I’m new to XSI, and I’ve been trying to get an animation out of it and into Unity. Whenever I export the .fbx and import it into Unity or anything else the animation is missing. Has anyone else had this problem? I don’t think the problem lies in the exporting, I suspect that it is caused by something I’m doing wrong, or not doing that I should before I export. Does any one have any ideas, or suggestions? Thanks in advance.
I use XSI and export animated characters via FBX into Unity without any problems. You can try to re-import your FBX file into XSI to see if your issue is pre-export. Otherwise I’d need more details on the steps you are following, type of animation, and export settings to help more.
Ricko
I can’t give any input on the issue, but I am just wondering do you guys run XSI through Fusion / Parallels or do you boot up in Windows? If it runs via Fusion I think I might end up using XSI as well 
I use XSI on WinXP via bootcamp when I’m modeling, texturing, or animating from scratch for best performance. Then I run XSI inside VMWare on Mac OS when I need to tweak something and jump back and forth into Unity to see the results quickly.
It runs find on VMWare for tweaking purposes but I’m lucky to have a Mac Pro octo and high end graphics card, so I think that is why. Painting vertex weights when rigging seems very slow but that is the only thing I have a problem doing in VMWare. I also tried parallels with the same results. Obviously bootcamp resolves all issues since I’m running native on full hardware.
You can’t beat XSI’s animation features, IMHO. Even though I’m using a licensed copy I’ve heard from my buds at SI they just added support for UE3 and CryEngine2 to their free Mod Tool version. I’ve asked them to consider making a Unity version of the Mod tool for all the users here… of course a Mac OS version would help too.
Ricko
Thanks for replying Ricko. If I re-import the .fbx there is no animation.
I’ll give you a simple example from beginning to end, and you’ll probably see that I’m not doing something that I should be doing.
I create a cube. Key it at frame 1 in its initial position. Go to frame 5, rotate it 45 degrees on the Y axis, and key it. Continue rotating and keying until it has made a full rotation. Set the time line to the last frame.
Then under Animation/Actions/Store I click “Animated Parameters – Fcurves.” Change the “Action Name” to Rotate. Put checks in “Remove Original Animation” and “Add Source as a Clip in the Mixer.” and click OK.
I can then see the Rotate animation listed in Explorer under Scene_Root/Mixer/Sources/Animation, and the track is under Scene_Root/Mixer/Tracks/Animation. If I open the Animation Mixer it is there, and plays perfectly.
Then I go to File/Crosswalk/Export FBX. I name it and click OK. Then the Export window comes up, under Export Options I select “Geometry,” “Shapes,” and “Skins.” I put a check in “Export Animation” and “ Show the Warnings and Errors dialog box.” Then I click OK. It exports without giving any errors or warnings.
Next I start a new scene and import it (I check the “Import Animation” box). I hit the play button and get nothing, I look in the explorer, nothing.
Thanks again.
Petter, I’m running XSI on a PC running XP. I use Synergy (synergy2.sourceforge.net) to share the keyboard and mouse between the PC Mac, and I map a network drive on the PC to a folder on the Mac.
You are doing more than you need to. Try exporting without all the extra steps that force the animation into the mixer. Export it to FBX right after the first steps where you’ve just added the keyframes.
So do this part…
… then add you last key frame and export to FBX. That should do it.
Ricko
That works, but unfortunately I’m trying to use the Voice-O-Matic plugin to create lipsync, and it requires the animation to be in the Mixer. After the lipsync is processed and keyed maybe I could move the animation out of the Mixer and into the model before exporting, but I don’t know how to do that. Any ideas? Thanks.
I haven’t used Voice-o-matic, but if it does its magic on the clip in the mixer, and the FBX exporter doesn’t support animations in the mixer, then you’ll need to apply the modified animation from the mixer back to the model and then remove the clip from the mixer before exporting.
Something like this I’m guessing:
Click here for link
Ricko
P.S. Native dotXSI support in Unity would sure be nice right about now.
This might do it too. I haven’t tried it but it is a VB script for XSI that applies a mixer clip back to the original source.
Edit: Plug-in removed. It was obsolete for 6.0+.
Ricko
Thanks for your help Ricko, I really appreciate it. But, I’m still not having any luck. I’ll continue beating my head against the wall,and report back later.
Yes, .xsi support would be great, I’ve tried it with that format and it works.
Thanks again.
Ricko, what version of XSI are you using? I’m Using Foundation 6.02 with Crosswalk 2.5. I’m wondering if I might be dealing with a bug in this particular version. If any other XSI users read this please let me know what versions of XSI Crosswalk you are using. Thanks.
I have the same versions as you.
Ricko
I use XSI 5.11 Foundation on a PC running WinXP and have no problems with XSI->Unity either, FYI.
-Jeremy
I spent some more time on this today and the key for you is this… if you (or voice-o-matic) are modifying he animation clip in the mixer then you need to apply the modified clip back to the model, and remove all clips from the mixer BEFORE exporting.
The XSI docs for Apply > Action explain the process. You need to freeze the modified animation into its own source (because it was an instance of the animation on the original source) before applying it back to the original model.
Hope that helps. It can work.
Ricko
I just went and checked and I have Crosswalk 2.06 from the XSI Wiki, and I thought that was the latest. Where did you get Crosswalk 2.5?
Ricko
Thanks. Someone needs to update their Wiki.
Ricko
Thanks, Jeremy.
Ricko, I’ll Give that a try now. Thanks.
It works!!! A million thanks to you Ricko. You’ve been a huge help.
Ricko