Mocap Y-up To Z-up

[dawn3]

Dear Reader,

I'm trying to use some some freely available mocap files for an unreal 3 mod. The only application i have is maya. I know motion builder will do fine in converting but i don't have it.

The animation files are delivered in y-up and i need them in z-up.

I tried the following:
Importing and exporting with fbx (and swap axis) does not seem to work
Grouping and 90 rotate works but is not accepeted by unreal (not baked)
Compensating animation clips work but are hard to set-up

Maybe someone knows a simple repeatable solution for this

Regards,
Dawn3

[doug-hines]

Group and rotate is the correct way to do this.
Then simply re-bake the curves on "selected" joints

[dawn3]

Thanks.aaargh so simple

edit... when I use "Edit > Keys > Bake Simulation > " and ungroup the group rotate. the mocap file switches back to Y-up.

It look like baking simulation is not what you meant?

Regards,

Dawn3

[doug-hines]

So this is what we had to do in our studio.
Open your file, set the scene settings to ZUp.
Group all the objects in your scene (except your skin, it will double transform)
Rotate to the desired position
select all your joints, bake simulation on "selected" and "from channel box" for rotations only.
Ungroup the objects and your whole scene will now be ZUp

note: You may have to do a separate bake for skeletal root translation data

[dawn3]

Thanks a lot for your help, but i'm still not able to do it right. There is something that I'm doing wrong for sure ;-(

I have a rig with mocap data attached, it uses y-up.

My steps taken:
Select the root node and group it, the bone hierargy is now influenced by the group.
Rotate the group node 90 X. (if i hit play with the animation z is up)
In the hypergraph hierargy select all bones (not the group node)
Go to the channel box and select the Rotate X,Y and Z channels.
Go to "Edit > Keys > Bake Simulation > " and bake simulation on "selected" and "from channel box" for rotations only
After this is finished upgroup the group node

This gives me y-up again???

Thanks in advance

[doug-hines]

Ah, did not realize there was a rig involved.

Ok, now that your keys are baked, remove the rig-related nodes. Just because your joints have baked data doesn't mean it will work if you have any IK or constraints; they will override your joint rotation.