rigged mesh gigantic

[Rhiannon Arkin]

hi

I am experimenting with a mesh body. I model it in maya, skin it to the skeleton then export it as dae. 

I can upload it in sl, click the include skin weights option, scale is set to 1. 

When I rez the mesh onto the ground it has the correct scale. 

When I add it to my avatar, it is GIGANTIC!

I tried different scales and orientations but it always results in the same result. huge, and completely distorted. 

what is the secret here ??  

 

thanks a lot 

 

R. 

 

 

[Rhiannon Arkin]

as so often in my case i find the answers soon after I post a question. 

Issue is that my maya scene is 100 times bigger then the default sl avi template. I didn't think that would matter. since it's getting scaled down during import. 

BUT it makes all the difference.

If I export from maya 100 times smaller, import it into SL as 100 times bigger. then it works. 

If I am too big in maya then import it as 100 times smaller into sl it does not work. 

i'm sure there's a logic to it. 

 

 

[Kyrah Abattoir]

Can't you set the file unit in maya? Seems like a pretty basic thing to support.

[HunniHope]

because it's rigged mesh, changing scale at the mesh upload window will only affect the size of the mesh when rezzed because when worn, rigged mesh will spring back to the size it was made/rigged/exported at, so if you are making it too big in Maya, then it's going to be too big when worn in SL no matter what you try to do to the scale in the uploader

[Rhiannon Arkin]

That makes sense of course. in a way. Maya doesn't 'like' these tiny scales SL is working in. So it is better to rig and animate in cm/unit which is 100 times bigger than what SL expects. I couldn't find a scale while export setting in maya exporter of DAE/fbx, which would be even cooler since I wouldn't have to rig in mini-scale. Maybe there is a way around that. I have my workflow down now of creating big then scaling it down, then skin it, then export it.

 

[Fionalein]

Is that also the reason why some stuff appears gigantic until it finds it's rigged location?

[Klytyna]

4 minutes ago, Fionalein said:

Is that also the reason why some stuff appears gigantic until it finds it's rigged location?

Basically, yes...

Many people foolishly assume that the UNITS they used in their choice of 3D modeling app will be exported along with the NUMBER of units per measurement...

This has been a problem in 3D in general for almost as long as there have been 3D modeling apps. Person makes something sized in cm in one app, exports to another app and it loads way too large because that's set to UNIT=inches, then it gets exported to Poser, and explodes because Poser uses UNIT=8ft...