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Again, it feels like forever since I've used these. I think I might have actually imported the BVH into Poser, saved what I wanted, discarded the rest, and saved to my Poses library. I cannot remember. But the files on this page are what I used, and have some pretty neat motion captures in there.
Sorry for straying a bit off the topic. Well... I guess it's all related. The neat thing about these is that, since Carrara comes with DAZ figures of some sort, you can use these to at least get motion capture into the software, and delete whatever keyframes you don't want, and save the rest.
From the sound of all this, it seems like if I want ready made animation keyframes (or BVH or AniBlocks or whatever you call them) then I'd need to get M4 or V4 installed, and play around with those for a bit - then study the bone naming, and duplicate that bone naming on my characters and then apply the... bvh? to my character - Yes? No?
(I've just started adding bones to Pinto - but I'm a little stuck.)
Is it possible to get a video into Carrara - so you can move from frame to frame of it as you work on your character's movements?
I did that in ... I think it was either After Effects or PremierePro, to copy the actions of a cat. But that was a good while ago now. I lost that work when my stuff was stolen.
Hey guys, if you're interesting in walk cycles you may be interested in this:
The sound is abysmal - fuzzy and there's a nasty droning sound, the picture quality is yuk too at only 480, BUT! This video has some superb slow motion walking analysis.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYVyoFdJHdU
HI Fran :)
No,. It's not as simple as just renaming the bones of your figure to match the BVH,.
Otherwise you could rename the bones on an elephant and apply M4 walking,.. which wouldn't look right
the Bone names are used to apply the Animation data, and that involves Rotation and Translation of those bones.
So,.. if the bones are longer, or shorter, in your figure, then the motion may not look right.
The bottom line is,. if you have your own customised figures,.
it's up to you to animate your characters the way you want them to move.
If they're Human -ish,. then it's possible to edit and tweak a premade animation to work.
Yes, you can load a video clip into the "Backdrop" Scene (Pic)
You can use this for camera matching to add 3D into video with Syntheyes.
About installing V4 and M4, only if you feel the need. There are a lot of written works out there regarding naming conventions.
But when I think about how you said earlier about never using a model made by someone else, you should likely bring that thought process along into animation, and do it yourself.
You said that you can envision Gene Kelly doing the walk. Well use that inner vision to sculpt out your walk.
Michael and Victoria (and all other models that use the same naming conventions) start their rigs at the hip, and the bones flow outwards from there. Going up is Abdomen, Chest, Neck, and Head. From Chest goes Collars, Shoulders, Forearms, Hands, and each of three joints of each finger. But going down is simply Thighs, Shins, Feet, and Toes.
As a result, select the hip and move it around, everything else follows.
After knowing that, you could make better sense of the short article I wrote for the Cafe, regarding animation: Carranimation Part 1 – Rotation of the Hip
In a sum up, I'm explaining how I set each new part of the animation, beginning with the movement and rotation of the hip.
In the walk you're seeing in your mind, watch Gene's pelvis. Where is it going and how must it turn?
At first, try not to worry about where in time it needs to be. Timing the thing out can come later.
For now, make all positioning and joint rotations at specific points along the timeline that is easy to see. For example, keep them on the full second markers, One second, Two, etc., so that the hip rotation and placement goes along with the arm and legs poses that go with that hip movement.
Keeping it simple like this can make for a mechanical looking animation at first. But don't worry. Since we're keeping everything at easy to find places along the timeline, we know where to go later on when we decide to slide them around to make for a more natural feel.
I often just use the grid for placing the feet on the ground at first.But it's easier to see exactly where the feet are if you add a simple plane.
They say 'collision detection' will help, and it probably will. I don't know... I don't use it, but I probably should. Many of my animations were done on grass or a forest floor, so some sinking in was actually added in on purpose. But I've done quite a few on solid floors and was fine without using detection.
So when I start my animations, I envision in my mind where the character has to go. What exactly is that hip doing? Got it... go and move and rotate that first, ignoring how funky it makes the rest of the model look. When I think I've got it, then I bring the feet to the floor (or where ever they need to be) and shape out the limbs to look right.
Sometimes this means that I have to reposition the hip a little. No big deal. Since I started with the hip, it's going to be common that it needs some tweaking before the end. But since moving it moves everything, it's vital to get that into position and rotation before anything else - because doing it later with throw everything off!
So for a walk 'cycle', you might consider beginning with a cycle that is walking in place. The hard part about that is that we cannot use the foot placement to dictate the movement (translation) as we work. But the nice part about it is that we can see the looping qualities right away, by setting playback to loop.
If you are doing an in-place cycle, you can Alt - drag the hip's keyframe to the end of the cycle, which will copy it there. Now the hip is i the same position at the end as it is in the beginning. Speaking truthfully, I always use one frame past the end by the time I'm done with the cycle animation, go back to the final frame and click "Add Keyframe" to the hip, so that it's just slightly different, making the loop complete.
Just got back from the funeral of my Mother in Law, one of the nicest people I know.
So it'll take a while getting back into things especially as I also seem to have aquired some sort of muscle strain in my right side, which is causing a fair bit of pain - especially when it spasms.
Back to the subject:
Gene Kelly... hmmm it might have been Maurice Chevalier. Point is I can't really recall much about it, just that feeling of a relaxed gentle saunter through the park on a fine day - using a cane but sometimes sort of adding a little flourish to the cane movement, and nodding to aquaintances as you saunter along.
Unfortunately that 'Carara Animation - rotation of the hip' link comes up with a page not found.
Pity.
I'm not sure that I'll need a walk cycle with exact repeats, as this is more of a wander, with pauses. But I'll do whatever you say - once I've got an actual working rig. (I'll have to get my head back into the right working frame of mind, trouble is I can't remember where I'd got to... Lol. So I'll probably have to start again from scratch)
I can always do another that is more what I actually need - it's all practice isn't it?
You mention 'collision detection' - I've never used that before, heard the term, but never used it - does that mean the foot squishes when it contacts the ground surface? or does it just stop the foot from going through the ground at all?
I'm not entirely sure how: "go back to the final frame and click “Add Keyframe” to the hip, so that it’s just slightly different, making the loop complete." would work - surely just adding a keyframe does nothing more than record the current state of the scene, you'd have to actually move something to make a difference and I'm not sure how you mean that you do that...
"But when I think about how you said earlier about never using a model made by someone else, you should likely bring that thought process along into animation, and do it yourself."
Well that's what I was doing in the first place - planning on doing anyway - but it's turning out to be so incredibly complex just making a rig - never mind actually animating it, that any opportunity to shorten the process is incredibly tempting.
Oh great! Thanks. Um... how exactly?
???
What's 'camera matching'? what's 'add 3D into video'? and what's 'Syntheyes'?
LOL
Yeah... I'm numb in the head when it comes to synth eyes! Okay... I probably understand the working behind it, since I saw it in a tutorial somewhere, or an app like it....
I like the idea of you just doing the animation yourself, simply because I love the one I've seen you make already. I know you pick on it... perhaps it's not what you wanted? But I love it!
Rigging should be pretty simple though. Carrara has a bit of ease when it comes to making a rig. It's just a bit limited once the rig is made - is all. Like no simple 'pin to floor' type of thing.
Collision detection is under-used by me as well. I like to sink the feet slightly, if they're wearing shoes with soles, or keep slightly above ground, if the character is currently barefoot - to account for soles. But I like the soles of the shoes to sink into the ground a bit when full weight is applied. But anyways, I think that collision detection just stops your movement of the object once contact is made. It won't kick in an IK bending of joints, if I'm not mistaken. If it does, I'm really missing the boat on ease-of-animation! LOL
Wow. So sorry for your loss. And also for your side pain. I am slowly but surely retiring myself from doing custom stone work because of concerns with what these pains will be like in the future. I wish they would make a remote control for nerves, so we could dampen them from becoming so sharp when those times kick in... Yikes... it's like... stop everything and hope to God that the breathing start again, right? I am so on that page with you, and will pray for your pain to ease up.
Good to hear from you again, Fran. Yeah... Holly is totally updating the Carrara Cafe. Here's the new link location: Carranimation Part 1 – Rotation of the Hip The Cafe is now a million bazillion times faster, thanks to her efforts! Yaaaay! (Thanks Holly!)
It's very basic. You are likely already beyond that advice... but I'd love to hear your feedback anyways... even if you hate it! ;)