modifying an fbx animation

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Jim Counts asked Jul 12, '16 Ben Wilson commented Oct 12, '16

modifying an fbx animation

This question is regarding the modification of the operator animation fbx file (the new guy). So I was able to copy the OperatorMale.fbx sequence and open it in MAX, and edit the mesh in the walkloaded sequence, to represent operator pushing a cart. I set the size (100x to big), did the offsets to make the cart look right on the operator, and got it working great in Flexsim, so I thought I was done.

Unfortunately, once I saved and closed the model, and reopened, the entire animation sequence was lost, and only t man would gumby slide around the screen. I could kill the operator, drag out a new one and point him to my custom fbx file and all was fixed...until I closed the model and reopened again.

I found a thread from Phil Bobo via Tyson that eluded to creating .xaf files in max, which may be a clue and we will try this, but I also cant ignore the presence of a .xbx file for all associated .fbx files in the fs3d/operators folders...my custom .fbx file doesn't have a coinciding .xbx file, so maybe that is the problem, but to my knowledge, .max doesn't create these...any help would be appreciated, thanks in advance!

Jim Counts

Software Version:

FlexSim 16.1.0

custom operator animation sequence

· 2

Phil BoBo ♦♦ commented · Jul 12, 2016 at 04:49 PM

Please post the associated files (the shape files and the model) so that we can replicate what you are seeing.

The xbx file is a text file that you can see in Notepad. It is used to automatically set the offsets and sizes of the object when you load it (so that you don't have to manually set its size back to 100x smaller). See the user manual section 3D Media > Preparing a 3D File > XRL Files. (You typically use 'x' text files with wrl shapes to set their sizes, but you can use that same method with any 3d format FlexSim imports, hence .fbx has an .xbx file with offsets in it.) Either way, I don't think that file has to do with the error you are describing.

The error you are describing sounds like your animation clips aren't configured correctly when you close and reopen the model. We'll need to replicate the issue to figure out why.

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Jim Counts commented · Jul 12, 2016 at 05:02 PM

ahh, that makes sense about the .xbx files, thanks for clarifying Phil...here is a model and the custom fbx file(s)...the cart is just static, the operator fbx contains the custom animation....I tried to preserve as much of the existing operator as possible. if you add a new operator and point to operator male2.fbx, it should work as desired until you close and reopen the file. Thanks again!

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test-2.fsm (71.2 KiB)

towlinecart.fbx (174.0 KiB)

operatormale2.fbx (1.1 MiB)

Answer 1 · 2016-07-12T18:21:59Z

Phil BoBo answered Jul 12, '16 Ben Wilson commented Oct 12, '16

The issue is that you didn't create a new set of animation clips for this shape.

When you loaded the shape onto the Operator, its animations were still tied to the animation clips of the default shape. Because your animations line up with the timing of those clips, it seemed to work fine.

When you reloaded the model, it tried to find the animation clips that were based on the new shape, and then didn't find any.

Because you are using the same clips with the same time values, you can copy the OperatorMale.fsa file and rename the copy OperatorMale2.fsa. This will make it load the default clips with your shape. The fsa file is a FlexSim tree file containing the animation clips with a special extension that tells the 3D importer to load that tree file as the default animation clips for that file.

Typically, if you had edited the animation clips after loading the file, they would be saved with the model in MODEL:/Tools/AnimationClips.

If you save the animation clips as an .fsa file and the importer loads them in, then they get stored in MAIN:/project/exec/globals/AnimationClips.

You should copy both the OperatorMale.fsa and the OperatorMale.xbx and then rename them OperatorMale2.fsa and OperatorMale2.xbx so that when you load your shape, it scales it properly and imports the default animation clips for your shape.

empty-animation-clips.png (408.8 KiB)

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Jim Counts commented · Jul 12, 2016 at 06:52 PM

Outstanding, that does the trick...so just because the .fbx file contains the multiple clips, you still need to set them up via the add new clips...I only got lucky that my hack of your guy worked based on timing based off of the previous shapes .fsa... Thanks a lot Phil, this trick will come in handy, much appreciated!

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martin.j commented · Oct 12, 2016 at 10:19 AM

I am not sure I understand how to make the *.fsa file? I dont see any place to save or load them nor can I find this importer that is mentioned above.

I have used Mixamo to create a completely new operator model and have added a number of animations to it. I have created a .fbx file from the operator and have loaded it into flexsim (replacing the normal OperatorMale.fbx file) I have then created a new set of animations clips for the New operator and yes I see them in the TOOLS/AnimationClips folder. It all works fine until I try to use the operator in another model. The animation Clips dont follow the operator.

The question is now, how do I make a FSA file to go with my operator and get it loaded in automatically? Ideally what I wanted to do is create a library with my new operators in it so I could easily load in various operators with different animations for different tasks.

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Phil BoBo ♦♦ martin.j commented · Oct 12, 2016 at 03:52 PM

The .fsa file is just a .t file (FlexSim tree file) with the extension renamed to .fsa.

Use the tree view right-click option Node > Load Into Node to load an .fsa file into the tree to see how it is structured.

Use the tree view right-click option Node > Save Node As to save the clips at a tree file, then rename it to .fsa.

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