FBIK: As good as it looks?

[moose_grunt]

After watching the 3December video, Alias's HyperReal Rigging video, and Alias's Learning Maya FBIK tutorial, the FBIK system seems like the ultimate tool for realistic human animation.

However, as my university just upgraded from Maya 6.5 to 8, myself and my classmates all jumped onto the FBIK bandwagon for our projects, and every single one of us ran into major problems when trying to animate the rig (points on the skin jumping into either infinity or the origin, effectors leaving the skeleton, bind pose becoming corrupted, trax editor pose problems, graph editor cycling problems, copy/paste keying problems, character set problems, etc.). I am positive that most of the problems were either due to our inexperience (or incompetence). Looking on various forums for information, it seems that a lot of other people are running into major problems, also.

So my question is: Is the FBIK system really as good as it looks? Will this become a staple of future rigs, or is it still more hassle than it is worth?

I'd really love to hear some expert advice, or at least hear from people who have had experience with it.

Thanks!

[DjVoyager]

Check out the DT tutorial on FBIK;
http://www.digitaltutors.com/chit_chat/showthread.php?t=779

FBIK is the quickest way to rig your character. Consider the complexity of your character before using the FBIK. Since this feature effects the whole mesh it is recommended to use a low poly mesh so that it's easier for FBIK to calculate the skinning on the joints. Otherwise, you're gonna be faced with a lot of frustration using the tedious paint weight tool, unless you're one of the few who enjoy doing it :).

[moose_grunt]

Thanks for your reply. However, I have already watched that tutorial (among others), so I have an understanding of how the system is set up and how to use it.

I guess I should reword my question: Are you guys (the industry professionals) actually using the FBIK system on major projects?

[zahatan33]

I am actually using the FBIK system on major project.

My favorite tool was CharacterStudio 3dsMax.
Then now, I must use Maya8 and cannnot use Max.
But Maya's animation system is not good for me.
So I use mel script and custormized FBIK system.

Now, my fbik system looks like CharacterStudio.

Sorry my English is very poor.

[CGmaniak]

As for me FBIK has some magor problems , so I prefer to use old and good IK and FK animation wth a bunch of custum controls , or by the way it is a greate tool Motionbuilder, it works all the animation fantastic.

[DjVoyager]

I agree, Motionbuilder is amazing. Hope Autodesk keeps it.
FBIK is there for a quick rig and nothing more. DT's character rig kit goes so much indepth of rigging, and FBIK doesn't have most of the crucial stuff, so basically it's not a good feature for a main character, let's say.

[wildweb]

I have been having a lot of problems with FBIK. Being inexperienced, I thought it was just me.

Anyone who is using it should know that you can't use FBIK animation in TRAX. You have to do geometry caching and work with those clips. This is straight from Autodesk. They couldn't get the FBIK/Trax to work either.

[bullet_1984]

Oh my, after hearing from you guys, i am a little demoralized from using it although i do not use trax editor, only graph editor and dope sheet and it's working well. it's just that FBIK must be used carefully, right? cause if you don't., it will eventually crash! Good luck with it but im still using it. Im a game developer, low poly and it works well. importing it to max from maya but baking the animation first based on joints then it's done. =)