Hi!
I’m trying to get an animated FBX skeleton out of a C4D file. Just the skeleton, that uses no Controllers. Ultimately this will be applied to characters inside of Unreal to create cinematics.
My workflow is as follows:
1) One by one, open animated FBX files that include animated skeletons based on a Mixamo rig.
2) Create and save a library of motion clips based on these FBX files.
3) Open a rigged character that contains a T-Pose and a Mixamo skeleton.
4) Add Character Object (mixamo rig template) to control this rigged character. Adjust placement, retarget controls, and transfer weights to the existing skeleton and skin.
The hierarchy of the rigged character is as follows:
Root Null
- Controls null
- Character Object
- Joints Null
- mixamo skeleton
- Geometry Null
- Meshes
- Skin
5) Import the previously saved motion clips.
6) Combine and edit motion clips in the C4D motion system, at the same time customizing the animation by manipulating the controllers in the Character Object.
7) This all works fine so far, and the animations in the C4D file work great. But when I attempt to export the scene as an FBX, it’s a mess. Multiple skeletons are created, some move, some don’t. And for the ones that do work, if the control objects are removed they stop. I have tried exporting a single skeleton at a time, using global coordinates, but that doesn’t work either. I have tried saving as Cineware, but that doesn’t bake the skeletons when I bring them back into C4D to check them.
Could anyone possibly point me toward an accepted workflow to get a single animated character skeleton in FBX format out of a character that has been animated with motion clips and the controllers of the character object?
Thanks for any insight,
- Greg
