Weekly Blogposts
Week 2: Working with Alex in Unity
NOTE: The blogposts for Week 2 are relatively brief. This is due to the hecticness of the week - with many tasks to complete, I was not able to dedicate as much time to blogposts.
Monday:
Tried to set up Alex as SmartBody-controlled character within Unity environment; in process of modifying scripts attached to example character, Brad, so that they work w/ Alex and his animations. Tried to convert Alex facial models into DAE format using Open Collada; Open Collada does not support Maya 2012. Maya 2012 has built-in DAE exporter - but seems to be problems w/ produced files? Will verify. Getting character animation to work in Unity is tricky (don't know whether imported sk file is OK, which lines of code are OK to alter/delete). However, ICT support through Google Group has confirmed that for our purposes, most alterations only need to occur in the Unity character scripts. Hopefully, Google Group can also help resolve current animation issue.
Tuesday:
Alex now able to animate within Unity; re-created classroom setting within Unity (necessary b/c of VHT packages required for animation).
Alex's face has been zombie-fied - need to figure out root of problem. Will either need to re-import .sk or else change bone alignment. Will also need to figure out how to get Alex set up to speak/interact with user
Wednesday:
Continued trying to fix Alex's skeleton in Unity. Tried several things: 1. using new skeleton derived from existing (not egg) model; 2. re-importing skeleton using FbxToSKconverter and Maya's built in converter. Neither method worked. Also tried comparing skeletons ofEggAlex withAlexNoAnims but comparison inconclusive.
Thursday:
Able to successfully test Alex's facial animations in Unity (but only using fbx files and own script, not through SB). Skeleton continues to cause problems - may try to import a new neutral pose. Started working in Photoshop on images for app used in Samantha's experiment. Alex's skeleton still being stubborn. Unity still freezes.
Friday:
Worked on creatures.
Finished editing 10 more "creatures" in Photoshop. Converted/exported Alex facial expressions into .dae format. Still need to resolve Alex's neutral face issue - will export one frame of neutral face and try in Unity
