Importing rigged clothing into Blender

[Rhys Goode]

I've been using Blender with the Avastar plug in to make some rigged mesh clothing, producing dae files that load just fine into SL.

But if I try to import one of them back into Blender, the skeleton seems to get all scrambled and bent.  And the weights seem to be assigned to the wrong bones.  If I want to make any minor tweaks to my mesh, I have to detach the mesh, zap the vertex groups and shape keys, and re-do the rigging.

Is there some simple way to import a rigged dae file into blender, and end up with a useable amature?

 

[MIstahMoose]

Why not save the file normally? .blend format will open without problems each time. Exporting to .dae is silly rather than saving If you're not finished working.

[Gaia Clary]

The Collada Exporter prepares the Data to be used with SL. It especially removes bones which are not recognized by the SL uploader, it triangulates the mesh, applies scale and rotation, and takes care about a few more details. Most of these preparations are not reversible, hence trying to import a collada file will result in an incomplete rig. well at least the rig is no longer an Avastar Rig.

So what you can do at the very end is this:

 

• upload your collada file
• delete the armature and the armature modifier so that you have a clean unrigged mesh
• create a new Avastar
• take care to load the correct shape
• assign your mesh to the new Avastar

Done.

Note: You mentioned the mesh would distort uppon import. If this happens, something very strange has happened. The mesh should not distort...

[Rhys Goode]

Thanks for the clear explanation, Gaia.  And I did not mean the mesh is distorted, rather that the skeleton (such as it is) is distorted.

I am making some custom rigged pieces, and it would have been nice to go back easily from just the dae file.  A bit less cumberson than keeping custom blend files.  But storage space is cheap, I just have to organize my workflow properly.

[Gaia Clary]

Do you have a screenshot of the distorted skeleton ?
Or can you publish the collada file for inspection ?

[Rhys Goode]

Sure Gaia, here is a screenshot.  

The object in question is a set of nipple piercings.  The are rigged to LEFT_PEC, and RIGHT_PEC, and do a halfway decent job of following avatar physics.  But when I read the dae file back into blender, the bones are twisted and bent as shown, and all the weight is on mNeck and mCollarLeft, which did not even have vertex groups in the original .blend file.

 

[Gaia Clary]

Hi;

In order to find out what is going on i would need:

 

• A Blend file that contains the misbehaving Aramature as a starting point
• An exact descriptipon how to export what exactly to collada
• Which version of Avastar you use
• Which version of Blender you use

 

It possibly might be of help to also provide:

 

• Your exported Collada file
• An image how the collada import looks in your Blender

 

Then i can reproduce the problem and either can try to find a workaround or a fix

[Rhys Goode]

I'll gather the info you request, ands send to as quickly as I can, Gaia. It will be at least a day, I have limited net access this week.

But the words "not reversible" are what struck me in your original response. For me, that closed the issue. 

"The Collada Exporter prepares the Data to be used with SL. It especially removes bones which are not recognized by the SL uploader, it triangulates the mesh, applies scale and rotation, and takes care about a few more details. Most of these preparations are not reversible, hence trying to import a collada file will result in an incomplete rig. well at least the rig is no longer an Avastar Rig.