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Question USD animation in Timeline

Discussion in 'Timeline' started by Sean__R, Mar 12, 2022.

  1. Sean__R

    Sean__R

    Joined:
    Oct 1, 2014
    Posts:
    106
    How do I get a USD skinned character to animate in Timeline?

    1. As a test, I have a Miximo character exported as USD from Maya.
    2. In USD Stage, I verified the animation and skin are working on the character.
    3. In Unity 2020, I have imported a USD character
    a. USD package 3.0.0 preview is installed
    b. In the Inspector, skinning is on.
    c. In the Inspector, Payload Policy is set to Load All
    d. In the Inspector, I see an "Animator" component? Is there supposed to be a USD Controller and Avatar?
    4. I have the USD "Control Track" loaded in Timeline.


    a. Is there supposed to be a Controller and Avatar in the USD somewhere to plug into the Animator?
    b. Or, do I something else in the Timeline?
    c. Do I update to 2022? There is no USD package in preview for 2022.

    Sean
     
    Sean__R, Mar 12, 2022
    #1
    CharlesWW likes this.

  2. akent99

    akent99

    Joined:
    Jan 14, 2018
    Posts:
    588
    I have no experience with Maya or USD, but the first question in my mind is whether it is a Humanoid character (with an Avatar) or a generic object. How are you planning to animate the character? E.g. when importing an FBX file, if you look at the FBX file in the inspector, you can mark it as a Humanoid character - needed if you are going to use humanoid (Avatar based) animation clips.

    Humanoid works by animating "muscles" where there is an Avatar Description that maps those generic humanoid movements into bones etc for a specific character. This is to overcome the problem of different character models giving bones different names etc. Otherwise the animation clip will have to animate bone rotations etc in the specific character - that clip wont work on other characters with different named bone rigging. So humanoid is common, but not mandatory, for characters.
     
    akent99, Mar 12, 2022
    #2

  3. Sean__R

    Sean__R

    Joined:
    Oct 1, 2014
    Posts:
    106
    Hello. Ya, humanoid and generic rig modes work great in Unity with FBX. With USD, you can animate in Maya and export it out as USD…just like FBX.

    In Unity, the USD comes in with an ‘Animator” in the Inspector. I cannot find the avatar nor an animation to plug into a ‘controller’ after importing. But there is a USD control track that is imported.

    I’m hoping someone at Unity can help.
     
    Sean__R, Mar 13, 2022
    #3
    CharlesWW likes this.