FBX Animation anomalies and force closing

djd711 · February 25, 2016, 7:03pm

This could be quite complicated so I will try to explain as simply as possible. We have an object using a follow path constraint and key frames to speed up and slow down in certain places. The animation runs perfectly smooth in blender but once imported in to unreal it seems to jump up and down in places. Also the animation file is causing a lot of stability problems in Unreal for example when trying to export a matinee video the engine force closes. Additionally when the project is saved and then reopened the engine force closes, always with the following error:

[2016.02.25-15.36.41:460][467]MapCheck: Info Map check complete: 0 Error(s), 0 Warning(s), took 50.128ms to complete.
[2016.02.25-15.36.41:461][467]LogFileHelpers: Loading map ‘Tracktest’ took 0.112
[2016.02.25-15.36.41:475][468]Cmd: UpdateLandscapeEditorData -warnings
[2016.02.25-15.36.41:476][468]Cmd: UpdateLandscapeEditorData
[2016.02.25-15.36.43:719][673]LogPackageName:Error: DoesPackageExist: DoesPackageExist FAILED: ‘/Game/anim/Air_anim_air Object_Skeleton’ is not a standard unreal filename or a long path name. Reason: Name may not contain the following characters:
[2016.02.25-15.36.43:719][673]LogLinker:Warning: Can’t find file ‘/Game/anim/Air_anim_air Object_Skeleton’
[2016.02.25-15.36.43:719][673]LogPackageName:Error: DoesPackageExist: DoesPackageExist FAILED: ‘/Game/anim/Air_anim_air Object_Skeleton’ is not a standard unreal filename or a long path name. Reason: Name may not contain the following characters:
[2016.02.25-15.36.43:719][673]LogLinker:Warning: Can’t find file for asset ‘/Game/anim/Air_anim_air Object_Skeleton’ while loading C:/Users/djd711/Documents/Unreal Projects/tracktest/Content/anim/Air_anim.uasset.
[2016.02.25-15.36.43:719][673]LoadErrors:Error: Error /Game/anim/Air_anim : Can’t find file for asset. /Game/anim/Air_anim_air Object_Skeleton
[2016.02.25-15.36.43:719][673]LogPackageName:Error: DoesPackageExist: DoesPackageExist FAILED: ‘/Game/anim/Air_anim_air Object_Skeleton’ is not a standard unreal filename or a long path name. Reason: Name may not contain the following characters:
[2016.02.25-15.36.43:719][673]LogLinker:Warning: Can’t find file ‘/Game/anim/Air_anim_air Object_Skeleton’
[2016.02.25-15.36.43:719][673]LogPackageName:Error: DoesPackageExist: DoesPackageExist FAILED: ‘/Game/anim/Air_anim_air Object_Skeleton’ is not a standard unreal filename or a long path name. Reason: Name may not contain the following characters:
[2016.02.25-15.36.43:719][673]LogLinker:Warning: Can’t find file for asset ‘/Game/anim/Air_anim_air Object_Skeleton’ while loading C:/Users/djd711/Documents/Unreal Projects/tracktest/Content/anim/Air_anim.uasset.
[2016.02.25-15.36.43:826][673]LogPackageName:Error: DoesPackageExist: DoesPackageExist FAILED: ‘/Game/anim/Air_anim_air Object_Skeleton’ is not a standard unreal filename or a long path name. Reason: Name may not contain the following characters:
[2016.02.25-15.36.43:826][673]LogLinker:Warning: Can’t find file ‘/Game/anim/Air_anim_air Object_Skeleton’
[2016.02.25-15.36.43:826][673]LoadErrors: Info Failed to load /Game/anim/Air_anim_air Object_Skeleton.Air_anim_air Object_Skeleton Referenced by Air_anim_air Object
[2016.02.25-15.36.43:826][673]LogPackageName:Error: DoesPackageExist: DoesPackageExist FAILED: ‘/Game/anim/Air_anim_air Object_Skeleton’ is not a standard unreal filename or a long path name. Reason: Name may not contain the following characters:
[2016.02.25-15.36.43:826][673]LogLinker:Warning: Can’t find file for asset ‘/Game/anim/Air_anim_air Object_Skeleton’ while loading NULL.
[2016.02.25-15.36.43:826][673]LogWindows:Error: Windows GetLastError: The operation completed successfully. (0)

The only way I can get the level to load again is if I go in to the content folder and remove the animation files. This just makes no sense as the files are obviously there.

So just to recap, two major issues:

Strange anomalies in the animation despite smooth results in blender
When loading level back up the animation files cause the engine to force close. Trying to export matinee video also causes force close with the same error message.

Here is a video showing the animation problems:

https://www.youtube./watch?v=JlRkyZhO4Po

anonymous_user_36e94fb1 · February 25, 2016, 8:17pm

Couple things I see. The animation file name is too long. That seems to be mentioned a lot in the error. I think unreal limits names to 12 character. Also you might try just moving a camera along a spline without the cube, that might be smoother. Even if later you add a mesh like a car with people in it the camera can still follow the spline. There is a section in the example content on using splines this way.

djd711 · February 26, 2016, 1:35am

Thanks for the suggestions, turns out it was due to a space in the file name instead of an underscore. So that’s the crashing side fixed however the animation is still janky. We are playing with allsorts of settings to try and figure it out however no joy yet. Is there any way to show animation key frames within unreal from imported skeletal meshes? Perhaps if so we could spot where in the timeline the problems are cropping up.

anonymous_user_36e94fb1 · February 26, 2016, 5:33am

Oh i see it now between “air Object”.
Unfortunately Unreal lacks the animation backend to edit individual keyframes, it’s limited ability is to adjust a rigged models bones. It can make new animations in persona with a skinned model but cannot make new bones or edit constraints etc. I would be happy to look at the blend file if you are comfortable sharing. @gmail. is my email if you don’t want your files shared publicly.