help me make my basic mesh character become rigged and move pleeeaase!!!

[Bongo Steampunk]

I can make a character, basically, even if its just a bunch of basic shapes in maya/zbrush and save it as OBJ.

I can go into blender [various versions] and bring in the standard avatar skeleton for SL

I can get to the point where i have both lined up and selected... [mesh avi and skeleton].... press ctrl+p and in version 2.59 i cannot see a way to get the thing to rig correctly... I am a noob i know.

I have been on for days just trying to get a basic character to dance on the beta grid.. it's driving me nuts.

I got the script for copy bone weights which recently cropped up for blender 2.59, installed the add on, checked it as operative and sure enough on my tool shelf i see the bone wieghts thing, until i delete the cube at startup, or open a file [like sl avatar.blend].. then it vanishes...

How can someone like me, who can make a character in mesh, make it dance!!!! please help!

 

[Chosen Few]

I can't help you with any Blender-specific commands, since I'm not a Blender user.  Out of curiosity, I just wanted to ask why you're using so many different programs for this one task.  You mentioned you're creating your character models in Maya.  Why not then also rig it in Maya?

Use whatever you're most comfortable with, obviously.  I'm really just curious.  Care to elaborate?

 

[Bongo Steampunk]

well... maya, max, Zbrush or blender are all good for making meshes, but only blender or Zbrush export mesh in collada format... if maya did so [plugin i tried doesn't seem to help] i would use only it... i'm still not sure that even if i rigged my models in maya, that if i could export rigged mesh from maya, would it behave like the sl skeleton does, and work with inworld animation over rides etc.....

 

[Luc Starsider]

I'm sure both Maya, Zbrush and other programs can export collada files. Lots of people around here use them to get rigged mesh into SL.

As far as getting the rig to work in Blender, you have to select the objects in the correct order. Select your character firste, and the armature last. Then press Ctrl+p and choose the appropriate option from the options menu that comes up. I almost always select 'Armature deform'->'With automatic weights'. 

Good luck!

- Luc -

[Coby Foden]

Good tutorials and instructions how to rig in Blender:

http://www.youtube.com/user/ashasekayi#g/c/11D6E99BB51A2BB2

http://blog.machinimatrix.org/3d-creation/blender-meshes-trail/rigg-your-avatar/

http://www.squidoo.com/BlenderCharacterRigging

 

[Nalates Urriah]

There is a lot of information you need for rigged mesh in: Second Life Mesh Clothing Tutorial.

It is based on and refers to Ashasekayi's video tutorials. I sort of indexed the videos so if you are looking for a specific task you'll have a better chance to find it.

How to export your avatar shape from SL is a feature in the tutorial.

There is a gotcha in the Skeleton in the avatar.blend file. It may have been corrected in new files. If not, the fix is in the tutorial. 

It also has the information needed for moving the vertex weights to your model. There is an automated process that can save some work.

I'm learning how to model, rig, weight paint, and texture in Blender. You can see the collection of articles in SL Mesh Stuff. If you want to narrow it to just clothes: Tutorials Clothes.

[Monti Messmer]

Hi, didnt´t one here on the forum said - Blender 2.5 and newer has problems with export rigged mesh ?

Not sure if that can be the cause but sometimes mesh exported in 2.5x ... will crash my viewer. Open -> Export in 2.49 then still work fine :smileyindifferent:

Monti

[Coby Foden]

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Monti Messmer wrote:

Hi, didnt´t one here on the forum said - Blender 2.5 and newer has problems with export rigged mesh ?

Monti

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Blender 2.59 exports rigged mesh all right.

If you use joint offsets then you must use Blender 2.49b.

Look at this thread for more info:

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/Mesh/Are-we-still-useing-2-49-blender-to-rig-mesh/td-p/1076343

[Chosen Few]

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Bongo Steampunk wrote:

well... maya, max, Zbrush or blender are all good for making meshes, but only blender or Zbrush export mesh in collada format... if maya did so [plugin i tried doesn't seem to help] i would use only it...

 

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What version of Maya are you using, and what plugin did you try?  I use Maya 2009, with the openCOLLADA plugin, and it works just great.  I would imagine if you're using Maya 2010 or 2011, you'd get the same results with openCOLLADA.  There's no version for 2012 yet.

The FBX plugin that ships with Maya 2012 does include "improved COLLADA (.dae) support".  I don't know whether the results are compatible with SL, though.  There's got to be a working solution out there, because there are people around the grid using Maya 2012.

 

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Bongo Steampunk wrote:

i'm still not sure that even if i rigged my models in maya, that if i could export rigged mesh from maya, would it behave like the sl skeleton does, and work with inworld animation over rides etc.....

 

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If it's rigged properly, then yes, no matter what program you rigged it in, it'll behave as expected.  When you upload the model to SL, it doesn't bring the bones with it, just mesh and the weights.  The only skeleton in SL is the one already in the avatar.  So, when you attach the rigged mesh to the avatar, the avatar's existing skeleton is what drives it. 

Attachment or no attachment, all animations will move the avatar skeleton the same way they always have.  The only question is whether or not your rigged mesh will follow the skeleton as it should.  Assuming the skeleton you used in your modeling program had all the same bone names and heirarchy, and you've done a half way decent job weighting the right parts of the mesh to each bone, the answer will be yes.

[Bongo Steampunk]

Thanks to everyone for suggestions and help.

OK, so I'm gathering that whether I use Blender or Maya, to create my own skeleton/armature (instead of trying to use the SL skeleton from avatar.blend, I should be OK.

I managed to get the Bone weights copy script to stop dissapearing off my toolshelf in Blender, it was because there were no objects or vertex groups selected ... lol simple i know.

So i can get my 'Bella' character, which is a simple model to fit the SL skeleton, lined up perfectly, select her, then select [with shift] the skeleton and hit ctrl P.... I get the options up, do that and i can pose Bella as normal. but if i export her at that point she hasn't been 'made real' as things used to be for blender 2.49b... i have it, but cannot get python to work with it, so i got the Bone Weight copy script for 2.59

as soon as I copy the bone weights, [thinking I am there finally!] blender ceases to function.

I dont know if it is because Bella is a bunch of seperate objects which are merged into one [in which case I need to make a different test mesh model] or something else...

I am beginning to think that all my frustrations are because of me wanting to stick to that avatar.blend skeleton i've been using.

Making an armature in maya or blender is simple enough for a simple character, so I will try rigging a new charater with my own armature instead of using the SL skeleton.

Again thanks for all the help and advice, I'm sure if i keep plugging away, i'll have a dancing sheep soon enough in SL lol.

By the way, if anyone would like to see one of the characters i'm trying to bring into SL then look here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2Nk5Rmuyec

 

[Chosen Few]

Whoa, is that sheep every disturbing!  So creepy.  Nicely done.

 

As for your question about making a skeleton, if you make your own from scratch, you do need to make sure it's identical to the actual avatar skeleton.  You can't juse use an arbitrary one.  This is why that avatar.blend file that you've got was created in the first place.  There's nothing to be gained by reinventing the wheel.

If you want a an existing correct skeleton for Maya, there are a few options listed in these threads:

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/Mesh/Rigging-an-Avatar-in-Maya/m-p/1027641/highlight/true#M4824

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