Validation Status Error.

The Sanaa model was ready – the definitive version, after the correction. It was time to rig the character again, adjust some skin weights and animate it, again. 

As I wanted to use the Quick Rig option again, I knew that it would be a straightforward process, not using a lot of my precious and shrinking time.  

I followed all the steps I did previously in the Quick Rig step-by-step menu and created and placed the guides, next created the skeleton and in the end, I bound the skin. Everything seemed to work fine.

Next, I moved on to the animating process, so I downloaded my MoCap to the scene and created a Character Definition for it by simply choosing HIK from the templates folder. Another little success again as it all went smooth.

Then, it was time to create a Character Definition for my Sanaa model, and here started the trouble.  

I started to assign the bones to the skeleton in the Definition section and everything went well until I assigned the last bone to it. An error has appeared. I have not received a green check mark next to the model, but instead I had an exclamation mark and an information saying that: “The right arm doesn’t seem to be parallel to the X axis. The left arm doesn’t seem to be parallel to the X axis.” I was confused, as I knew I did not have this issue before.  

As my first reaction, I thought that I must have done something differently this time and that caused the problem. I rigged the character again, but sadly there was no change to the status. I investigated assorted options but did not find a solution to this issue.  

Someone in my group suggested adjusting the axis manually but unfortunately it only added to the burden I have already had. Trying to rotate the axis of the joints came with more errors stating that their positions are locked, or their positions are not 0 etc. The amount of the errors in the Script Editor was just overwhelming. 

After some long time when I tried to find a solution to that problem, I decided that I need to take a break from it and focus on some other options, as otherwise I would not be able to have my project ready in time.  

I went back to the Maya scene where I had my unfinished model with the MoCap applied and tried to work on that animation. At the same time, I knew that I would not be happy with this version of my project. 

I contacted my lecturer, and then took part in a drop-in session aimed at supporting us with resolving unexpected problems that occurred during this final week before we needed to submit our work.  

It was not easy for me to join the extra session in the middle of the day due to my outside of the university life (aka children) but I am glad I did. It came out that another couple of people in my group had the same error and it was not something any of us, including our lecturer, Kelvin, had seen before. We went through the rigging process together and then looked closely at some other options but at that time, we could not find the solution. Kindly, Kelvin offered to spend extra time that evening digging deep and finding out what had happened and how to fix it.  

Meanwhile, I focused on writing documentation for the project. I also decided to render the animation with the unfinished model, just to have a backup in the event of not being able to move further with the scene with the axis issue.  

Luckily, later that night, I received an email and a video with a little explanation of the problem we have had with the rig and assigning its bones. It came out that the answer was straightforward. The Character Definition was already there, after the Quick Rig was completed. Maya automatically defined the character’s bones for us, so when we tried to assign them again, a problem occurred. For the software, we tried to interfere with something that was already there, and it was correct.  

I am glad the solution was to simply not have to define the character, but as Kelvin pointed out, it would save us all a lot of trouble, if Maya somehow had told us about it. 

I checked it out and it all worked fine! I had my Sanaa model rigged and with the MoCap applied.