Issue with .mesh export

[amarYsium]

Good evening,
I work with Maya 2016 and 2019, with the import/export tool from ross-g.
Importing .mesh files or animations works without problems.

At the moment I'm doing the following to create the 3D models:

I import the .obj file of the 3D model, import a .mesh from Hoi4 using the tool. I unbind the skin and rig of the imported mesh. I delete the mesh, adjust the rig to the initially imported 3D model and bind the two. Then I edit the weights so that everything is right. Of course I also edit the textures and the UV.

Finally I export everything using the Import/Export tool and open the .mesh in Jorodox. As I noticed in Jorodox, only the mesh is exported without the skeleton. Also in the game I get the error message that no skeleton was found, so the model just stands around on the map, without animations.

I don't have much experience with Maya or any other 3D modeling programs. I learned this last week through various threads here in the forum and can't get any further now.

In the attachment you will find a .zip file with the .obj, the Maya Binary File (.mb) and the exported .mesh. Also several pictures to illustrate the problem.

Many thanks in advance!

 

[ross-g]

The bones will be missing if my exporter thinks that your mesh isn't skinned to them.

adjust the rig to the initially imported 3D model and bind the two. Then I edit the weights so that everything is right.

Could you detail these steps for me? (preferably with some screenshots of options and such) Then I can check up on why my exporter didn't find your skin. I had a look in your Maya scene and the connections from the mesh to the skin look different to how I would expect... so I'm curious as to what your process was!


If you want a quick fix for your model:
- first select the mesh and unbind your existing skin
- select the root bone and shift select your mesh
- go to menu skin > smooth bind / bind skin ... and click the option box at the end of the menu item
use these settings for now
Bind to: joint hierarchy
Normalize weights: interactive
Allow multiple bind poses: Off
Max influences: 4
Maintain max influences: On
Remove unused influences: On

I should also point out, that before you skin the model you need to merge all of your vertices. Each triangle is separate at the moment (ie you can pull the whole mesh apart, none of it is connected together).
Good luck.

 

[amarYsium]

Thx ross-g! You solved it

Allow multiple bind poses: Off

was the right hint. The checkbox was checked.

So these were my old bind settings:

These are the new ones:

It works now:

I should also point out, that before you skin the model you need to merge all of your vertices. Each triangle is separate at the moment (ie you can pull the whole mesh apart, none of it is connected together).

I think I know what you mean, it looks like this:

When I apply an animation to the model.

BUT
when i try to merge the vertices (following a guide from autodesk), it looks like this:

This is the error in the script editor:

I haven't looked into the error in detail yet, because I wanted to give a feedback first. I now try myself further at the vertices merging.

But anyways, thank you very much. I was really desperate, what could be the mistake!

 

[amarYsium]

After I played around with the "threshold" when using the normal "merge" option, it worked. I used "merged to center" before.

Although the skin weights are very weird when binding now. I think I have to try it by hand.

 

[amarYsium]

Now that I have successfully merged the vertices and the export has worked, I encountered another problem.
As you can see on the following picture, the root_node_1 & root_node_2 were missing.
I had absolutely no clue what could happened, so I looked in my binding settings again.
I changed the Bind Method from Geodesic Voxel to Heatmap.
After clicking "Bind Skin" an error pops up wich says that I have to make sure if everything is inside the vertex volume. I do not remeber if that was the exact message ^^
Then I changed the bind method to "closest distance". Now root_node_1 is showing up.

I changed the dropoff rate to 10. Root_Node_2 was still missing. I just moved both nodes right below the mesh and binded again with dropoff rate: 4.

And both Nodes showed up! Since both nodes to not have any weight on the mesh I just moved them back.
After the export my mesh doesn't have 22 bones anymore, but 33.
Since all animations, as I found out before, need 33 bones, my mesh now also works ingame!

Thanks again to ross-g!

Since this is not the last mesh I create, I might come back to your help in the future ^^