Cascadeur and DAZ Studio
kwannie
Posts: 865
in The Commons
I have seen advertisments about Cascadeur and think it is very impressive for animations. However once again there seems to be that same old road block that keeps me away from all "Free" downloads. The dreaded registration or Online requirement. Does anyone know in this software can be run in Stand Alone mode without having to register? I actually have the same question for Hit Film Express. I am just not comfortable with whatever backgroud processes or data collection may be going on with an online requirement.
Comments
I run Cascadeure on my main Dell workstation which is always air gapped from the internet for security.
IIRC there may have been initial online “registration” required after installation, but it will run perpetually on a machine that is disconnected from the internet.
None of my three windows PC’s ever go online
I only use my “old” 2017 Imac for internet activity.
Thanks Wolf, I guess I just need to figure out how to get an email adress that is not tied to any of my personal infon so I am not so paranoid about using an email adress for registrations. I remeber using Web Animate which require an internet connection to start up, but I think would run without a connection after the initial start up. I am always uneasy about my work possibly being save to the cloud without my knowledge.
I had similar misgivings but unfortunately most "free" offerings come with a requirement to register. I did so with DaVinci Resolve and used it for a long time for free and liked it so much that I bought the paid version (no subscription required). I was not bombarded with promotions or nags to buy - DaVinci just let you use the software and hope that many people will do as I did. I avoided HitFilm because I seem to remember there was pressure to buy in some form or other.
Just get a free gmail address that you use ONLY for online registrations, use it for all of them.
I agree with this, it's what I do. I mean think about it, do you actually think my real name is Fearyl Womyn, I have 2 accts I use for 3D and other online stuff. None of the information I have on those emails have my real information, also made them when I was at a public computer place, so IP was not associated with it when created. On top of that, my internet comes from someone else, it's not my IP.
I have a family one which I use for family only, not even friends have that one, which is nice cause I never get spam mail with it.
Yikes!! The "G" in Gmail is what raises a red flag for me, since it stands for Google. I shy away from any mainstream company beause the are known to share personal data. I think that Gmail sends every message with your current IP still in the header. I mean in general I am just paranoid about all of it. It's not that I care that much about what is being collected but the fact that they are going to do it under the guise of improvement of user experience. With things like facial recognition and voice profiling anything you post with your persona can be use for neferious purposes. Unfortunatley I don't think any of these mainstream email or social outlets give one flip about an idividual's privacy. I don't think that 90% of the VPN companys are shy about selling information either.
So I guess the big question here is who knows of ways to circumvent the possiblility of data info sharing when you register to download a "free" product or data mining after you install that pruduct. I am not convinced that I need to be this cautious, I just simply don't know. I f any legit Cyber Security Gurus by trade are around please chime in. Thanks again.
I totally understand, but If you are on the internet your data is being collected, Google and facebook collect data here at DAZ
Michael, yep I assume they collect everywhere..........scratch that, I know they collect everywhere. There are ways to keep the tracking down a bit by using Ghostery, Privacy Badger Add Block and the sort, and eliminating a few of the background processes while using a program by us something like Simple Wall. But the registration thing where you have to create an account and use an email that like has your birthdate indo and or phone number because Facebook and Google shares it is where I get a bit anxious. I don't think you can sign up with something like Geurrilla Mail while in TOR to use an account but I may be wrong. I am curious about how other security concious folks go about this.
By the way, did you buy that bike I saw you window shopping for in Google Street View, or not?
Wow, so clever Nonesuch ! Happen to have any wisdom to share about the actual topic? I have generally always enjoyed your input in the past.
Uh, to get back to the basic topic, is there any way to share a Cascadeur rig setup for a DAZ figure (or various ones) so each user doesn't have to rig it themselves? If DAZ or someone experienced with rigging could do this, it would dramatically increase both Cascadeur's usefulness to our community and likely lead to many more animations being made that use DAZ products.
I second this, it would make things a lot easier if we didn't have to rig every model we wanted to use with that software and it seems so promising.
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AvdvtDX-RX21ivB-oJB45Gp66vwtkA?e=9eENzh
Oh wow...I'll check this out tomorrow but you may have just made the biggest contribution to DAZ Studio animation since aniMate. :) Thank you very much.
You're welcome. I was an early adopter of Cascadeur.
I loaded the rig on an exported Genesis 8 male (not 8.1) and while it does work, the hands seem locked in place and the shoulders can bend very oddly. I probably didn't either export or import something correctly, so if you have a moment sometime, could you possibly post the proper FBX export settings (from DAZ Studio) and any settings that should be set or checked when applying your rig in Cascadeur? Thank you very much and I'm sorry to bother you again.
edit: tried to post a small picture three times, guess forums are at it again. sorry!
What posing tool are you using? Autoposing focuses more on full-body IK, while point controller mode is far more granular and targeted to the specific joint(s) you're manipulating. There's a little bit of art to learning how these specific posing tools work. When you say the hands seem locked in place, do they not move at all? Different joints can be switched between IK and FK, even on a keyframe-by-keyframe basis. I'm gordig on Discord if you want to hop on a call sometime and hash this out further.
I was using Autoposing, but the hands acted as if they were pinned in world space, only rotating a little while the shoulder went nuts to keep them in position. I'll keep trying, but I don't know if there are any import or export settings I've got set incorrectly that could be causing this. Thanks.
A few questions for those who use Cascadeur.
1) Do you animate a full G8 character or just the development version? I ask because I have characters of all shapes and sizes and would imagine that I would need to export the full character.
2) What about JCMs? In DAZ Studio they affect the way "muscles" contract with limb movement but I would assume that Cascadeur is not aware of JCMs?
3) What about interaction with props (chairs, doors, etc.) - is there a way to export a scene, or partial scene, to Cascadeur? Is there any collision detection? Does it have soft-body or cloth simulation?
4) Once you have an animation do you export it back to DAZ Studio for rendering or use another software like Blender? I have not seen any mention of rendering in any of the Cascadeur videos (nor have I seen full characters with clothing, come to think of it).
Sorry if all this information is out there but my quick trawl through YouTube for answers left me with these questions.