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Extracted controllers only work once

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#1

Hi,

I’m extracting custom shapes and rebuilding my rig, but it only works the first time I rebuild. When building a 2nd or more time from the same guide in the Maya file any controller that has been extracted fails to build and there’s no controller at all.

So for a rig where all shapes have been extracted there are no controls whatsoever for any build after the first. Deleting the shapes under controller_org reverts the shapes from not appearing at all to building as default.

Current work around is to delete all extracted shapes under controller_org in the outliner, select all controllers and re-extract.

The rig will then build correctly exactly once before the extracted shapes fail to work again.

Please help. If I forget to re-extract I’ve lost all my custom shapes.

#2

That’s strange. But that kind of reminds me of this problem. Running into odd crash when trying to load a built rig - #8 by c17vfx

  1. Are you using proxy attributes? (In short, I don’t recommend it. They are so full of bugs. Maybe they are fixed in Maya 2020, but I don’t know. I avoid them.)
  2. What version of Maya are you using?
  3. Do you have one single “controllers_org” in your scene? Is there any chance that name is not unique? Do you have multiple rigs or guides in your scene?
  4. What version of mGear are you using?
  5. Are you seeing any errors or warnings when you build?
  6. You said “deleting the shapes under controller_org”. So
    A) The shapes are still there under the group?
    B) Is it named controller_org or controllers_org? The correct name should be controllers_org.
#3

  1. I’m not quite sure about proxy attributes TBH. Most of the information I’ve managed to find is outside my limited technical understanding. It does look like my issue and the one above might be related.

  2. Maya 2017

3 Only a single Guide structure in the scene

  1. mGear 3.6.0 (If I need to update is there an easy procedure?)

  2. I’m getting a guide loaded from hierarchy message but no errors

6a So something I discovered a few minutes ago. Outliner icons for objects under controllers_org are usually curves. If I save the version of the Maya file unable to recreate the guides, when I reopen the Maya file the icon has been replaced by a group icon. So it appears they are being deleted during the first build process. This also explains why they work (again only once) if I delete the curves and re-extract them.

6b My mistake. It’s always been named controllers_org and I miss-typed

#4

#1. Look on your main guide settings. Is “Add Internal Proxy Channels” checked? If so, uncheck it. Uncheck it with fire!

#4. 3.6.0 is the latest release version. But in general, you should mention this when you ask for help. Some people can remember old bugs from different versions.

#6. So something is seemingly deleting your shapes? Are you doing anything like “Optimize Scene Size”? Are you running any PRE or POST Python scripts in your rig build?

You need to find out why and when your shapes are getting deleted. Are they ALL getting deleted? Or just some of them? It could very well be proxy attributes causing the problem. Because if it is making a connection to the controllers_org shapes, when you delete the rig, it might delete the shapes as well.

#5

Firstly thank you for speedy responses. Much appreciated :slight_smile:

#1 I unchecked “Add internal Proxy Channels” but no change

#4 Will do :slight_smile:

#6 I’m not doing any pre or post actions. Optimize Scene size is always run manually? if so I’m not doing this. I don’t know if there’s a background process triggered by mGear that might do this.

The shapes are getting deleted during the build process. (I’ve confirmed they’re there before the first build and there but empty after the build). This is why I can build exactly once with shapes being created but not thereafter. So my work around is currently to select all controllers and extract shapes before deleting my rig and doing a rebuild. This will work so long as I remember to do so and so far, so good.

#6

OK I have another more reliable work-around. I can duplicate the extracted shapes and ues these to replace the the broken ones before building. not perfect, but less prone to human error :slight_smile:

This information might be useful also

#7

I suspect this might be an old Maya 2017 bug. It really shouldn’t happen, and sorry for your troubles.

If you’d like further help, would you be able to send me your guide before building and before the shapes get deleted? I can’t promise I have any time to install Maya 2017. But I can look and see if anything is weird in your scene in Maya 2018.

(And you can delete any of your character geometry if you can’t share it. I just want to see the guide if possible.)

#8

Message sent :slight_smile:

#9

Well, in Maya 2018, it doesn’t seem to cause any problem for me. I would suggest you test 2018 or higher - just to know - even if you can’t upgrade for some reason. Sorry I don’t have any more answers.

You do still have Proxy attrs checked in the guide you sent me. You said you didn’t know what proxy attrs were, so I highly suggest deactivating them. They come with strange bugs and annoying side-effects for animators.

#10

Thanks for following up.

I did switch the Proxy animation switch to off during testing, but you obliviously got a version with it still turned on. Apologies.

Unfortunately Maya 2017 is part of our pipeline and I can’t take it up a version. I’ll test this in 2018 when I have the chance.

At least I know the shapes can be manually replaced, so I have a robust work-around :slight_smile: