Tryout of Humanoid Models

This is the documentation for the workflow of the Humanoid Model Animation try out by Keren Chen. Feb 15th. A casual demo. Got composite .fbx model out of blender, trying to get it converted to x3d.

Blender version 2.79, Filmbox format v7.4
side note: .dae export will mess up scales and thus the whole animation

Resources from Mixamo (not all are currently used)

Description link
The swordman model (.fbx, T-pose) Paladin W/Prop J Nordstrom
Jump (.fbx, no skin, 30 fps, no key frame reduction) Jumping
Stand up (.fbx, no skin, 30 fps, no key frame reduction) Crouch To Stand
Walk (.fbx, no skin, 30 fps, no key frame reduction) Start Walking
Turn right while walking (.fbx, no skin, 30 fps, no key frame reduction) Right Turn W_ Briefcase
As there are no direct links at Mixamo, the above links are all to local copies. To find them at Mixamo, go to here for character and here for animations. The names are the same as the link names in the above table.
WARNING: Make sure you first select the corresponding humanoid model and then pick animations to match the rigs! Even if you are not downloading the skin together with animations!

Blender operation steps steps

Step Description
Import humanoid model Through file->import->FBX, import the swordman model (recommended to rename the object and the empty animation in its sub-directory to make life easier)
Import animated rigs/animation Through file->import->FBX, import each of the needed animations (same recommendation as for model)
Apply animation to humanoid rigs (1) get ready At the right top of Blender GUI (outliner), select the model, then at GUI left-bottom switch to Dope sheet; to the right switch from Dope sheet to action editor. It should be empty right now.
Apply animation to humanoid rigs (2) apply first animation To the right again, click on "select action to be linked", and pick the first animation. Click the F button nearby to save the current customed animation in case you cannot find it later.
Apply animation to humanoid rigs (3) apply the rest of the animations To apply the next animation, go back to outliner, select the target animation, and use the "copy selected keyframes" near the right bottom of Blender GUI (still part of the action editor like those in step (1)) to copy target keyframes. Then, select back to the humanoid model, and paste the keyframes at a good point on the timeline in action editor. Repeat until all animations are attached. Use the "F" button as in (2) whenever needed.
Apply animation to humanoid rigs (4) transition between animations As Blender dose auto-transition between keyframes, the transitions between animations should be smooth enough. Manual fixing is going to make it better, but potentially time-consuming.
Apply animation to humanoid rigs (4) push down to NLA timeline Click the "push down" button at bottom of the action editor to send the current animation set to the NLA editor. This has to be done to get the animation exported correctly. To be save, find the saved copy of the animation set in outliner and re-add it to the model as in (2).
Export SELECT ONLY the humanoid's model parts and its rigs. Through file->export->FBX, go to the export window. To the left bottom select "selected object" and "!EXPERIMENTAL! Apply Transform", then export.
Resulting files:
Blender
FilmBox

TODO: add screenshots