How to fix broken mesh/rig synchronization?

[kjcummings]

Hey Wayne, I’m glad to see this post because it prompted me to ask about a recent problem I’ve had with broken animations that maybe you can help me with.  In my case the problem occurred after changing the directory of my character rig from its original one.  When I opened the anim file and pointed the broken links to the new directory, the animation is restored to the rig but the mesh no longer moved along with it. Any idea what might be happening there and how I could fix it? The work around I used was to delete the character, re-link it to the scene, recreate the rig proxy and then reapply the action.

[Wayne Dixon]

Hi Kurt,

Excellent question.

I’ll have to do a video but to fix the broken library link it is essentially the same way.

However, DO NOT SAVE THE BROKEN FILE OVER THE TOP OF ITSELF.

That step is very important!!!haha

Here’s what you do. (in Blender 2.79, haven’t checked in 2.8 yet)

Open the broken file > Save As (increment the number. ie anim_02 becomes anim_03)

Then in the outliner, change it to show the data 

Down the bottom there will be a broken library link.

Click in there and change the name or location of the rig.

Save over the newest version ( anim_03 or whatever you just recreated)

Then reload that file.

It should relink everything on opening it up again.

I don’t think I have encountered the problem with the mesh not working anymore, maybe you made it local or something?  Don’t know sorry.

[Sebastien Dohogne]

Hello Wayne,

Sorry to intrude on this conversation but it’s the only question that I’ve found which is similar to my problem…

Like kjcummings, I opened a file of my Rivet Animation but the Character was missing in the scene (see on the picture)

A potential solution that I found was to go in : File – External Data – Report/Find Missing Files  
Save the scene and open it again… I tried but I think I broke the Rig…
When I do this technique, I can see my character again but the mesh doesn’t follow the rig anymore and make weird stuffs…

Do you have a solution ?  Pleeeeeeaaaaaaase…

Thanks in advance and sorry for my english…

[Wayne Dixon]

When all else fails, try to import the stuff the other way around.

What do I mean?

Start with a fresh file > link in your character (save it)

Then append in the animation data from your broken file (the animation isn’t broken but a connection along the way is)

Hope that makes sense.

[Sebastien Dohogne]

Thank you very much ! It worked ! It’s aliiiive 🙂 !

[Author]

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