Total Newb Maya questions

[Crispy]

They don't appear in the 3D view at all, so I'm guessing they've been hidden. Look in the outliner and see if they're displayed in blue (IIRC). If so, select them there and look for an "unhide" option (maybe in a right-click menu).

 

Sorry I can't be more specific, been ages since I touched Maya.

[Springheel]

Another question...I'd like to create some actions for sitting AI to do (writing, eating, etc). I notice in the sitting animation, there is a chair mesh included for reference. I'd like to do the same thing with a table, but frankly have no idea how to import a mesh into a scene. Do I have to leave animation mode?

[rebb]

It should just be a matter of using File->Import and importing another File that has a Table Mesh in it. Or build a mock one from some cylinders/boxes.

 

Animation Mode just changes the currently visible Set of Menus to Animation-centric ones - if by Animation Mode you mean "Animation" in the Top-Left Dropdown of the Main UI.

[Springheel]

Guess it is just that easy. Thanks.

[Springheel]

The sitting pose seems to be rigged with ik controls on for the hands/arms. I'd like to turn them off and use regular fk controls, but I have no idea how to do it. Any tips?

[demagogue]

This is just an FYI that today I got an animation from model_src up and running in Maya for the first time (attack.mb for the city watch), and it was pretty cool to watch him take a swing with his sword. For the next while I'm going to be teaching myself and maybe playing around and tweaking some idle animations as glorified tutorials just for my own edification.

 

When (/if) I get up to speed, I'm thinking about helping out on some idle and other animations for the female noble as I gather there's a need there, or wherever else there's a need, but that's a future prospect anyway. For now it's just about getting over the learning curve. But I wanted to mention it anyway as an FYI, or in case anybody had any advice to offer. Fortunately, there are a good number of past threads in this forum that have already been a great resource (though the wiki, as you all know, needs work.)

[Springheel]

For the next while I'm going to be teaching myself and maybe playing around and tweaking some idle animations as glorified tutorials just for my own edification.

 

Good stuff. I've found that basic animation (at least using our pre-made animation rigs) isn't as hard as I thought it would be.

 

I might be able to help you with really basic questions if you like.

 

One area that I don't know much about (and we could use some help with) is rigging--that is, creating skeletons for new creatures, or creating new animation rigs for existing AI. I'm having to create female animations using the proguard animation rig, for example, which involves a lot more trial and error than would be necessary if we knew how to make animation rigs. If you had time to learn that kind of stuff, that would be a big help.

[demagogue]

Sounds good.

 

Lol, I was originally thinking, man, glad I don't have to mess with skeletons and rigging ... Just play with what's already ready to animate. But then I noticed that's not as much as I thought, and even then those AI have animations. I'm taking things one at a time, but since I see that's where some real need is, I'll definitely start reading up on it. (Already watched 2 or 3 tutorials on it). What I think I'll do eventually is do the skeleton & rigging tutorials with the female noble... Then even if I have to trash my first attempt(s), I'll at least know my way around that model better. (One quick question; how do I make a model semi-transparent to see the skeleton & joints inside?)

 

My accomplishment so far is just getting the conversions to work, ugh. I found I can convert .mb to .fbx right out of Maya. Then the Maya site has a downloadable converter from .fbx to .obj (also previous .fbx versions). And *then* I can open .obj in Lightwave (the one I actually know) and Zbrush. (I should check if I'm losing anything in the conversions.) I'm finding Zbrush great for modifying existing models. Oh, one last one, Endorphin 2. Takes .fbx, but still crashing on import (edit: hmm, 2005, that's why. Earliest .fbx is 2006). I still need to learn the best way to do UV mapping, too. Can I (/should I) do that through Lightwave? Anyway, right now I'm just trying to get a handle on what I *can* do. Then I'll turn my focus on tweaking existing animations and doing the rigging tutorials.

[Springheel]

I use Lightwave for everything other than animating. I do the character model, uv-map, and weighting in Lightwave, and then use Clinton's md5mesh exporter. Unfortunately I can't use Lightwave to do any animation tests, however, as the md5anim importer doesn't work properly.

 

So at the moment I have to use the proguard animation rig in Maya to create any humanoid animations. For the noblewoman, than means making the animation in Maya, exporting it, loading a map and seeing it in-game, then taking screenshots of the issues (the proguard has no lower skirt mesh so I have to manipulate that joint blindly, for example), then go back to Maya and repeat until satisfied. A bit slow, but it's working ok. (I've got a base idle and four random idles done so far) It doesn't work for the stocky characters, however, because they need to actually be weighted differently than regular sized characters.

 

(One quick question; how do I make a model semi-transparent to see the skeleton & joints inside?)

 

There's an option called "X-ray", I think it's in the View menu.

 

What I think I'll do eventually is do the skeleton & rigging tutorials with the female noble

 

Keep in mind that if you reweight the character in Maya, it will likely have different weights than the current noblewoman, and will therefore throw the existing animations off. I don't know if there's a way to import an md5mesh in Maya and keep the skinweights intact? I'll upload the current noblewoman mesh and animations today.