Help: My exported animation is not playing (nothing happens)

Pipeline
1

I’m trying to learn how to get a simple mesh and animation from Maya to Egg. The exported mesh egg file seems fine but the exported animation egg file is not playing.

I made 2 polygonal cubes with 3 joints/2 bones. I created a simple animation where I rotate the middle joint along the y-axis and then return the joint to its initial position. Animation plays fine in Maya. When I load the model egg file (as an Actor) and loop the animation, nothing is moving. I get the same result when I use pview. Pview plays the animation (I see the play bar go from frame 0 to 23) but the cubes do not move.

What am I doing wrong? All my files are under the same folder. My resulting eggs and python script is pasted below. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

I called this to export the meshes and here’s the result:
maya2egg2008 -v -a model -uo cm -trans all -cn cubes -o ‘C:/maya/cubes.egg’ ‘C:/maya/cubes.mb’

<CoordinateSystem> { Y-Up }
<Group> cubes {
  <Dart> { 1 }
  <Group> groundPlane_transform {
  }
  <Group> top_cube {
    <VertexPool> top_cubeShape.verts {
      <Vertex> 0 {
        -0.5 0.0248081 0.5
        <Normal> { 0 0 1 }
        <RGBA> { 0.5 0.5 0.5 1 }
      }
      <Vertex> 1 {
        0.5 0.0248081 0.5
        <Normal> { 0 0 1 }
        <RGBA> { 0.5 0.5 0.5 1 }
      }
      <Vertex> 2 {
        0.5 1.02481 0.5
        <Normal> { 0 0 1 }
        <RGBA> { 0.5 0.5 0.5 1 }
      }
      <Vertex> 3 {
        -0.5 1.02481 0.5
        <Normal> { 0 0 1 }
        <RGBA> { 0.5 0.5 0.5 1 }
      }
      <Vertex> 4 {
        -0.5 1.02481 0.5
        <Normal> { 0 1 0 }
        <RGBA> { 0.5 0.5 0.5 1 }
      }
      <Vertex> 5 {
        0.5 1.02481 0.5
        <Normal> { 0 1 0 }
        <RGBA> { 0.5 0.5 0.5 1 }
      }
      <Vertex> 6 {
        0.5 1.02481 -0.5
        <Normal> { 0 1 0 }
        <RGBA> { 0.5 0.5 0.5 1 }
      }
      <Vertex> 7 {
        -0.5 1.02481 -0.5
        <Normal> { 0 1 0 }
        <RGBA> { 0.5 0.5 0.5 1 }
      }
      <Vertex> 8 {
        -0.5 1.02481 -0.5
        <Normal> { 0 0 -1 }
        <RGBA> { 0.5 0.5 0.5 1 }
      }
      <Vertex> 9 {
        0.5 1.02481 -0.5
        <Normal> { 0 0 -1 }
        <RGBA> { 0.5 0.5 0.5 1 }
      }
      <Vertex> 10 {
        0.5 0.0248081 -0.5
        <Normal> { 0 0 -1 }
        <RGBA> { 0.5 0.5 0.5 1 }
      }
      <Vertex> 11 {
        -0.5 0.0248081 -0.5
        <Normal> { 0 0 -1 }
        <RGBA> { 0.5 0.5 0.5 1 }
      }
      <Vertex> 12 {
        -0.5 0.0248081 -0.5
        <Normal> { 0 -1 0 }
        <RGBA> { 0.5 0.5 0.5 1 }
      }
      <Vertex> 13 {
        0.5 0.0248081 -0.5
        <Normal> { 0 -1 0 }
        <RGBA> { 0.5 0.5 0.5 1 }
      }
      <Vertex> 14 {
        0.5 0.0248081 0.5
        <Normal> { 0 -1 0 }
        <RGBA> { 0.5 0.5 0.5 1 }
      }
      <Vertex> 15 {
        -0.5 0.0248081 0.5
        <Normal> { 0 -1 0 }
        <RGBA> { 0.5 0.5 0.5 1 }
      }
      <Vertex> 16 {
        0.5 0.0248081 0.5
        <Normal> { 1 0 0 }
        <RGBA> { 0.5 0.5 0.5 1 }
      }
      <Vertex> 17 {
        0.5 0.0248081 -0.5
        <Normal> { 1 0 0 }
        <RGBA> { 0.5 0.5 0.5 1 }
      }
      <Vertex> 18 {
        0.5 1.02481 -0.5
        <Normal> { 1 0 0 }
        <RGBA> { 0.5 0.5 0.5 1 }
      }
      <Vertex> 19 {
        0.5 1.02481 0.5
        <Normal> { 1 0 0 }
        <RGBA> { 0.5 0.5 0.5 1 }
      }
      <Vertex> 20 {
        -0.5 0.0248081 -0.5
        <Normal> { -1 0 0 }
        <RGBA> { 0.5 0.5 0.5 1 }
      }
      <Vertex> 21 {
        -0.5 0.0248081 0.5
        <Normal> { -1 0 0 }
        <RGBA> { 0.5 0.5 0.5 1 }
      }
      <Vertex> 22 {
        -0.5 1.02481 0.5
        <Normal> { -1 0 0 }
        <RGBA> { 0.5 0.5 0.5 1 }
      }
      <Vertex> 23 {
        -0.5 1.02481 -0.5
        <Normal> { -1 0 0 }
        <RGBA> { 0.5 0.5 0.5 1 }
      }
    }
    <Polygon> {
      <Normal> { 0 0 1 }
      <VertexRef> { 0 1 2 3 <Ref> { top_cubeShape.verts } }
    }
    <Polygon> {
      <Normal> { 0 1 0 }
      <VertexRef> { 4 5 6 7 <Ref> { top_cubeShape.verts } }
    }
    <Polygon> {
      <Normal> { 0 0 -1 }
      <VertexRef> { 8 9 10 11 <Ref> { top_cubeShape.verts } }
    }
    <Polygon> {
      <Normal> { 0 -1 0 }
      <VertexRef> { 12 13 14 15 <Ref> { top_cubeShape.verts } }
    }
    <Polygon> {
      <Normal> { 1 0 0 }
      <VertexRef> { 16 17 18 19 <Ref> { top_cubeShape.verts } }
    }
    <Polygon> {
      <Normal> { -1 0 0 }
      <VertexRef> { 20 21 22 23 <Ref> { top_cubeShape.verts } }
    }
  }
  <Group> bottom_cube {
    <VertexPool> bottom_cubeShape.verts {
      <Vertex> 0 {
        -0.5 1.11378 0.5
        <Normal> { 0 0 1 }
        <RGBA> { 0.5 0.5 0.5 1 }
      }
      <Vertex> 1 {
        0.5 1.11378 0.5
        <Normal> { 0 0 1 }
        <RGBA> { 0.5 0.5 0.5 1 }
      }
      <Vertex> 2 {
        0.5 2.11378 0.5
        <Normal> { 0 0 1 }
        <RGBA> { 0.5 0.5 0.5 1 }
      }
      <Vertex> 3 {
        -0.5 2.11378 0.5
        <Normal> { 0 0 1 }
        <RGBA> { 0.5 0.5 0.5 1 }
      }
      <Vertex> 4 {
        -0.5 2.11378 0.5
        <Normal> { 0 1 0 }
        <RGBA> { 0.5 0.5 0.5 1 }
      }
      <Vertex> 5 {
        0.5 2.11378 0.5
        <Normal> { 0 1 0 }
        <RGBA> { 0.5 0.5 0.5 1 }
      }
      <Vertex> 6 {
        0.5 2.11378 -0.5
        <Normal> { 0 1 0 }
        <RGBA> { 0.5 0.5 0.5 1 }
      }
      <Vertex> 7 {
        -0.5 2.11378 -0.5
        <Normal> { 0 1 0 }
        <RGBA> { 0.5 0.5 0.5 1 }
      }
      <Vertex> 8 {
        -0.5 2.11378 -0.5
        <Normal> { 0 0 -1 }
        <RGBA> { 0.5 0.5 0.5 1 }
      }
      <Vertex> 9 {
        0.5 2.11378 -0.5
        <Normal> { 0 0 -1 }
        <RGBA> { 0.5 0.5 0.5 1 }
      }
      <Vertex> 10 {
        0.5 1.11378 -0.5
        <Normal> { 0 0 -1 }
        <RGBA> { 0.5 0.5 0.5 1 }
      }
      <Vertex> 11 {
        -0.5 1.11378 -0.5
        <Normal> { 0 0 -1 }
        <RGBA> { 0.5 0.5 0.5 1 }
      }
      <Vertex> 12 {
        -0.5 1.11378 -0.5
        <Normal> { 0 -1 0 }
        <RGBA> { 0.5 0.5 0.5 1 }
      }
      <Vertex> 13 {
        0.5 1.11378 -0.5
        <Normal> { 0 -1 0 }
        <RGBA> { 0.5 0.5 0.5 1 }
      }
      <Vertex> 14 {
        0.5 1.11378 0.5
        <Normal> { 0 -1 0 }
        <RGBA> { 0.5 0.5 0.5 1 }
      }
      <Vertex> 15 {
        -0.5 1.11378 0.5
        <Normal> { 0 -1 0 }
        <RGBA> { 0.5 0.5 0.5 1 }
      }
      <Vertex> 16 {
        0.5 1.11378 0.5
        <Normal> { 1 0 0 }
        <RGBA> { 0.5 0.5 0.5 1 }
      }
      <Vertex> 17 {
        0.5 1.11378 -0.5
        <Normal> { 1 0 0 }
        <RGBA> { 0.5 0.5 0.5 1 }
      }
      <Vertex> 18 {
        0.5 2.11378 -0.5
        <Normal> { 1 0 0 }
        <RGBA> { 0.5 0.5 0.5 1 }
      }
      <Vertex> 19 {
        0.5 2.11378 0.5
        <Normal> { 1 0 0 }
        <RGBA> { 0.5 0.5 0.5 1 }
      }
      <Vertex> 20 {
        -0.5 1.11378 -0.5
        <Normal> { -1 0 0 }
        <RGBA> { 0.5 0.5 0.5 1 }
      }
      <Vertex> 21 {
        -0.5 1.11378 0.5
        <Normal> { -1 0 0 }
        <RGBA> { 0.5 0.5 0.5 1 }
      }
      <Vertex> 22 {
        -0.5 2.11378 0.5
        <Normal> { -1 0 0 }
        <RGBA> { 0.5 0.5 0.5 1 }
      }
      <Vertex> 23 {
        -0.5 2.11378 -0.5
        <Normal> { -1 0 0 }
        <RGBA> { 0.5 0.5 0.5 1 }
      }
    }
    <Polygon> {
      <Normal> { 0 0 1 }
      <VertexRef> { 0 1 2 3 <Ref> { bottom_cubeShape.verts } }
    }
    <Polygon> {
      <Normal> { 0 1 0 }
      <VertexRef> { 4 5 6 7 <Ref> { bottom_cubeShape.verts } }
    }
    <Polygon> {
      <Normal> { 0 0 -1 }
      <VertexRef> { 8 9 10 11 <Ref> { bottom_cubeShape.verts } }
    }
    <Polygon> {
      <Normal> { 0 -1 0 }
      <VertexRef> { 12 13 14 15 <Ref> { bottom_cubeShape.verts } }
    }
    <Polygon> {
      <Normal> { 1 0 0 }
      <VertexRef> { 16 17 18 19 <Ref> { bottom_cubeShape.verts } }
    }
    <Polygon> {
      <Normal> { -1 0 0 }
      <VertexRef> { 20 21 22 23 <Ref> { bottom_cubeShape.verts } }
    }
  }
  <Joint> top_joint {
    <Transform> {
      <Matrix4> {
        0 -0.999815 -0.0192272 0
        0 0.0192272 -0.999815 0
        1 0 0 0
        0 2.09923 0.0302774 1
      }
    }
    <Joint> middle_joint {
      <Transform> {
        <Matrix4> {
          0.999815 -0.0192272 0 0
          0.0192272 0.999815 0 0
          0 0 1 0
          1.04981 0 0 1
        }
      }
      <Joint> bottom_joint {
        <Transform> {
          <Matrix4> {
            0 0 1 0
            -1 0 0 0
            0 -1 0 0
            1.02943 0 0 1
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

I called this to export the animation and here’s the result:
maya2egg2008 -v -a chan -uo cm -trans all -cn cubes -o ‘C:/maya/cubes_anim.egg’ ‘C:/maya/cubes.mb’

<CoordinateSystem> { Y-Up }
<Table> {
  <Bundle> cubes {
    <Table> "<skeleton>" {
      <Table> top_joint {
        <Xfm$Anim_S$> xform {
          <Scalar> fps { 24 }
          <Char*> order { srpht }
          <S$Anim> h { <V> { 90 } }
          <S$Anim> r { <V> { 88.8983 } }
          <S$Anim> y { <V> { 2.09923 } }
          <S$Anim> z { <V> { 0.0302774 } }
        }
        <Table> middle_joint {
          <Xfm$Anim_S$> xform {
            <Scalar> fps { 24 }
            <Char*> order { srpht }
            <S$Anim> h {
              <V> {
                0 3.59214 7.5624 11.8077 16.2249 20.711 25.1627 29.477
                33.5508 37.2809 40.5642 43.2974 45.3774 46.7011 47.1652
                46.0652 43.0241 38.4301 32.6716 26.1369 19.2143 12.2919
                5.75776 0
              }
            }
            <S$Anim> p {
              <V> {
                -0 0.0690342 0.145009 0.225466 0.307861 0.389664
                0.468482 0.542172 0.608939 0.667381 0.716489 0.755583
                0.784186 0.801852 0.807946 0.793419 0.75175 0.684827
                0.594778 0.48537 0.362614 0.234572 0.11054 -0
              }
            }
            <S$Anim> r {
              <V> {
                1.10171 1.09954 1.09212 1.07839 1.05782 1.0305 0.997148
                0.959079 0.91814 0.876581 0.83692 0.801803 0.773851
                0.755531 0.74901 0.764382 0.805398 0.86302 0.927376
                0.989038 1.04033 1.07645 1.09615 1.10171
              }
            }
            <S$Anim> x { <V> { 1.04981 } }
          }
          <Table> bottom_joint {
            <Xfm$Anim_S$> xform {
              <Scalar> fps { 24 }
              <Char*> order { srpht }
              <S$Anim> h { <V> { -90 } }
              <S$Anim> p { <V> { 90 } }
              <S$Anim> x { <V> { 1.02943 } }
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
    <Table> morph {
    }
  }
}

This is my python script:

import direct.directbase.DirectStart
from direct.actor.Actor import Actor

base.setBackgroundColor(0, 0, 0)
base.disableMouse()
actor = Actor("cubes", {'move' : 'cubes_anim'})
actor.loop('move')
actor.reparentTo(render)
base.camera.setPos(1, -15, 1)
run()
2

Here is the command window output from when I ran Pview and the python script. I had set notify-level-chan to debug.

C:\maya>pview cubes.egg cubes_anim.egg

Known pipe types:
  wglGraphicsPipe
(all display modules loaded.)
Loading cubes.egg
Loading cubes_anim.egg
:chan(debug): Found 1 anims:
 cubes
:chan(debug): Found 1 parts:
 cubes
:chan: Attempting to bind CharacterJointBundle cubes to AnimBundle cubes, 24 frames at 24 fps
:chan: Part cubes has 1 children, while matching anim node has 2:
:chan:   anim has morph, not in part.
:chan(debug): binding top_joint to AnimChannelMatrixXfmTable top_joint, is_included = 1
:chan(debug): binding middle_joint to AnimChannelMatrixXfmTable middle_joint, is_included = 1
:chan(debug): binding bottom_joint to AnimChannelMatrixXfmTable bottom_joint, is_included = 1
:chan: Bind succeeded, index 0; accessible as cubes
933 frames in 17.1699 seconds.
54.3393 fps average (18.4029ms)

C:\maya>python cubes.py

DirectStart: Starting the game.
Warning: DirectNotify: category 'Interval' already exists
Known pipe types:
  wglGraphicsPipe
(all display modules loaded.)
:util(warning): Adjusting global clock's real time by 1.08717e-005 seconds.
:chan(debug): Found 0 anims:

:chan(debug): Found 1 parts:
 cubes
:chan: Part cubes has 1 children, while matching anim node has 2:
:chan:   anim has morph, not in part.
:chan(debug): binding top_joint to AnimChannelMatrixXfmTable top_joint, is_included = 1
:chan(debug): binding middle_joint to AnimChannelMatrixXfmTable middle_joint, is_included = 1
:chan(debug): binding bottom_joint to AnimChannelMatrixXfmTable bottom_joint, is_included = 1
:util(warning): Adjusting global clock's real time by -0.0748401 seconds.
3

Your vertices aren’t assigned to the joints in the exported egg file.

Whatever means you used in Maya to assign the vertices to the joints in Maya, that binding is evidently not understood by maya2egg. I understand there might be lots of ways to do this sort of thing in Maya. Try a different way.

Not being a Maya user, that’s unfortunately the best advice I can give you. Perhaps another Maya user can give you more specific advice here.

David

4

Thanks drwr. I had a feeling it was something like that but sometimes things don’t hit home until someone else says it. I’ll continue to play around with it. Thanks again.