ActorX and vertex animation in Maya

[pingz]

I'm having issues exporting vertex animations from Maya.

I setup a sphere with a simple squash animation using the Blend deformer. The steps on UDN ( http://udn.epicgames.com/Content/UnrealVertexAnimation ) suck. I assume i have to execute axmain and set the Output Folder and Animation File Name then close that window and execute axvertex to set the frame range and hit Export. This now gives me a 'Can't find root bone' error ... odd since i'm doing vertex animation, but i added a single joint and tried exporting again. Now interestingly it says it 'vertex animation exported successfully. written 20 frames', but the output directory is empty.

Has anyone dealt with this before or has some insight into the mysterious world of ActorX vertex animation?

 

[rodrigoelp]

you are doing the things wrong... cuz you have the worng link... read the following, will clear some doubts.. http://udn.epicgames.com/Content/ActorXMayaTutorial


Btw, you will need a bone (joint) into your animation... thats why you are having the error 'Can't find root bone'... cuz actorx is searchin in the hypergrph the main joint and can't find it

 

[pingz]

From what i read that page is for skeletal animation exporting. At the very bottom of that page it says....

Vertex Exporting

Simple old style, non-skeletal vertex animation data can be exported through a separate window, called up with "axvertex". Note that using vertex animation is discouraged - the skeletal rendering is more efficient, and has an interactive import art path into the animation browser in the editor, and offers far more options like rigidizing parts and LOD sprites, that vertex animated meshes don't have.

The options in the popup window are self-explanatory - for documentation on the vertex animation art path, see http://udn.epicgames.com/Content/UnrealVertexAnimation.

I'm not using skeletal animation, but just morphing a shape which should be done thru vertex animation. Is this UDN document just wrong? How do i export vertex animated objects?

 

[rodrigoelp]

The tutorial is just fine... Are you using the axvertex command line?

 

[pingz]

yes.

But i still question how accurate the UnrealVertexAnimation tutorial is. It never mentions 'axvertex' or that you must use 'axmain' also to set the Output Folder and Animation File Name. Those are all things i had to assume... so it seems the tutorial is missing alot of steps. It also doesn't mention that vertex animation requires a root joint.

So it just seems the tutorial is incomplete or only for those that understand how do export vertex animation already. There will be a wiki page on this as soon as i figure it out myself.

 

[crunchywomble]

i'm having similar troubles getting vertex animations into ued from MAX.
according to some of the sites i've read, you don't need a root bone, cause ActorX makes all the bones it wants on export.
as far as i can tell, export always works the way it's supposed to. but i can't get the file to finish parsing.
can anyone enlighten me as to what this means?

Error opening file

History: UObject::SavePackage <- UMakeCommandlet::Main

Exiting due to error

it comes up every time i try to compile, and i have no idea what it means.

thanks

 

[pingz]

Luckily it wasn't required in our project as I never got it to work for me.

 

[crunchywomble]

unfortunalty i need animated meshes. i have a bunch of sails, like on a ship, and i need them to gently move in the wind.
is there no one anywhere who has a reliable way to get vertex animation from Max to UED?
i'd cry, but i'm at work, and they already told me i should not try to do this project in UED.

 

[chip]

unfortunalty i need animated meshes. i have a bunch of sails, like on a ship, and i need them to gently move in the wind.
is there no one anywhere who has a reliable way to get vertex animation from Max to UED?
i'd cry, but i'm at work, and they already told me i should not try to do this project in UED.

it's old technology but it might still work (worked for me in UT2003 for a wave-deformed banner made in gmax) -- do a web-search for 3ds2unr

its a utility from the original Unreal days that brings .3ds animations into UED as vertex animations via some Unreal Scripting.

 

[pingz]

http://wiki.beyondunreal.com/wiki/3ds2unr

 

[crunchywomble]

thanks. i'll give this a try.