Meeting and Notes:
Everyone discussed their progress. The sound students already had sound files that we can begin experimenting with movement regarding music with. I and Marianna exemplified the setbacks we were experiencing with the rig, and showed the IK developments we were able to make.
Personal Goals:
.Complete and fix issues with the Rigs on both birds
. Explore import/ export relationship with Maya and Unity
Rigging
During the process of the Maya to unity workflow and animation exporting we came across several issues in which I had to research even further and expand my understanding of rigging aspects. Initially, looking at the rigging files that were shared between Marianna and myself, the hierarchy of the controls, geometry and joints was messy, and seemly caused issues during unity exports. Looking into methods of exporting and importing animation from Maya, the below video made some points that indicated to me structure was not cohesive and clear and was attached to several elements of the geometry.
Animation Import/Export in Maya – YouTube
Revising the rigs from the previous week, there seemed to be underlying issues in the way that the Ik in the wings was attached to the rest of the rig, which caused some exporting issues that did not move inside unity’s game engine even when the animation was baked into the FBX file.
Import Tests in Unity
Trying to engage effectively understand Maya and unity’s relationship to one another, I wanted to produce several tests in order to see which issues we will encounter, and be time-efficient before we began properly producing character animation to get an effective Maya to Unity workflow.
Due to previous model import tests being static in motion, in order to test a working import I took the Mr Boney rig and animated all the different IK controllers in unison, baked the keyframes to the rig, and exported them as an FBX file for unity in order to get it to function. As seen in the test below, this test was successful and lead me to consider two different aspects: The hierarchy of Mr Bony’s mesh and joint structure and the export preset options in Maya.
After studying the structure of the Mr Bony Rig, I noticed that they were primarily sectioned into different groups, that all fed into each other. Containing all the controllers, mesh and skeleton rig into different groups so there is clean access to all of them. Taking this into account, I replicated a similar file structure with a similar joint order and after clearing the history, rebinding the skin and exporting, I was able to create a working FBX file of Seagull A.
On earlier exports from Maya and Imports into unity, we experienced issues with the wings not moving, and earlier on there were skin binding issues due to the separation of the wings to the main body mesh. As stated by Watkins, by reducing the objects attached individually to the mesh, the number of “draw calls” required is reduced, which overall reduced joint deformations, therefore reducing the number of “cost processor cycles” (2012,p.280). This, in essence, will optimize the playback speed, which is imperative for the functions of games due to their ‘real-time rendering’.
Below is the video evidencing the FBX export of the animation test from Maya functions in Unity with wings and IK legs which helped me reassess the pipeline me and my team would implement when producing animations. Going forward with our import and exporting issues, we will use the following method below-
Ensure you are animating with a Clean the Hierarchy/ Rig> Animate on layers> Bake> Export
I found that implementing the additional step of animation layers would create a smoother and more efficient pipeline to use later on in the animation process. As stated by Roy, animation layers “increase the ease of creative tasks like trying different approaches and variations” and also simplify the use of graph editor curves by compartmentalising them ( 2014, P.273). This is something we intend to use going forward for the project also as it allows animation baking to be easily reverted in old files if we need to extract or add elements such as facial expressions separate from the body movements.
Video References
Maya to Unity Workflow – Campaign Update – YouTube
Mesh Issues in Unity
An issue we encountered during this process was a loss of polygons in the mesh when exporting animated rig FX files. Researching into this we found a few solutions that can assist us going into the next week, one being the smooth option which will essentially bake the polygons into a higher count so that once it is converting into an FBX, the polygon information should not be ‘corrupted’ when imported into unity.
Another alternative I looked into with a member of the VR project was polygonal smoothing within unity itself to see if it can be rectified directly within the software.
Due to the multiple tests, we conducted using both animated and static models of the character, it appears that only the animated models cause the mesh issues, even using the above technique. When using the smoothing techniques within unity’s outlier, it had little to no effect, only making the rougher edges and mesh displacements slightly less drastic in appearance. Going forward with our research in fixing this particular issue into the next week it may be important to consider if the mesh in Maya may be directly affecting this perhaps due to polygon collision which can cause their appearance to be ‘defaced’ in unity’s software.
`Video References
ProBuilder Unity | Smooth Object Tool – YouTube
Animation and Music Relationship Test
Working with the music students, I wanted to use their audio and create an animation that interacts with the soundscape of the game, potentially creating an additional character and comedic effect. The animation was created with the idea that it could act as an ‘idle’ animation for seagull B to help accentuate his ‘simplicity’ and general happiness or naivete. This will also help improve player immersion as the characters are interacting more with their environment.
Importing the animation into unity, while simultaneously reflecting on the progression of the technical aspects involving unity and Maya’s relationship, highlights great progression as it also indicates several factors that are not working. The main indication of an underlying mesh/ rigging issue still needing resolution is the ‘floating’ eyelids which seem to offset themselves from their frozen transformation when any body movement is made. The other obvious issue at hand is the mesh deformity in the right-wing, which I will have to further look into to understand why exactly the polygons delete themselves in appearance once imported into unity.
Eye Lid Rigging Issues
Going into Maya once more to inspect the eyelid rigging issues it seems that there is once again a hierarchal issue within the mesh structure, in which the eyelids are separate to the main mesh and seem to pivot around the ‘blink’ controllers rather than the mesh itself.
In order to resolve this issue, I followed the same method that I applied previously in order to attach the wings to the mesh for skin binding purposes and grouped the eyelids in a way that enabled them to follow the eye mesh without causing an offset. Due to the rebinding required during this process, I also will have to re-rig the set driven keys to creating an effective blink method in the following week ahead. reflecting on this, in future I will ensure that the mesh is neat and comprehendible for additional software exports.
Organisation and File structure
In order to effectively manage and structure our files as a team, I thought it would be more effective to create an organised file structure to allow accessibility for all team members and reduce the number of unnecessary ‘we transfer’ files over email; especially since these were causing Maya file corruptions. This will be particularly useful when sharing the scene set-up files and finalised rigs so that both myself and Marianna animating will be using the same versions of everything to prevent inconsistencies.
References
Roy, K., 2014. How to cheat in Maya 2014. Abingdon: Focal Press.
Watkins, A (2012) Creating Games with Unity and Maya : How to Develop Fun and Marketable 3D Games. Burlington, MA: Routledge. Available at: https://search-ebscohost-com.arts.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=376905&site=ehost-live&scope=site (Accessed: 27 Februrary 2022).