Quick Tip: Fixing distorted rig from Mixamo in 3dsMax

[@Taumisch]

Nice tip ! When importing a .fbx from Mixamo some of my bones (such as the LeftArm or the LeftUpLeg for instance) are red in the mirror mode of the skin modifier(as if it was part of the spine - on the axis of symmetry), do you know how to fix it so that they can be blue as it should be ? So it makes the weighting of vertices a bit tedious without the mirror mode working properly.

[@AnimazaStudios]

Hello. In this case I would manually fix the weights before you go to mirror mode. You do this by going to skin on the modifier stack, then click edit envelopes, then click vertices. From there you set the weights manually.

[@Taumisch]

@@AnimazaStudios, thanks for the reply, that's what I did for one half of my character but then when I pasted the blue vertices to the green ones (or the other way around) it screwed the skinning just because some bones are considered as belonging to the axis of symmetry (in red) even if they are clearly placed on the right side or the left side of the character. So, what I would like to do (if doable) is to manually redefine the hierarchy of the misled bones. But perhaps there's no solution and the problem comes from Mixamo's .fbx conversion file ?

[@AnimazaStudios]

@@Taumisch Hello. You could manually redefine the hierarchy but at this point you have far passed the limits of what the mixamo rigs were meant to do. I suggest instead to transfer the rig to a CAT bone system and re-rig the character with it, and you can still make use of the animation the mixamo rig came with. That gives you all the flexibility you need to animate the character and it unlocks extra tools to fix the weights. I created a tutorial to transfer mixamo animation to CAT Rigs and it can be found here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fqi5ipmCg9ipsJIsi=-swkconl0Qw_rb8P

[@Taumisch]

Thanks, I'll have a look at your tutorial. So far I tried the script to turn the Mixamo rig into a biped and it seems to work (still after those years), I'll check out if it is easier to modify the skinning this way. Cheers

[@AnimazaStudios]

Hello. Yes I am familiar with the script and from what I have seen it works very well. Biped and CAT rigs are still widely used in the industry, so no worry there. Good luck :)

[@littleinksheep9318]

I have a human character that I autorigged for a class. When I try to move the elbows, it also moves the faces of the torso sides. Is there a way to fix this?

[@AnimazaStudios]

The problem is in the weights. You have to select the character, then in the Modifier List select Skin then Envelope. In Parameters select Edit Envelopes then select Vertices. Then scroll down and find and select the elbow bones. You should see that the faces of the torso sides are also highlighted. Highlight the torso sides and little boxes should show up. Back in the Modifier List go to Weight Properties and select Abs. Effect. Make sure it is set to 0.0. Let me know if this works for you.

[@littleinksheep9318]

@@AnimazaStudios I got another problem. When this character has strands of hair on the sides of her head, but when I import it to Mixamo, the outer faces of them are gone, along with some parts of her head. I made this character using Blender, so I don't know where to find this Skin modifier

[@AnimazaStudios]

@@littleinksheep9318 Mixamo is not very good with fine mesh detail like hair. I have two suggestions for you. One is to transfer the downloaded animation from mixamo to a CAT rigged character, thereby keeping all the fine mesh detail. You're in luck because I made a tutorial for it just 2 days ago found here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fqi5ipmCg9ipsJI. Another option is once you download the character, add an edit poly modifier in 3dsMax on top of the downloaded mixamo character, select the head and scale it down. Then detach the original character's head with the hair and link it to the head bone of the mixamo character. It will sit on top of the original head, but because the original head is scaled down you won't see it. It's crude but it could work if the character is moving quickly and seen at a distance or in the background.

[@trackerprince6773]

Any way you show how to fix non human armature issue in blender, i.e hard surface robots. Would be super helpful

[@AnimazaStudios]

Thanks for the suggestion. I am not that well versed with blender yet, but in 3dsmax when I rig robots I only rig the base skeleton, then I link the mechanical parts separately to each bone. That way the mechanical parts of the robot don't bend. Hope this helps.

[@rpoillucci]

Can you do this in unity

[@AnimazaStudios]

This method can only be used for 3ds Max.

[@fkjaha]

You cant do it directly in unity, but It works fine in unity after you Export from 3ds MAX

[@zonian8782]

how do you do it in blender?

[@AnimazaStudios]

Right now, the best way to do it in blender is to paint the weight maps manually. If that is too cumbersome, try this tutorial: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rKubeWaqd8d2gK8

[@jojoanimation3363]

谢谢你