Where/how can I get an avatar skeleton for Maya?

[Vinderex Serpente]

I've looked all over the wiki and can't seem to find it anywhere.  Can anyone help?

[Gaia Clary]

This one was reported to work from at least one maya user:

 

    http://blog.machinimatrix.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/SL-avatar-rigg.dae

Use right mouse button -> Save as  "whatever.dae"

It has been created with Blender 2.60 and it is derived from the SL Viewer's Avatar configuration data. So it should be precise. The original of this work comes from Domino Marama.

I hope this helps.

[Vinderex Serpente]

Thanks a lot.  It looked weird at first, but after adjusting a few settings it's great. Thanks. :matte-motes-big-grin-wink:

[Gaia Clary]

So is the dae file also not 100% compatible to Maya ? What did you need to change exactly ?

Could you provide an adjusted .dae that works for maya ?

I am interested in that because there is an ongoing issue with export of rigged meshes with Blender 2.6 and we try to find a fix for this. So any hint about what might be wrong with that .dae file can be of much help

[Chosen Few]

Here's the one I use:  http://abbloch.com/slmaya/skeleton.ma

It was generously donated to the community by Reed Steamroller.  I've been hosting it ever since.

 

In that same directory, you'll find an animation rig, by the way, donated by Orion Neville and Alexia Mechanique.  It works great, if you want to create avatar animations for SL in Maya.

I will continue to add any other freely distributabe SL-Maya stuff that I think is handy, so you may want to check back from time to time.

[Chosen Few]

I just took a look, Gaia. Here are the only differences I see between yours and the one I use:

 

• Yours doesn't contain certain Maya-specific bells and whistles, like bone colors and such.  That's obviously to be expected, since .dae doesn't support that stuff.
• For reasons I've never been able to understand, skeletons imported from the .dae format in Maya end up displaying with incredibly tiny joints.  This includes those that where exported from Maya to .dae, and then imported back in.  I have yet to figure out how to fix this.  The small joints makes selection difficult, as they're often as small as single pixel until zoomed in very, very, very close.  They completely ignore Maya's own settings for joint display size.
• The T-pose is ever so slightly different.   Yours leans back slightly at the mTorso joint, whereas mine is vertical at that joint, and then leans forward slightly at the mChest joint.

 

As far as actual functionality, they're identical.

[Gaia Clary]

Thank you for your very valuable response, Chosen.

I wonder about the slightly different T-pose. Is there a way to tell, which one is the more acurate pose ? Domino's rig is directly derived from the data that comes with the SL viewer, so it should be exact. But maybe there is an error somewhere along the path how i made the .dae file

Could you provide screen shots of the rig how it looks in Maya from sideview and front view so that i can check the differences ? It may also be usefull to get the .dae as it is exported from Maya for more detailed comparison.

[Chosen Few]

Sure, Gaia.  Here's a screenshot with all three orthographics:

 

I went ahead and exporterted it to dae as well.  You can grab the file at http://abbloch.com/slmaya/skeleton.dae

I'll be curious to know what you discover.

[Vinderex Serpente]

For reasons I've never been able to understand, skeletons imported from the .dae format in Maya end up displaying with incredibly tiny joints.  This includes those that where exported from Maya to .dae, and then imported back in.  I have yet to figure out how to fix this.  The small joints makes selection difficult, as they're often as small as single pixel until zoomed in very, very, very close.  They completely ignore Maya's own settings for joint display size.

 

It was the opposite for me, they were extremely large, and just looked like a great big blob.  It may have only been because I had just freshly installed Maya 2012 on a new computer though, and thus hadn't yet adjusted the display settings yet. 

[Lanfer Christensen]

Downloaded the skeleton.ma

This is how it looks on my maya...

Any ideas what should i do to make it look normal ???

Im using maya 2012.

The dae converted with fbx converter looks pretty much the same only more messed up... wth?

[Chosen Few]

Lower the joint display size.  You can do this either globally in Preferences, or locally in the Attribute Editor for each joint.  If you do the latter, do NOT change the actual scaling, only the display. 

I find a setting of about .03 looks best to me.  Use whatever size you like.

[Xoza Tyron]

Maya default is also Y as verticle, so you'll want to switch that for Second Life use via

Windows>Settings/Preferences>Preferences>>Settings>World Coordinate System

 

Steps to change joint size in 2011 is 

Display>Animation>Joint Size

[Mona Mendle]

hi there,

i'm trying to understand the rigging process, got the skeleton for maya here  http://abbloch.com/slmaya/skeleton.ma

but when i open it, maya gives me error "reading file". Is there a version of the skeleton compatible with my 2008 maya?

thanks in advance

 

[Rayne McAndrews]

Everytime i clock that link, theres a blank page. im wondering if its now deleted or how can i get the skeleton.

 

also. I have gottn two skeletons from other places, and im new at modeling with maya (used to use 3ds max) eack skeleton i get is laying sdeways on the grid and no matter how i pan around it i cant get a decent view. I also cant rotate the itemsbecause if i rotate them together th bones always seperate from th shape. if that makes any sence.

all the screenshots ive seen the models are standing upright perfect for editing how been trying for two days now a little frustrating.

 

 someone help please

[Chosen Few]

Open the .ma file in a text editor.  Find all references to "Maya 2009" and change them to "Maya 2008".  I don't have Maya 2008 here to test, but it should work.  I don't think there were any significant changes to the way skeletons work between 2008 and 2009.

That said, if it doesn't work, I think there's .dae file in that same directory.  I'd imagine you should be able to import that.

 

(On a side note, it looks like my web hosting account is currently suspended, since I forgot to pay the bill.  I'll take care of it today, but it might be another day or two before access is restored.  Sorry for any inconvenience, everybody.  In the mean time, there are plenty of other places to get the same files.)

[Chosen Few]

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Rayne McAndrews wrote:

Everytime i clock that link, theres a blank page. im wondering if its now deleted or how can i get the skeleton.

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As I just mentioned in my last reply, I forgot to pay the hosting bill.  Keep checking over the next few days.  Access to the site will be restored soon.  It's been an insanely busy summer for me, with two feature films, and multiple game projects (and it's only half over).  I guess a few little things like paying bills slipped through the cracks.

 

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Rayne McAndrews wrote:

 

also. I have gottn two skeletons from other places, and im new at modeling with maya (used to use 3ds max) eack skeleton i get is laying sdeways on the grid and no matter how i pan around it i cant get a decent view.

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Check my reply to your other thread.  You've got your global up axis set wrong.  It's super easy to fix.

 

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Rayne McAndrews wrote:

I also cant rotate the itemsbecause if i rotate them together th bones always seperate from th shape. if that makes any sence.

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Rotating isn't the right solution for the problem you intially described.  However, if you do rotate the bones, and the skin doesn't move with them, then either there's something wrong with how you bound the skin, or you're rotating something other than the bones.  Without diving further into it (which I'm sorry to say I don't have time to do right now), I'll suggest that you take a good hard look at your hypergraph, and your outliner, to make sure you've got the correct node structure in place, and that you're actually selecting what you think you're selecting.

 

 

[Satu Moreau]

Hey, Chosen. I don't suppose you can put that skeleton up for download again? It's the one for Maya 2012, right? It's just that I messed up my old one and can't find anywhere to redownload it and i've been having a hell of a time readjusting the joints back to normal.