Rigging an Avatar in Maya

[Sommer Restless]

Hi Everyone, This is my first post here! I was wondering, where you get the avatar skeleton from, that you can use in 2012 maya to rig a mesh too. I've made something simple, that's in mesh and i've uploaded it fine in SL but I wanted to rig it to the second life avatar.

Thankyou for all your help.

sommer.

[DanielRavenNest Noe]

Hi Sommer, welcome.  There is a plugin by Wiz Daxter for SL avatar to Maya:

Wiz Daxter

He also has a link to a an SL marketplace version that has more features.  Please note that software version matters.  It may not work for 2012.  All you need is a copy of the skeleton, though, and that might be extracted from the file, or you could load it in an older version of Maya and then save it, and reload it in 2012.  Note also that there were some issues with the Autodesk Collada FBX 2012.0 exporter.  The SL importer was having issues reading the resulting file.  That may have been fixed, I have not tested it recently (I use 3ds Max, but I think that shares the same FBX exporter as Maya).

If you are new to 3D modeling, this is par for the course.  There are many 3D programs, and many file formats, and compatibility issues are very common.  The best advice I have is take notes on the workflow you use, so when you find a way that works, you know how to repeat it.

[guY Ralior]

Here is a link with a skeleton attached to the first post from Reed Steemroller. It is in .ma format all you will have to do before you import is make sure that you set your joint size in kinematics to .03 then the skeleton will work for you. Also change your view orientation to Z up as how SL is.

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/Mesh/Mesh-Best-Practices-Maya/td-p/182772 

 

I wouldn't use the one from Wiz Daxter but that is just me, I know he offers a free version but there is no need for any plugin or addition to maya for you to use a skeleton and trying to get Ls for something that should be free just doesn't seem right to me. Hope this helps you

Here is another link to something someone put on the wiki about rigging in maya if you need some help on understanding what the flow is, as there is also some other good info on that in the thread I linked above as well.

Rigging a Mesh in Maya

[Sommer Restless]

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guY Ralior wrote:

 import is make sure that you set your joint size in kinematics to .03 then the skeleton will work for you.

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Awesome, How do I do that? I'm learning animation in Maya. Haha, Sorry =) but thankyou for your help, both of you!

[guY Ralior]

Go into your preferences and then to your kinematics tab you will see joint size there, it is currently set to 1, change that to .03. As for the Z up that also is in preferences when you select settings it is on that page you can either have Y as is defualt or Z as you want it for SL. Good luck and I hope this helps happy rigging!

[Sommer Restless]

aw thankyou so much! I will try it now and see how I go. What version of Maya do you use? =)

[guY Ralior]

I work with both Maya and Mudbox 2011 and 2012 depending on what I am doing. As another tip before using the maya rigging link make sure you read through the first link I gave you completly as it will give you some insight into how to get it uploaded once you are done working on your rig.

[Sommer Restless]

Everytime I hit Avatar Weight's and Joints it doesn't let me upload.

This is the .dae file http://www.mediafire.com/?1el9ai2ca8u21fe

or the .mb http://www.mediafire.com/?2exz7svdbj72x6l

If you wanted to have a look =) I'd appreciate it a lot. I'm not completely new to Maya, but this is new to me.

 

[ItsKate]

I Just found out Wiz Daxter plug in, does not work on Maya 2012 (64bit) 

He is working on a plug in for it.    

Just in case anyone else is running around in circles like me.  Against my better judgment I am trying avatars with Maya.  Thus far zero success.

[Marymac Dougall]

Thank you!!! I feel a whole lot better now. I thought I was the only one until today when I found your post. I have no problem creating and uploading of static meshes but at this point, I'm already behind the progress of so many others I'm chomping at the bit since I love the mesh clothing. I can't go anywhere until this is solved. Maya is the only one I'm familiar with enough to take a good stab at it when this is figured out. :smileyvery-happy: