More Realistic Keyframe Animation?
mbug90
Posts: 53
I have been looking everywhere on Google for how to make a keyframe animation look more realistic and natural, but I have found very little help. I even looked into procedural animation but found software that was way too expensive and nothing else.
I dream of creating dance animations for Second Life but I cannot afford mocap; and even if I did, I still would not have the athleticism to realize my "dream dances." So, I am stuck with keyframe animation.
That the motto with creating dance animations is "go mocap or go home!" is very unfair. How are people whose income is under $8000 a year and are vastly out of shape supposed to make the dances of their dreams? I get the feeling even with cubic interpolation the motion will still look unnatural.
Is there any help or recommendations you guys can give me. They are all appreciated.
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Comments
First, (unless someone hear proves me wrong) I would forget about using DAZ. The feet don't lock in pinned positions and so for any dance type motion, the IK is basically dog crap. I've been complaining about this for years. It is the only thing I don't like about DS and why P2014 just got a bunch of my money.
I suggest you use blender and learn to use the rigify rig. The bone-drivers among the ribs, spine and hip create very natural motion with just a few clicks once you get the hang of it.
If I used the rigify rig, the animations would not be compatible with the average Second Life avatar. Besides, rigify is for rigging models that have no skeletons. Why rig a model that already has one?
+1
is the pinning working in poser ?
Hello? Anybody here?
+1
is the pinning working in poser ?
The IK in poser works fine without needing to pin bones. I rarely need need a perfect lock because when the IK breaks it does so naturally as opposed to the crazy feet you get in DAZ.
MBug:
I didn't realize you had a rigged model already from reading your OP. Sorry I couldn't be more help.
I actually do this kind of thing a lot when I'm bored. It's a chore but it's not impossible. Just think of every thirty frames as a second of time. Pose one move on '0' and the next on '30'. You can then alter the various limb movements in between. It involves a lot of making key frames. Just one tip; very often you can create a key frame but Daz will treat it with contempt and ignore it. The way to combat this is to make the frame before it a key frame as well. For example, if you like the shoulder movement between frames 15 and 30, make 15, 16, 29 and 30 keyframes, otherwise it will alter it when you move the shoulder again later on. In such a scenario, I'd also lock the collar on those frames too. I doubt that helped, lol. One other word of advice though, doing this kind of thing is 1000 times easier on DS3.
Want better Key framing? Want different interpolations than the default DAZ Studio bow graph version of ease in, full, ease out? The semi cheap fix for both are KeyMate and GraphMate plugins for the DAZ Studio Timeline. Both made by GoFigure and sold here at DAZ 3D for DAZ Studio. Those two plugins have really improved the power and ease of use of the DAZ Studio Timeline for me. I do not know how I got along without them before. Oh yes I do, slowly that's how, very slowly.
And That is just the basic things they do, they really do have much to offer, even just one of the two adds a great set of new things that can be done easily.
now please show me an animation with hip or pelvis movement and no! feet shuffling
Hi Ruphuss! Watch this and there are a lot of them out there...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bxQIDc2tns
this is not daz studio isn't it ?
No Ruphus! I guess not! Hips are not connected to a 3D-software! Guess I misunderstood your request... sorry but then I can´t help you!
You can do good keyframe animation in DS. It's posing manipulation tools are a lot better than Poser, so you can work quicker in DS. Poser has a more extensive animation tool set and palette, but DS is still easier for a beginner because of its posing tools. You will need keyMate at a minimum to do keyframe animation in DS, because the built in animation timeline is very limited. GraphMate should be helpful, but I personally find it buggy and not as useful as it could be. The IK in DS works well (you can pin either or both translation and rotation), but it's missing a hard-lock feature which would be helpful. It was supposed to be added to the DS IK, and you can still find the command in the custom section, but it was never implemented. You can still get good animation results without the IK hard lock, or you can substitute the ActivePose pins (which are hard locks) for some some situations where a hard lock is needed. If you have keyMate you can minimize or eliminate the rotation problem mentioned in previous posts by changing the interpolation to linear on the key-frames that display the rotation problem. By the way, you have the same problem in Poser.
Having said all that, the key to smooth animation is learning and applying the principles of animation, timing and spacing, anticipation, staging etc... I personally work in 24 fps because this what most of the animators and guides are based on e.g. a normal walk cycle is 12 frames, a run 6-8 frames, etc. on each cycle there is a passing position, and in-between position that effect the style. It takes a bit of studying and practice, but DS is capable of doing quality animation.
Finally some other options are to import free bhv motion capture files available from various sources on the internet (ShareCG.com has some specifically geared to DS and Poser characters) ,and save them as animated poses for reuse, or you can try using the free built-in version of aniMate and low cost aniBlocks which can give you very good results. I personally recommend upgrading to aniMate2 if you find the free built-in aniMate version useful.
Good luck. :}
Ah so nice to see another DS User that understands that the default in DAZ Studio is the tween approach to movement. I use KeyMate and GraphMate both to change those to linear and remove the tween rotations as needed. I have never once presented myself as more than a Noob Animator but I do know the underlying reasons some things do happen and which ones I can edit with the plugin's. Animation has been something I have doodled with for years and even have a 8mm Claymation thing I did way back in the Starlog tutorial days. And it was very noob too.
You might want to look at iClone as well, it's reasonably priced and about the easiest most forgiving animation program I've used and it works fairly well with DS.
That said I just can't understand why Daz won't make any improvements on studios animation capabilities. Using Daz studio for animation is like have a warehouse full of sports cars with flat tires. They look great but you won't have much luck getting them anywhere.
edited and removed by user
if you use ActivePose for pinning the results are morphs in the figure
which you cant repair with graphmate
that's because ActivePose tries to translate rotations