Importing FBX rig into Max

PolyHertz

I've been wondering this for a long time, but why is it that whenever a rig in fbx format is imported into max the bones almost always appear too short, or have other cosmetic issues like inverted normals / indented tops? For example, one of the rigs by Epic used in the UE4 tutorials;


https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4210886/HeroTPP.FBX

huffer

Yeah, I get the same results, except the normals are not inverted. Could it be a difference in FBX versions?

monster

Rigs made in Maya are typically created this way because it allows you to rotate the bones "symmetrically". If you select the upper leg bones, turn on AutoKey, and rotate them both on their local axis you'll see this behavior.

This isn't a problem at all, but the reason it's drawing inverted is because 3ds Max expects the positive X axis of the bone to point to the child. But since it's the negative X the geo of the bone flips inside out.

To avoid this problem I leave the default FBX preset which has "Convert Bones to Dummies".

Huffer, your bones aren't inverted because you don't have Backface Cull enabled on them.