I use Maya default with a dab of some custom scripts (TransUV, my own UV slot mover, and XFormUV) found on the net and UVAuto Ratio Pro for sizing. Maya's defaults are pretty good, just buried (like everything else).
@Goat: working on your suggestion, just taking longer to figure out how to set up the shader. @Shadow: I made sure the normals weren't flipped before exporting them...also found an Average normals script on the wiki, no luck...
Use go Max! http://www.zbrushcentral.com/showthread.php?t=94822 lets you import/export seamlessly within the 2 programs, aslo exported texture files if you paint in zbrush, much better script than the GoZ update for max...
well, the original tintin cartoon isnt going anywhere. 2d animation is great, but I'd rather have them try this out than retread old ground. On a side note, Joe Cornish cowrote the script! Got big hopes for this one.
You can use things like airborne's photoshop scripts to combine the seperate normal maps into one PSD file for you. Also batch baking may be something you could look into. http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=125244
I don't know man. ReplaceVertexWeights works for me. In the screenshot below everything was assigned to boneID 1, and after I run the script they are assigned to 2 and 3. I don't even have to normalize, because the results are normalized when they are applied.
If you need some tools to make your UV life easier.. You should consider Ninja UV. You can find it on Creative Crash. http://www.creativecrash.com/maya/marketplace/scripts-plugins/texturing/c/ninja-uv--2
Is the issue that you're running out of memory or just performance? If it's memory then what about just connecting a single set of animCurve nodes to all the skeletons/rigs? (you'd obviously want to script the process of connecting the existing curve nodes to the new skeleton)
I'm afraid I don't use Unity, frell. I'm a Blender user. I suppose I could try exporting to other file formats, but I know exporter scripts aren't always accurate, and tend to trash textures or something.
Yeah that's a bummer. A good workaround if you want to continue and do so by hand is (assuming you're using max) to use the Object Painter script by Neil Blevins. Then attach them all and bring it in as a static mesh. http://www.neilblevins.com/soulburnscripts/soulburnscripts.htm