Adding animations from Mixamo

[karmacomposer]

How do I add animations to my model with the ones I use from Mixamo?  They do not conform to Leadwerks format.  They can either be in FBX or Collada, as far as I know.

I have a bunch of them, but all in FBX format.

Any suggestions?

Mike

[gamecreator]

You can put your FBX files into your project folder and Leadwerks will convert them to MDL files.  You can then open your model in the Model Editor and go to File, Load Animation to load an animation from an MDL file.

[karmacomposer]

I did that and when I try to load the .mdl files into the model one-by-one, they all fail giving an error. These are fbx files straight from Mixamo.

All I did was copy and paste them into a animation folder inside my model's folder.  They obviously were converted, but none will load.

Now what?

Mike

[macklebee]

3 hours ago, gamecreator said:

You can put your FBX files into your project folder and Leadwerks will convert them to MDL files.  You can then open your model in the Model Editor and go to File, Load Animation to load an animation from an MDL file.

well... kinda. There are a lot of caveats to that when using models and animations from mixamo. Mixamo used to rename bones depending on if its a skinned animation or not, and at one point had added root bones. Leadwerks will only allow you to load animations onto an existing rigged model that has the exact same bone names and hierarchy. The solution i found to be the easiest is to apply the animation to my model in mixamo then export it as a skinned animation. Then I can load the animation onto my base model in the LE Model Editor. Other than that, you are left going through renaming the bones by hand to get them to match.

[karmacomposer]

I tried all this - did not work.  I went back to the original rigged model in Mixamo (the website) and added animation to it and then qued it for download.  I chose FBX (the other is Unity FBX - not sure which one?). The other parameters are T-Pose (or original FBX pose) and FPS which is set to 30.

That's about it.  I download it as a zipped file, unzip and then copy and paste those into the animation folder inside of Leadwerks (I created a animations folder to organize it). Leadwerks converts the files to .mdl and when I attempt to load them into the character they were made for - same rigging exactly - they fail with a error.

I'm stuck and I really need this to work.

Other models I bought from vendors with included animations work perfectly, so I do not know what I am doing wrong.

Mike

[Marcousik]

Why don't you animate the model you want to be animated with Mixamo -> export -> Leadwerks, no need to load anything...

?

I only get successfully loaded animations (as macklebee already said) only with exact same matched skeletons, else I had to import/create and export each new model with mixamo.

[karmacomposer]

In Mixamo, I do not get a option to export to Leadwerks.  Am I missing something here?

Mike

[Marcousik]

No I think I'm missing something  I mean export .fbx with animation inclued and let leadwerks import it. I just don't understand why you want to use the load anim function friom Leadwerks ?

[karmacomposer]

Because when the exported fbx from mixamo which includes the animatons in the file they are stripped out when imported into leadwerks.  No animations.  Just the rigged model.

This is very frustrating.

Mike

[karmacomposer]

Just so you know, these are very custom characters - a turtle, monkey, cat, etc.  These are biped animals. Not humans or humanoids.

Mike

[Marcousik]

Indeed strange... try import the .fbx in blender (look if all is ok)-> export .mdl -> Leadwerks ?

[karmacomposer]

I don't use Blender - cannot learn its interface.

I do have Ultimate Unwrap Pro and Fragmotion.

I also have Modo 10, but it's a bit complicated for this.  Same with Shade 14 Pro.  Carrara 8.5 Pro I know, but it's not very good at exporting.

Mike

[karmacomposer]

If anyone would help me, I could send you what I have and if you could make it work in Leadwerks, that would be stellar.  However, I would rather figure this out since I have a TON of characters to rig and animate.

Mike

[Marcousik]

CAn you upload your "problem"-model in fbx ?

[karmacomposer]

Privately, yes.  I licensed these and uploading publicly would probably be a problem.

Mike

[Marcousik]

look I chatted you

mail me your model if you want

[karmacomposer]

Done!

Mike

[Marcousik]

your .fbx files are all corrupted / just like empty

look at this on Blender: Only the armatur was exported, no mesh. All open 3D program of mine (3D Viewer) don't show anything.

 

[karmacomposer]

I can send you what I downloaded direct from Mixamo - what I send you is what Leadswerks converted.

Mike

[karmacomposer]

I brought it into Blender and this is what I see:

It has texture, rigging and everything - just no animations.

[Marcousik]

ok ok and why does it have no animation ?? out of Mixamo ? sorry I dont understand

Please you can mail me this I will try through Mixamo

 

[karmacomposer]

Do you want me to send you the original obj with textures - pre-rigged?

Mike

[Marcousik]

 

Got it in a few minutes to run in Leadwerks with mesh and everything ok... Here I just not load the textures. 

That's what I was saying, I don't understand where is your problem,  you have to do this and nothing else:

1) upload your characters .obj in mixamo

2) Let MIxamo build an auto-rig Skeleton, and choose one animation

3) export/download as .fbx WITH skin !!

4) Put .fbx in a folder, Leadwerks does the rest of the job, your turtle will jump and run.

You don't need to load any animation out of an other model !

Ask if you encounter problems... 

[karmacomposer]

Choose one animation?  How do I get all of them in there afterwards?

Mike

[gamecreator]

You can load multiple animations using the method I mentioned above.