Export to 3dsMax

AI & Data Science Digital Humans (closed) Audio2Face (closed)
1

Let say I have a rigged character in 3dsMax.

  1. Face mesh exported to the Audio2Face.
  2. Face is mapped and I can load my audio file and it does the lipsync job very well on my mesh.
  3. Now my question is how I can bring the animated face back to the 3dsmax?
  4. Is it possible to export animated vertex data?
2

Welcome to the forums @zangeneh.zangeneh

You have 2 options:

1- Generate BlendShape and weights:

  • Generate and export BlendShapes (as .usda) using Character Transfer Tab -> Blendshape Generation.
  • Generate BlendShape animated weights using A2F Data Conversion Tab -> Blendshape Conversion.
  • Export BlendShape weights (as .json) using A2F Data Conversion Tab -> Common Settings and Export Weights.
  • Import blendShape (.usda file) and apply weights from .json file, in other softwares.

2- Export animated cache:

  • To export cache, use A2F Data Conversion Tab -> Common Settings and Geometry Cache
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3

Option 2 works for me. I can now export as Maya cache and import it using pointcache modifier inside 3dsmax. no I have another problem.
In 3dsmax teeth mesh is attached to the face. after export to A2F, I had to separate mesh (Mesh menu → mesh separate) to character setup work correctly. so there should be an option to attach them back together again. otherwise vertex count and order cause problem in 3dsmax and pointcache don’t work.

4

Glad point cache worked for you.

These might work for the teeth issue:

  • In 3dsMax, find a way to drive final meshes (combined face and teeth), using multiple meshes. In Maya this can be achieved using wrap and blendshapes or custom nodes. In 3dsMax there should be a modifier or some other way too.
  • Update the original mesh inside 3dsMax, so teeth and face are separate meshes.
5

That would be the only solution, but I’m still looking for A2F:
Is there any option to output cache from multiple meshes? bake from group or selection?
Any option to revert back mesh separation?

6

Oh I see, yes you can also driver one mesh using multiple separated meshes. For this you’d need a Prox Deformer per driver mesh.

  • Select driver one, then shift select combined mesh and create a prox deformer from Animation -> Deformer -> Create Prox Deformer menu.
  • In the UI, check Use Max Distance and use a very small amount for Max Distance, eg: 0.01
  • Play animation if driven mesh is not moving with driver, you might have to connect audio player’s time to read ImportUSDPrimData node of drivers.
  • Repeat these steps for the other drivers.
7

I just followed your instruction, but still so complicated . would you please show me an example?

8

Yeah, I understand doing this might not be too straight forward.

Can you share your file so I can try this on?

9

Head.fbx (377.8 KB)
This is the FBX format, So you can open it up in any 3dsMax version. Note that we have to keep the mesh combined in the 3dsmax and we can’t seperate it there (in Max).

10

I just prepared a sheet to demostrate what is my issue:

Question
Question1919×9872 928 KB

11

I was able to do drive the final combined mesh (face only as teeth and tongue setup is too complex) using A2F using Prox deformer. Please note this is not a standard workflow in A2F and is a little complex to setup.
I strongly recommend driving the final combined mesh inside other software as they have more tools for this type of deformation.
A2F_Mesh_Separate.zip (29.9 MB)

12

Thanx, I really appericate if show me how you created that file.

13

I figure it out why my teeth dosn’t work correctly. I had several mistakes.
Picked UpperTeeth instead of LowerTeeth for the Gum/Teeth.
I forget to click on this buttons:
LOWER DENURE > JAW MOTION PREP
LOWER DENURE > TONGUE MESH FITTING
LOWER DENURE > TONGUE MESH POST WRAP

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14

Now workflow works correctly with the separated mesh. (I should write a script in max to load point caches for each part)
And I have to rotate character in A2F before export to load correctly in max.

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15

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