FBX -> 3DS Max -> Maya -> 3DS Max -> FBX Export - Gimbal Lock Exists error despite resetting XForm?

FiftyTifty

I've been faffing about with learning the workflow, which I've currently found to be:

1. FBX File

2. Import into 3DS Max

3. Adjust it by moving bones and removing polygons

4. Collapse to Editable Mesh

5. Delete original bones

6. Import bones from player character skeleton

7. Export to Maya for weight painting

8. Paint weights

9. Export to 3DS Max

10. Export to FBX.

But I get this rather odd error:

Apparently, the fix is to copy the weights to a dummy mesh via SkinUtilities, use ResetXForm on the original mesh, then copy the weights back. But the issue remains. Here's an archive of the scenes: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NrsZiWy2asVyaNBwp2c2qmNE4jxI3rCM/view?usp=sharing

Any idea how to work around this? I might have screwed something up in the workflow, so any advice would be appreciated.

Eric Chadwick

Why are you using this bizarre convoluted workflow? What is your end goal?

You should be able to edit everything within one tool, whether Maya or Max. Using both is inviting more errors.

FiftyTifty

I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to flood all the vertices when weight painting, rather than messing about with trying to paint them in 3DS Max. Could do it in Mudbox since the camera is much less wonky, but Maya's great for rigging. Especially since I'll very likely need to add more bone influences once I've tested the mesh.

What spurred me to use Maya, was this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=9&v=xu73Yqgju14&feature=emb_title

Couldn't find anything like that for 3DS Max.

Ghogiel

Nothing in that vid is so radically different than using the weight tool in Max. Select torso verts, full weight them to the spine, select leg verts, full weight to leg. Select the verts inbetween where you want to blend the influence between them. Press blend.

FiftyTifty

Ghogiel said:

Nothing in that vid is so radically different than using the weight tool in Max. Select torso verts, full weight them to the spine, select leg verts, full weight to leg. Select the verts inbetween where you want to blend the influence between them. Press blend.

The only thing I could find was painting the weights manually, which is extremely tedious and prone to missing verts. Is there a flood function somewhere?

Ghogiel

in the skin modifier select all the verts you want to flood fill, select the bone you want to weight to from the list of bones, with the weight tool press 1 to fully weight those selected verts to the bone that's selected in the list of bones

FiftyTifty

Ghogiel said:

in the skin modifier select all the verts you want to flood fill, select the bone you want to weight to from the list of bones, with the weight tool press 1 to fully weight those selected verts to the bone that's selected in the list of bones

Ahh, that does the trick. Unfortunately, I'm faced with the exact same issue as in the OP; the exporter complains about a gimbal lock, even after resetting the XForm. Here's the scene, a source .FBX containing the game's skeleton, and an .FBX of the model I'm skinning: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Q2uYtIYg2Ae5k6blt-VcHJBlvVBQ_QYw/view?usp=sharing

So it's not an issue with swapping between programs. Maya has its own show-stopping issues when exporting the FBX and importing it into UE4. It should not be this difficult, but all I'm getting are these bizarre errors.

Ghogiel

I take it UE4 freaks out when you import that fbx then and it's not an ignoreable error?

I don't know how to fix that issue personally. Depending on what you need, you could make a new new bone hierarchy and position them where the problematic bones are in not too much time.

That's what I would do unless someone else chimes in and knows exactly what to do (Something is goofy for sure (I did a quick google and poke at that scene, reseting bone transforms, killing and remaking the skin after resetting, tried with TMC and linear rotations, poked at every setting in FBX options, nothing did anything .)  

FiftyTifty

Ghogiel said:

I take it UE4 freaks out when you import that fbx then and it's not an ignoreable error?

I don't know how to fix that issue personally. Depending on what you need, you could make a new new bone hierarchy and position them where the problematic bones are in not too much time.

That's what I would do unless someone else chimes in and knows exactly what to do (Something is goofy for sure (I did a quick google and poke at that scene, reseting bone transforms, killing and remaking the skin after resetting, tried with TMC and linear rotations, poked at every setting in FBX options, nothing did anything .)  

Yeah I'm absolutely stumped. When UE4 imports, it breaks all these fundamental assets, such as animations and human skeletons, which causes everything else to completely break. I've been searching a bunch and found no answers, as well as asking in Discords but didn't get any responses.

It's absolutely doable, since other people have done it, but I've spent days on this like a monkey with a typewriter, to no avail.