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Skin Found on Linked Node

by Russell Fincher · in Artist Corner · 10/07/2008 (1:21 pm) · 11 replies

I'm getting an odd error during DTS export:

"Skin found on linked node..." "skin must be unlinked"

farm4.static.flickr.com/3033/2922748858_09e578fbb6.jpg
Full-res image here.

Now I'm using a dead simple hierarchy here. The skin modifier is the only thing in the stack, the mesh is in Edit Mesh mode. How can I possibly unlink the skinned mesh and have it export properly? I've seen a similar error before stating "skin found on UNlinked node", but never this.

Using Max 2008 with the recent MaxtoDTS exporter.
Russell Fincher's profile picture
Associate Russell Fincher
Sickhead Games

About the author

Art Lead at Sickhead Games, focused on dev tools and prototyping, instructor/advisor at several Dallas colleges and universities, Associate Developer with GarageGames, champion of avant-garde game art at uncommonassembly.com.

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    Torque Owner Ivan Mandzhukov
    Liman3D
    #1
    10/07/2008 (1:40 pm)
    I think your hierarchy is far from the hierarchy model used to export mesh with bone system.
    Nodes such as "base", "start", "detail30" should not exist , lol :)
    Why don't you try this:
    Leave your mesh "turtle30" floating and not linked to anywhere. Do the same for "bounds". The bone nodes seem to be fine. Also add some default nodes such as "cam" , "eye" ....etc. you know.. linked to some of the bones. The detail node (in yor case "detail30") link to the root of the bone system - link it to turtle_root.
    This should do the job.

    Also don't use the exporter from "Dark industries". Use the classic version.

    Associate Russell Fincher
    Sickhead Games
    #2
    10/07/2008 (1:53 pm)
    *slaps forehead*

    I've been building plants for too long. Completely forgot how to hook up an animated object. With the bones and the detail node children of a "user" dummy node, and the bounds and mesh parent-less, it works fine. No"cam" and "eye" node are necessary... not that the idea of a first-person turtle simulator doesn't sound exciting. ;)

    Thanks for jump-starting my brain, Picasso. :S

    Torque 3D Owner Travis Vroman
    Fireslinger Studios
    #3
    08/12/2009 (11:58 am)
    I know this is over a year old, but I can't seem to find relevant information on this anywhere else. Would you mind posting a screen capture of the final hierarchy that you used to get this to work?

    I should add that I'm trying to set up an animation for an object that will NOT be used as a player. Specifically, it's a flag.

    Also, how was the .cfg file set up for this?

    Thanks,

    -Travis

    Associate Russell Fincher
    Sickhead Games
    #4
    08/12/2009 (12:34 pm)
    Sure, Travis. It's been awhile, but this is the last state of this model before animations:

    farm3.static.flickr.com/2481/3815726068_8bc9d08268.jpg

    Click here for high-res.

    The mesh (turtle30) and bounds box were removed from the main hierarchy and the bones were added to it.




    Torque 3D Owner Travis Vroman
    Fireslinger Studios
    #5
    08/12/2009 (12:49 pm)
    First off, thanks so much for the quick reply. I've got it half working. The model itself exports properly and shows up fine in ShowToolPro.

    This is the hierarchy I have currently:
    travisvroman.com/clients/meMyselfAndEye/modelHeirarchy.jpg
    However, the DSQ does not work properly for this. Is there something different about the heirarchy of the DSQ animations that I'm missing? Or possibly something in the config file?

    The config file I'm using:

    AlwaysExport:
flag2
user

    Thanks again for your help :)

    Torque 3D Owner Travis Vroman
    Fireslinger Studios
    #6
    08/12/2009 (1:14 pm)
    Okay, nevermind. I finally have it figured out. The DSQ version of the file needs a sequence dummy set up (with begin/end keyframes set on it of course), while the DTS version does not. I think I'm going to post a resource on this, as it was pretty difficult for me to find information on this.

    Thanks again for your help Russell.

    -Travis

    Associate Russell Fincher
    Sickhead Games
    #7
    08/12/2009 (1:17 pm)
    Quote:However, the DSQ does not work properly for this. Is there something different about the heirarchy of the DSQ animations that I'm missing? Or possibly something in the config file?
    I stopped using config files at some point... the artist in me likes to rely on my eyes more than some text file somewhere. ;) So I can't help you there.

    The same hierarchy should work for your animations, provided that you've created a sequence node properly. And since I export DTSs and DSQs seperately, I usually delete the meshes just before exporting a DSQ, just to keep it it simple. If you export them together in the same file, I can't help much there either.

    Edit: we crossed posts there, Travis. Glad you got it working.

    Jondo
    BrokeAss Games
    #8
    08/12/2009 (1:22 pm)
    The irony is Russel eats turtles. True Story.

    Associate Russell Fincher
    Sickhead Games
    #9
    08/12/2009 (3:31 pm)
    Quote:The irony is Russel eats turtles. True Story.
    What happened to "What happens at SIGGRAPH, stays at SIGGRAPH"? It probably wasn't even a whole turtle.

    Torque 3D Owner Travis Vroman
    Fireslinger Studios
    #10
    08/12/2009 (3:59 pm)
    Quote:I stopped using config files at some point...

    Yeah, perhaps I should try that. I've been using them this whole time, maybe it's time I went without them.

    Quote:The same hierarchy should work for your animations, provided that you've created a sequence node properly.

    It's pretty funny. I just now saw your post, but figured this out about 2 minutes after posting the question. Luck I guess :)

    Quote:The irony is Russel eats turtles. True Story.

    Quote:What happened to "What happens at SIGGRAPH, stays at SIGGRAPH"? It probably wasn't even a whole turtle.

    Lol! I actually had almost the same conversation with a friend of mine once, but it was GDC instead of SIGGRAPH.

    Anyways, just figured I'd post here as well for anyone else looking that I made a blog article about this.

    DTS vs. DSQ: The Technical Side of Game Art

    -Travis

    Jondo
    BrokeAss Games
    #11
    08/12/2009 (6:19 pm)
    Quote:What happened to "What happens at SIGGRAPH, stays at SIGGRAPH"?

    *Turtles excluded.