.FBX models not showing up when imported

[Schoemanns]

I've tried uploading several .fbx character models to Mesh2Motion and when I do the file appears to upload correctly but then nothing shows up in the interface. Anyone have any idea as to why that would be happening? Very excited to share this tool with my computer science students for their VR developement projects but I know they'll want to animate their own models so I'll need to figure out that work flow. Any advice would be appreciated and thanks for developing such an exciting open source project!

[scottpetrovic]

@Schoemanns - you might have to share one of your FBX models so I can test out what you are seeing. It works for all the FBX models I have tested, but there is probably some feature or variation that the tool isn't handling.

[Schoemanns]

Hi there! Thanks for taking a look! It was this model from Kenny.nl which I got with this pack
Model 2.zip

I also tried this one which gave a warning for being too large, and was able to load but made the interface freeze on the upload screen.

Banana Man.fbx.zip

Again, so excited that you made this and already referred my students to it as a place to find animations for birds and 4 legged animal models.

[scottpetrovic]

@Schoemanns - There are a few things I see, so let's go over them one at a time.

I am using the "Use your model" page with these tests.

1. Kenney.nl model. This model imports, but the texture file is not embedded in the FBX, so the result is invisible. Before you upload the model, you can check the "debug" option. This will add a default material to the model so you can see it. After imported, you can press the "X" rotate button a few times to orient it correctly so it is facing forward. I need to look into why the app doesn't recognize the missing texture.

2. Banana man. The application knows about this missing texture for some reason on load, so it is swapping the material by default. This mesh is already rigged, which is creating some rotation issues with the ball joint mesh. The "Upload your model" option assumes you want use the rigging functionality in the app. This is why the ball joints mesh is oriented 90 degrees facing down. This model is not really really meant to use on this "use your model" page with how it was already rigged.

I probably need to make a YouTube video on how to clean up models or variations that might exist before importing them.

Teaching direction
You mentioned "they'll want to animate their own models so I'll need to figure out that work flow". If the students are interested in learning how to animate, there are a couple videos I made with how to take the source animation Blender files and make custom animations. I also provide all the Blender, models, rigs, and animations as well on Github under a CC0 license.

Custom animations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37jW10Nk8aY

All Blender assets: https://github.com/Mesh2Motion/mesh2motion-assets

Let me know if they have any feedback.

[Schoemanns]

Thank you so much for the resources! Again, awesome project!!!

[scottpetrovic]

I made a ticket in the backlog to figure out why the Kenney.nl model isn't recognizing the missing texture. #105