Bake TImeline Animation back to Object

Is there a way to bake timeline information back to the object for FBX export?

I want to create animation in Unity and then send it back to Maya. I'm working with a lip sync plugin so I would need to capture an animation clip and then bake it back to the object for export.

Thanks,

Jeff

 

Thanks. The GameObject > Export Selected Timeline Clip does nothing.
I've done 3 tests with a simple cube.

1) Create animation in the Animation Window so that the animation is actually on the Cube. Then right click the cube in the hierarchy and select Export to FBX. The Cube comes into Maya with the animation as I would expect.

2) Create animation in the Timeline window, then convert to a Clip Track. Highlight the clip and select GameObject > Export Selected Timeline Clip. Nothing happens and nothing is exported.

3) Repeat step 2 and select GameObject > Export to FBX. Model is exported but no animation.

Am I missing something?

Thanks,

Jeff

 

No, that window does not appear. I'm on Unity 2018.2.
Jeff

 

that was it. Thanks. Now the dialogue box comes up. This only exports Transforms... correct? It does not appear to work with Blend Shapes.
Jeff

 

Thanks.
Jeff

 

Dont wok both the methods.
Unity 2018.3.10 and FBX Exporter 2.0.1

Exporting selected timeline clip: NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object
Exporting FBX from Object + Animation Controller produces and animation where the model only rotates around itself

Any update on the method to be followed?

 

Hi!
I'm using FBX Exporter 2.0.1-preview-11 and Unity 2019.1.1f1 and can confirm that right clicking on "Export Selected Timeline Clip..." does nothing (nothing on the output console either).
Where do we right click on? The object that has the timeline playable? The objects themselves animated and referenced by the Timeline Object?
Or should we just use the Export FBX... one for each of the objects?

What's the expected output? Is it a single FBX with all the animated models, cameras and all (minus signals and dynamic triggers I guess)?

 

Hello! I'm having the same error in unity 2018.3.12 when selecting a clip on the timeline and going through the menu bar Gameobject->Export Selected Timeline Clip...

NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object
UnityEditor.Formats.Fbx.Exporter.AnimationOnlyExportData.GetPropertyReflection (System.Object obj, System.String propertyName) (at Library/PackageCache/com.unity.formats.fbx@2.0.1-preview.11/Editor/IExportData.cs:134)

Is there an update on it by any chance?

 

Hi @elettrozero , @Alejandro-Martinez-Chacin , @IN_Audrey ,

The broken timeline export issue has been fixed and will be available in the next release of the FBX exporter.

The workflow for exporting a clip from the Timeline is as follows:
1. Select the desired Animation Clip on the Timeline
2. From the top GameObject menu click "GameObject > Export Selected Timline Clip..."



This will bring up the export menu. What is exported is the animation for Transforms, Lights, Cameras, and Constraints. Meshes and any objects not required for the animation will not be exported.

Alternatively, until the fix is released, another way to export the same animation is to instead add the Animation Clip onto the animated object's Animation or Animator component. Then right click on the animated object and select "Export to FBX...".



In the Export Options menu, you can then choose to export either the Model and animation, or only Animation, which will give the same result as exporting directly from the Timeline.



Best,
Viktoria

 

I have the exact same issue. This is my result:

Left: Original prefab; Right: Exported FBX of prefab imported/used

These are the steps I took:
1. Installed FBX Exporter v2.0.1 in Unity 2019.1.3f1 [Image]
2. Put animator controller with walk animation from standard assets on animator of the gameobject to export as fbx
3. Rightclick gameobject -> export to fbx... [Image]
4. I set the following export options: [Image]
5. The gameobject was exported but the rotation is strange [Image: Model tab] [Image: Animation tab]
6. I drag the new (exported) fbx into the scene and repeat 2. with it's embedded walk animation [Image]

I tested:
FBX Exporter v2.0.1 in Unity 2019.1.3f1
FBX Exporter v2.0.1 in Unity 2018.4.0f1
FBX Exporter v2.0.1 in Unity 2018.3.14f1
FBX Exporter v1.3.0f1 (Asset Store) in Unity 2018.3.14f1
Different models and different animations (mostly free assets from the asset store)
Different export options

What am I doing wrong?

 

Hi @Kyunh,

Thank you for the detailed steps, I was able to reproduce the issue.

It looks like the character and animation you used have a humanoid rig. Unfortunately we do not currently support export of humanoid characters or animations. In order to export the animation, the rig and animation will need to be either legacy or generic.

In some cases, simply changing the character and animation rig from "Humanoid" to "Generic" may be enough. However though not ideal, there is another workaround for exporting humanoid animation using the Unity Recorder. Here are the steps:

1. Install the Unity Recorder from the Package Manager
2. Create a Timeline and add an animation track for the humanoid character, along with the desired animation
3. In the Recorder Window (Window > General > Recorder > Recorder Window), add a new Animation Clip recorder
4. For the Animation Clip recorder, set the GameObject to the humanoid character in the scene, and make sure that the Transform is selected for the Recorded Targets, and that the Record Hierarchy option is checked.



5. Click "Start Recording" in the Recorder window to record the humanoid animation to a new animation clip
6. Browse to the humanoid character FBX and change its rig type to Generic
7. Follow the same steps you used to attach the recorded animation to the character and export

Best,
Viktoria

 

hi i tried your above instructions it nearly worked
the first part of my timeline clip worked but the second clip moved my character but his legs and arms didnt move he just slid along
or the second time i tried it only recorded the first clip in the timeline

 

Hi @bobthenob,

Would it be possible to please send me a package with your character and the animation you are trying to export that is not working?

Also, we have recently released a new version of the FBX exporter (version 3.1.0 in package manager), which allows you to record directly to FBX from the Unity Recorder instead of first recording to an animation clip.

This will simplify the steps to export a little bit. Here are the updated steps with the new package:

1. Update to FBX exporter 3.1.0 from the Package Manager
2. Create a Timeline and add an animation track for the character, along with the desired animation
3. In the Recorder Window (Window > General > Recorder > Recorder Window), add a new FBX recorder
4. In the FBX recorder, set the GameObject to the character in the scene, and make sure that the Transform is selected for the Recorded Targets, and that the Record Hierarchy option is checked.
5. (optional) Check that the "Export Geometry" Option in the FBX recorder settings is checked so that the character skinned mesh is also exported to FBX.
6. Click "Start Recording" in the Recorder window to record the humanoid animation to FBX

Best,
Viktoria

 

Is it possible to record Humanoid Animators with FBX Exporter and Recorder?

I'm trying to sequence animations in Timeline and then export those sequences as single animations. Is this possible?

Thanks,
Nathan

 

Hi Nathan,

It is possible to record humanoid characters with the recorder, however the animation exports as generic and not humanoid. It may be possible to import it as humanoid by changing the rig import setting on the animation from generic to humanoid, however it is intended to be generic so this may not work in all cases.
The animation can otherwise be applied to a generic version of the character, or if the "Export Geometry" option is checked in step 5, can be applied directly to the exported character.

The steps to record are:
1. Install the FBX exporter and Unity Recorder from the Package Manager
2. In your Timeline add an animation track for the character, along with the desired animation
3. Add an FBX Recorder from the Recorder Window (Window > General > Recorder > Recorder Window). Alternatively add a Recorder track to the Timeline and set it to record FBX.
4. In the FBX recorder, set the GameObject to record as the character in the scene. Make sure that the Transform is selected for the Recorded Targets, and that the Record Hierarchy option is checked.
5. (optional) Check the "Export Geometry" Option in the FBX recorder settings so that the character's skinned mesh is also exported to FBX.
6. Click "Start Recording" in the Recorder window to record the animation to FBX. Or enter Playmode if using a Recorder track.

You can choose which part of the animation to record by either changing the Recording Mode in the Recorder Window, or the start/end time of the Recorder track.

For additional information please see the documentation.

Best,
Viktoria

 

2023 and Unity still cannot bake/combine timeline into a single animation with humanoid rig. I had to make an overly complicated animation engine inside unity just to go around this problem. It consumes a lot of cpu and makes the game several times more demanding for the end user. But I have no alternative for manually reanimating all the motion capture animations is practically impossible. Mocap can't take accurately long enough animations either. Makes me sad

 

So you can bake into a generic animation clip (which makes sense - it just records all the bone movements). Looking at the Final IK package in the asset store, it has a Humanoid Baker script built on top of Unity Editor libraries (outputs a Humanoid animation clip). So I assume it must be technically possible to convert a generic clip to a humanoid clip... but today the solutions out there seem to be paid assets from the asset store (like UMotionPro).