A new version of Cineversity has been launched. This legacy site and its tutorials will remain accessible for a limited transition period

Visit the New Cineversity
   
 
Timeline Animation + Morph Target Animation not exporting properly into Unity
Posted: 20 August 2020 07:35 AM   [ Ignore ]  
Total Posts:  9
Joined  2020-03-24

I have a Timeline Animation on a model, and a part of another model, with a rig, within the same model, has a Pose Morph Tag, with a bunch of Pose Morph Poses. i.e. Pose 1, Pose 2, Pose 3.

If I export the model as an .FBX, I’ve tried exporting as all different versions, and importing into Unity. I can add the Timeline animation to the model in Unity and control it. But I cannot add the Pose Morph animations.

I have tried looking under the Mesh Renderer, but no Morph Targets appear.

I have also tried saving the Cinema4D File, and importing the file into Unity by using the new Maxon Cineware Plugin, this also gives me no Morph Target to work with.

I have also tried finding ‘ToMesh’ under the right click modal over the Pose Morph Tag, but no such menu item ‘ToMesh’ is in the list.

Is there a workflow for Cinema4D R21.207 + Unity 2019.4.8f1 that will allow the use of the Pose Morph Tag Poses within Unity?

 Signature 

Michael Cuneo | Creative Technologist @ The School of Creative Industries,
& Research Assistant to the Head of School.
The University of Newcastle, Australia.

+61 488 467 755
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

https://haldor.michaelcuneo.com.au/ // Private Server
https://www.michaelcuneo.com.au/ // Public Facing Server

Profile
 
 
Posted: 20 August 2020 08:04 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 1 ]  
Administrator
Avatar
Total Posts:  12043
Joined  2011-03-04

Hi michael.cuneo,

Using the Cineware option, while the Cinema 4D scene was saved for Cineware, import the animation.
After dragging it into the Hierarchy, it shows up in the Scene and works as expected.

For more details, please have a look here:
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/OvaSSTOBtZD0gu5ZvalpE6fLoQUrRLuMLz6ZWMM1cpx

=================================

About FBX and Cinema 4D’s export:

When I import the FBX asset, the preview shows that the animation is received. Twirling open the Asset (FBX), and there is an object with the animation (see image). While it is selected, call up the Animation (Timeline), and you will see all the Keyframes needed are there. If you go to the curve editor, you might find it to be a little bit sawtooth-like. If I’m not mistaken, the animation needs to be applied to the Hierarchy, so a connection is created. But this is beyond the scope of this forum, it should be discussed in the UNITY forum. The data is received, and this is the primary concern here.

To animate the Blendshapes manually, you have to add them to the Animation (Timeline) and set the values at specific points. I think that is more native than the FBX stored data.

https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/BlendShapes.html
https://docs.unity3d.com/560/Documentation/Manual/BlendShapes.html

Besides, either way, Cinema4D Cineware or FBX, Cinema 4D writes the correct file out. Please open a new C4D project file and re-import the FBX to see that it works.

Enjoy your project

 Signature 

Dr. Sassi V. Sassmannshausen Ph.D.
Cinema 4D Mentor since 2004
Maxon Master Trainer, VES, DCS

Photography For C4D Artists: 200 Free Tutorials.
https://www.youtube.com/user/DrSassiLA/playlists

NEW:

NEW: Cineversity [CV4]

Profile
 
 
Posted: 21 August 2020 02:44 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 2 ]  
Total Posts:  9
Joined  2020-03-24

In my particular case, I don’t actually have any animation on my timeline inside Cinema4D created from the Pose Morph Tag data. I want to control the animation myself using Unity scripts, so I have left the timeline side of the Cinema4D Morph Pose blank. Do I need to put in some animations here that I’ll never use just so that I can get some kind of reference to these in the export? I can ditch them from the Animation Controller in Unity and control them manually? I do although have the main timeline animation of my human character exported fine, there is a huge list of timeline animations under the Cinema_4D_Main_Read_Only, but none relevant to the Pose_Morph, which I expected because I have not animated the Pose_Morph inside Cinema4D.

My second problem is I had no idea at all that ‘Save for Cineware’ was an actual option. I have been trying to import my C4D files in Unity from their normal saved files. Now I’m waiting for Save for Cineware to finish, this is taking for ever, the file I have here is huge. Contains many internal parts.

I will wait for this ‘Save for Cineware’ option to complete and see if I can import that to Unity, and see if there is any PoseMorph inside that.

Is it possible at all to animate the Pose Morph programatically from Unity, or does it only allow the timeline animation?

 Signature 

Michael Cuneo | Creative Technologist @ The School of Creative Industries,
& Research Assistant to the Head of School.
The University of Newcastle, Australia.

+61 488 467 755
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

https://haldor.michaelcuneo.com.au/ // Private Server
https://www.michaelcuneo.com.au/ // Public Facing Server

Profile
 
 
Posted: 21 August 2020 03:28 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 3 ]  
Administrator
Avatar
Total Posts:  12043
Joined  2011-03-04

Hi michael.cuneo,

I can give you a pointer here, how to get the Pose Morph into Unity as Blend Shapes.

The Inspector gives the first idea (See image below) Pos_0, Pos_1, etc.

I can show you to place these values in the Animation Editor.

What I think is best asked in the Unity forum, or Unity Manual is all about the scripting inside the Application itself.

The clip below, while pointing to the Cineware based clip above, follow the same idea.
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/OJYdY04WOT4wapnltLRCM3HzS2IMZx2HlsyFjxukCrc

As far as I understand, if data is not present in the Hierarchy list, it is not applied to anything. How much scripting can do, this is not the Forum here as mentioned before. So, I believe that you will be able to work with scripts.
Please have a look here:
https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/BlendShapes.html

Perhaps have a look here
https://www.youtube.com/c/unity/playlists

If you have set the blend-shapes into animations, as shown above, you can get very far with it. She uses FBX animations here, besides, it is a fantastic source of information:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEIaakl9vJE

My best wishes for your project.

 Signature 

Dr. Sassi V. Sassmannshausen Ph.D.
Cinema 4D Mentor since 2004
Maxon Master Trainer, VES, DCS

Photography For C4D Artists: 200 Free Tutorials.
https://www.youtube.com/user/DrSassiLA/playlists

NEW:

NEW: Cineversity [CV4]

Profile
 
 
Posted: 21 August 2020 07:21 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 4 ]  
Total Posts:  9
Joined  2020-03-24

Yeah I’ve gone over the usual tutorials a lot. And I just don’t get these results whatsoever.

“Select the newly imported Model in the Hierarchy window. The Inspector window displays the BlendShapes section containing all the blend shapes under the SkinnedMeshRenderer component.”

This part of the Unity tutorial discussing how to work with Blend Shapes, does not work. I have no BlendSHapes section in my Skinned Mesh Renderer Component. But I do have Pose Morph Tags on the component. Neither the FBX or Cineware route work. I might add, the file that I save from Cineware is 1.7gb, it’s a huge file… would this be causing an issue maybe?

I have tried everything.

I have included two shots here to demonstrate the Cinema4D showing Pose Morph Tags, and the Unity import showing no BlendShapes under the Skinned Mesh Renderer.

https://haldor.michaelcuneo.com.au/c4d/No_BlendShapes.PNG


https://haldor.michaelcuneo.com.au/c4d/Tags.PNG

 Signature 

Michael Cuneo | Creative Technologist @ The School of Creative Industries,
& Research Assistant to the Head of School.
The University of Newcastle, Australia.

+61 488 467 755
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

https://haldor.michaelcuneo.com.au/ // Private Server
https://www.michaelcuneo.com.au/ // Public Facing Server

Profile
 
 
Posted: 21 August 2020 03:28 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 5 ]  
Administrator
Avatar
Total Posts:  12043
Joined  2011-03-04

Hi michael.cuneo,

The first thing that I would try to solve is the file size. Unity is a realtime engine, and objects should be as small and efficient as possible. 1.7GB is not tiny, nor in any way will this result in a realtime experience. Well, this is my idea about, you might have a different perspective on that and like to use it in a single workstation installation, where all the parts deliver 2GB/s data transfer constantly.

“Select the newly imported Model in the Hierarchy window. The Inspector window displays the BlendShapes section containing all the blend shapes under the SkinnedMeshRenderer component.” I have shown this in my one-minute clips, and it works here, so no idea what else to tell.

In summary: I have shown all possible ways you ask me, even with clips of how to do it. I don’t know what else to do.

I do not touch any other download option other than Dropbox, Amazon, Google, Apple, Adobe, or Wetransfer. Nor do I use camouflaged or abbreviated links ever for safety reasons. Sorry, I will not use your links.

All your questions that I can see, and are not answered are Unity-based. Please check with the support of Unity, their fora, or the manual. This here is a forum for Cinema 4D and not for specific Unity discussions, as I have mentioned it a few times.

Sorry, that I can’t support your Unity project/learning more, I’m not a Technical Director for Unity. Again, this is a question for the Unity forum/support.

All the best

 Signature 

Dr. Sassi V. Sassmannshausen Ph.D.
Cinema 4D Mentor since 2004
Maxon Master Trainer, VES, DCS

Photography For C4D Artists: 200 Free Tutorials.
https://www.youtube.com/user/DrSassiLA/playlists

NEW:

NEW: Cineversity [CV4]

Profile
 
 
Posted: 23 August 2020 06:05 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 6 ]  
Total Posts:  9
Joined  2020-03-24

In my 30+ years of experience in game engines such as Unity and Unreal Engine, working for game companies signed to Atari and working at a major University teaching Cinema4D and Unity to others, I believe that this is 100% a Cinema4D issue. But, I will continue my search elsewhere.

As far as I am aware, Maxon are the developers of Cineware yes? So if I save a 90 megabyte file, and it turns out to be 1.7gb using ‘Save for Cineware’ then that is a Cinema4D issue correct? This is Cineversity, which is a direct part of Maxon, it says so in the bottom right corner? I’m not in the wrong spot here am I? I’m discussing Cinema4D with other Cinema4D experts on a Cinema4D Forum?

I will leave this post here in the off-chance that someone else will be able to help. I appreciate your assistance, and replies to my post, but I don’t think you understood what I am actually trying to achieve here. You could have just said that my question was outside of your area of expertise at the very beginning.

I will push this question to Unity, even though I do believe that it’s a Cineware concern, and see what experts over there have to say.

Also… “Nor do I use camouflaged or abbreviated links ever for safety reasons” ... there are no camouflaged or abbreviated links in my post. haldor is a subdomain under a real live domain, literally in my own name michaelcuneo.com.au. My links are hosted on a legitimate Amazon Web Services Host, and HALDOR is a server service I use for private testing and development within all of my research projects within the University of Newcastle.

com.au are legitimate Australian business domain names. So I’m a bit confused at the response.

 Signature 

Michael Cuneo | Creative Technologist @ The School of Creative Industries,
& Research Assistant to the Head of School.
The University of Newcastle, Australia.

+61 488 467 755
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

https://haldor.michaelcuneo.com.au/ // Private Server
https://www.michaelcuneo.com.au/ // Public Facing Server

Profile
 
 
Posted: 23 August 2020 06:18 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 7 ]  
Administrator
Avatar
Total Posts:  12043
Joined  2011-03-04

Hi Michael Cuneo,

I have created three little clips that show that the animation arrives as intended in Unity. If you think it is a problem of Cinema 4D, do a re-import of the FBX or Cineware file into a new project file.

If you have any further concerns, especially since you wrote that something is not working as it should, this would be a question for the Maxon support. Technical support has to be handled there.

https://support.maxon.net/index.php

Please open a ticket and describe what you want to do. Please make sure to define what is not working for you. I’m confident you will get any possible support the support team has to offer.

My best wishes for your project.

Edited for readability.00:35

 Signature 

Dr. Sassi V. Sassmannshausen Ph.D.
Cinema 4D Mentor since 2004
Maxon Master Trainer, VES, DCS

Photography For C4D Artists: 200 Free Tutorials.
https://www.youtube.com/user/DrSassiLA/playlists

NEW:

NEW: Cineversity [CV4]

Profile