go from Daz to Maya to Motionbuilder to Unreal?

What is the correct way to go from Daz to Maya  to Motionbuilder to Unreal?

I used DaztoUnreal to send my character to Unreal

Then DazToMaya to send it to Maya.

I then wanted to apply some mocap in hopes of then applying it to the character I sent to Unreal.

What I did was use the send to Motionbuilder option in Maya. I retarget my mocap and baked it back on to the character. 

But when I used to resulting fbx by importing it to Unreal it works fine on its own.. but as a new version of the character.

I cannot apply the imported animation to the original version of the character send directly from Daz to Unreal.

I know how to do this normally. I'm wondering if editing the character in Motionbuilder changes it so its not compatable? 

 

I'm sure there is an easy way to do this.. Any ideas?

 

 

 

Comments

  • EllessarrEllessarr Posts: 1,390

    artbywaqas said:

    What is the correct way to go from Daz to Maya  to Motionbuilder to Unreal?

    I used DaztoUnreal to send my character to Unreal

    Then DazToMaya to send it to Maya.

    I then wanted to apply some mocap in hopes of then applying it to the character I sent to Unreal.

    What I did was use the send to Motionbuilder option in Maya. I retarget my mocap and baked it back on to the character. 

    But when I used to resulting fbx by importing it to Unreal it works fine on its own.. but as a new version of the character.

    I cannot apply the imported animation to the original version of the character send directly from Daz to Unreal.

    I know how to do this normally. I'm wondering if editing the character in Motionbuilder changes it so its not compatable? 

     

    I'm sure there is an easy way to do this.. Any ideas?

     

     

    if you just wan to import the animation, from maya you can delete the mesh leaving only the skeleton, then export it to unreal using maya regular export, then in unreal import only the skeleton/animation and mark to use the already existing "daz skeleton from the model.

     

    its is when you already have exported the character mesh and want to export only the animation not the character again. 

  • Hi Ellesar

    I'd bypass the Maya step entirely.  The Daz to Unreal process puts an fbx in the daztounreal folder (normally in documents), which you can open in Motionbuilder and apply your mocap.  If you still need to use Maya for whatever reason, use that fbx instead of the send to maya process.

    The reason is that there might be some changes that the plugin makes when sending to Maya that UE interprets as a totally different character (I don't use Maya, so I'm not sure)

  • Using the FBX from the UpdatedFBX folder is a good idea.  What's probably getting you is that I rename the root bone.  When you export FBX from Daz Studio the root bone is named something like Genesis8Female or Genesis8Male.  I rename it to root so you can share animations between the characters. You could also try just renaming that bone in MotionBuilder or Maya.

    Once you've got the skeleton matching, on import make sure you choose the shared skeleton from the plugin.  If you leave the skeleton entry blank, it will create a new skeleton.

  • SavoySavoy Posts: 33
    edited January 2021

    @David_Vodhanel    Do you mean rename these 2 in Motionbuilder & Maya to root?

     

    @Bryan_Steagall .. I tried that. Opening the fbx file DaztoUneal creates in Motiobuilder directly. . The entire Characterization menu is blank which means you have to go back and set up the entire skeleton. Otherwise when you open the fbx created when you use DaztoMaya first and then send that to Motionbuilder you only have to assign the twist bones for the shoulder, forearms and hips. I 'll try it out but I gotta figure out all the correct assignments first.

    001 Genesis8Female_Group Motionbuilder.JPG
    411 x 180 - 22K
    002 Genesis8Female_Group Maya.JPG
    417 x 252 - 14K
    003 root Unreal.JPG
    441 x 347 - 23K
    Post edited by Savoy on
  • @artbywaqa

    I haven't really used DazToMaya, it looks like it's changing the root as well, but in a different way.  I'll have to give it a try and get back to you.

  • @artbywaqas - you can save that HIK characterization in Maya or Mobu for faster setup on new characters on future imports. It's in the HIK menu next to the folder icon.

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