Auto Setup for Blender v2.4.0 is now released - Action Slots & Animations

[Victor.Soupday]

CC/iC Blender Tools 2.4.0

Github:	Product Page	Release Notes
Online Documentation:	Documentation
Blender Auto Setup Add-on:	Blender
CC/iC Blender Pipeline Plug-in:	CC4 / iC8

Changelog

2.4.0

Blender Add-on

• Displacement update for Skin and Pbr materials.
• Displacement added for Teeth and Hair.
• Clean empty mesh shape-keys and vertex groups on import (optional).
• Motion imports use actions slots for a single action for the entire character (optional).
  • Depending on action options, motions will refactor into Single action or multiple actions for each object.
  • Refactoring will also strip key-frames from bones and keys that have drivers.
  • Unused bones and shape-key tracks will be placed into unassigned slots or actions.
  • Motion imports set the preview range.
  • Add empty keyframes for non-animated shape keys (optional).
  • Function to clean up duplicate keyframes.
  • Function to add a new empty motion set.
  • Motion, Pose and Sequence action import options:
    • New - Add new motion for the character.
    • Replace - Replace existing motion.
    • Overwrite - Overwrite keyframes of existing animation with the imported motion.
  • Motion, Pose and Sequence frame import options:
    • Start - Import animations to frame 1.
    • Current - Import animations to the current frame in the scene.
    • Match - Import animations to the same frames as in CC / iClone (+1 for Blender)
• Rig drivers add missing expression blendshapes.
• FaceRig collection uses Rigify Face collection.
  • Can now be enabled / disabled with the Rigify UI controls.
• Standard eyelash disabled when HD Eyelash detected.
• Fix to Facerig following root position.
• Fix to shape key baking on export.
• Fix to bad vertex weights when skinning the rigify face rig on SubD 1/2 characters.
• Fix to material merge (InstaLod) character detection.
• Fix to baking node socket strength values from Color/Vector inputs.

CC/iC Plug-in

• Fix/Update to mesh replace.
• Fix to expression import/update for Go-CC.
• DataLink motion exports use Blender FPS (when connected).
• Fix for iClone 8.7 accessory export API issue.

Notes

A few API changes in the most recent CC/iClone versions broke much of the pipeline so this should fix that.

The biggest change is that Blender will use the new action slots for a single action for the entire character. This is an option that can be disabled in the Import Options, and it will create separate actions for each animated object in the character as it used to.

The motion will refactor itself to the character when Loaded, combining into a single action or splitting into multiple actions as needed for the chosen options. Any bones or shape-keys that have drivers (or don’t exist on the character) will have their animation curves stripped from the resulting action, and placed into an Unused slot or action. This way blender doesn’t do any needless calculation for animation curves that are never actually used.

In addition to this there are options to determine how to import the motions:

• add a completely New motion.
• Replace the existing motion.
• Overwrite the existing motion with the frames of the incoming motion.

And options to set which starting frame to import the motions to:

• Start - import to frame 1.
• Current - import to the current frame in the Blender scene timeline.
• Match - import to the matching frame from the iClone/CC project (+1 as Blender starts at frame 1)

These options work for Pose, Sequence and Motion imports across the DataLink. So you can send poses and motions from any frame - to any frame in the Blender animation and you can send them to the same action or create new or replace actions.

As always. Keep an eye out and report any tracebacks in the system console. That’s the surest sign something has gone wrong and needs fixing.

Known Issues:

• For many older characters, the facial profile has bad expression bone data. This data is crucial for setting up the facial rig.
  If your character has this problem, then typically, when Rigified, the eyes wont move and sometimes the jaw:
  Eyes not rotating with face rig in blender
  The only real solution is to replace the facial profile on the character.

[Victor.Soupday]

Install Instructions

This version is not on the hub yet, so to get it working requires a manual install

Blender:

Release CC/iC Blender Tools Add-on 2.4.0 · soupday/cc_blender_tools

• Download the Source code.zip
• Remove old version from add-ons.
• Install the zip from Preferences > Add-ons : Install from Disk as usual.

CC4/5/iC8:

Release CC/iC Blender Pipeline Plugin 2.4.0 ·...

• Download the Source code.zip
• Unzip to somewhere.
• Run the install.bat inside the unzipped folder.

[rl1]

Victor,

Super excited for Blender side Displacement fix (no more zombies!) SD EyeLash disable and char clean up!

Question - Any changes to Blender Pipeline Export? Textures or otherwise? I noticed Char’s without “Bake Morph Siders” exported different geometry stats (tris/verts) using Pipeline Export than native CC5 File > Export FBX on previous iterations.

You absolutely rock man, thanks for everything you do!

[jules_324187]

I’ve been having issues with the ‘Export Character to Blender’ Option in CC4.66. When I click the button no window appears. All other options appear to be working correctly. I’ve tried reinstalling the plugin and reinstalling CC4 entirely and it hasn’t fixed it. I don’t know if window is appearing somewhere outside of my screen or if it’s not opening it all.

Hope you can help!

[raytsao_RL]

Hi jules_324187,

We’d like to confirm which feature you are using.

Also, could you please let us know the exact Pipeline and Plugin versions you are currently using? This will help us reproduce the issue on our side.

Our testing shows that the feature is working normally, so we’d like to make sure we’re working under the same environment.

Thank you for your assistance.

[jules_324187]

I’m using CC4.66 with Blender pipeline version 2.4. When I click export in either the toolbar or through the plugins menu, no window appears. Potentially it’s being render opened off screen but I don’t know how to verify or rectify that.

I would provide a screenshot but I can’t post with images or links for some reason.

[raytsao_RL]

Hi Jules_324187,

Sorry, there isn’t currently a feature to reset the window position.

If the issue is that the window has moved outside the screen, as you described, we recommend reinstalling the Pipeline and Auto Setup. This should resolve the issue.

If the problem still persists afterward, please let us know.

[jules_324187]

I’ve tried uninstalling and reinstalling the pipeline as well as the CC4 entirely

Unfortunately it didn’t solve the problem. The window appears correctly in iclone, so I can use that but so far I’ve just been exporting using CC4’s build it export menu. Is there any functionality I’m missing out on from doing it this way?

[Victor.Soupday]

The window location resets every time character creator is restarted, so it’s probably not that.

You could have multiple versions installed and the toolbar/menu is calling code from the wrong version.

Check the folder: \Program Files\Reallusion\Character Creator 4\Bin64\OpenPlugin
If there is more than one “Blender Pipeline Plugin” folder you should remove them all and re-install only the latest plugin.

If not, check the console log for errors: Menu: Script > Console Log.

[Freshness34]

Using the “GoB” button in Blender DataLink 2.4.0 (not GoB - Morph), immediately upon import not having touched the character, Blender sees an “Invalid Character.” I’m using the same 2.4.0 version in Blender.

[Victor.Soupday]

Make sure you haven’t got “Delete Hidden Faces” checked in the DataLink settings.

[Freshness34]

That fixed it! You guys perhaps should put a warning on the UI itself in CC cause that’s a major thing (if it’s already there, I missed it!)

[vitorinius]

Hello everyone,

I am having persistent issues when trying to round-trip characters between Character Creator 4 and Blender (v5.1.2), using the Blender Pipeline plugin (v2.4.0). I am experiencing two different blocking bugs depending on the options selected within the plugin menu.

I did a clean pipeline test where absolutely no modifications or edits were made to the mesh in either CC4 or Blender, yet the issues still occur:

Issue 1 (Workflow using “Export/Import Character” or “DataLink”): When I send the character using the “Export Character to Blender” option or via “DataLink”, everything looks fine in Blender. However, when trying to return to CC4 (using “Import Character from Blender” or the return button), the character imports with severe geometric degradation, looking completely low-poly and deformed.

Issue 2 (Workflow using “Go-B (Morph)”): If I try to use the “Go-B (Morph)” function to work with morphs instead, the model loads in Blender correctly. But when I immediately hit “Go CC” in Blender to return to CC4 without touching a single vertex, the process halts, and CC4 throws a “Failed to create morph” error pointing to the temporary file in the project directory (my Blender project is saved).

I would like a solution for this, please. Any help from the community or the support team would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Artifex_3D]

I am facing an issue with CC4 and Blender DataLink.
Setup:

• CC4
• Blender 5.1.1
• DataLink Plugin 2.4.1

Problem:

• CC4 → Blender works correctly.
• Blender → CC4 using “GO CC” causes faceted/low-poly shading on the character surface.

Notes:

• No topology changes made.
• Tested Shade Smooth and Auto Smooth.
• Tested SubD 0/1/2.
• Same issue even when sending back untouched character.

Please confirm:

1. Is Blender 5.1.1 officially supported?
2. Is this a known DataLink shading/normals issue?
3. Recommended stable Blender version for CC4 workflow?

I have attached screenshots of the issue.

Thank you.

[Victor.Soupday]

Seems to be something Blender 5.1 introduced.

Most likely cause in 5.1 changes:
FBX exporter now also exports shapekey normals, when exporting normals for the base mesh is enabled. This allows to solve some import issues with some game engines.

You can work around this in 5.1 by clearing the Custom Normals data for the CC_Base_Body mesh in the geometry before sending back to CC5:

[Artifex_3D]

it’s working.
Really appreciate the help.

[bryanbrown380]

I am having the same issue.

CC5.1

Blender (v5.1.2)

Blender Pipeline plugin (v2.4.1)

Have you found a fix yet?

[vitorinius]

Hello.

Regarding the low-poly issue when returning from Blender to Character Creator, I have found two workarounds. The first is to apply Clear Custom Normals Data to all body parts, not just CC_Base_Body , as other parts such as the teeth may also appear low poly. The second is to export without applying Clear Custom Normals Data and then subdivide all parts in CC.

I am using Pipeline v2.4.0 , which is the only version currently available to me, not v2.4.1 . I use CC4 , so I am not sure whether a different version is available for CC5.1 .

Regarding the Go-B (Morph) issue, when I click “Go CC” in Blender to send the character back to CC4 without modifying any vertices, the process stops and CC4 displays an “Error creating morph” message. The error points to the temporary file located in the project directory. I have not been able to find a solution and would appreciate any guidance or feedback on this issue.

[Victor.Soupday]

I’m beginning to think that Blender 5.1 broke it’s mesh exporters.

It’s noteworthy that only the meshes with shape keys seem to have this problem (Body, brows, eyes, etc …)

The smoking gun is in the release notes: Pipeline & I/O - Blender Developer Documentation

FBX exporter now also exports shapekey normals, when exporting normals for the base mesh is enabled. This allows to solve some import issues with some game engines. (PR#126491, 0bc5373071).

So, I tested this out. If you delete all the shape keys in these problem meshes, then the base mesh normals import correctly, even with custom normals still present. Obviously, deleting all the shape-keys is a terrible solution …

Any mesh with custom normals and shape-keys will cause this problem with exports from Blender 5.1.

The Morph pipeline has a similar problem. Blender 5.1’s OBJ exporter no longer exports vertex groups as OBJ groups, and the resulting OBJ file is not compatible with the morph creation in CC5.

The original procedure was to import the OBJ groups as vertex groups, and then export the vertex groups as OBJ groups. This way the vertex groups would preserve the mesh vertex order. This no longer works.

There is a new procedure that does work:

• Import: Split by Group.
• Export: Group by Object Groups.

It works slightly differently as it imports individual objects instead of one combined mesh, but it does work. So I will update the add-on with this new method.

The FBX problem, is not something I can completely fix. There are no options in the FBX exporter that fix this. Only removing the custom normals or deleting the shape keys fixes it.

What I can do for now, is automatically clear the custom normals on any meshes with shape-keys. (I will add it as an option so you can turn it off if this ever gets fixed).