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aniMate2 aniblock creation problems

gaumaughergaumaugher Posts: 27
edited December 1969 in New Users

I am trying to create a new aniblock from a set of poses I already have. I can modify an existing block I have had no luck creating a new block. When I merge a pose to a character it all loks fine then I will move the scrubber and the previously loaded poses have been altered or the whole figure will jump a half a meter sideways. I have tried adding the poses before and after creating the aniblock. I have tride adding the poses in both bloc and key frame mode, always with the same results.

All I want to do is merge my poses into my character and have aniMate2 keep them exactly as they are. Then save that sequence as a new aniblock. Is there anyone out there who knows how to do this? I found one youtube video that is claimed to explain it but the audio doesn't play on any browser or computer I have tried it on. I have just spent 4 hours trying to do this simple task for a 2 second clip.

Comments

  • JaderailJaderail Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    Your working backwards, you do not start in Animate to create a new AniBlock. You Create the Animation on the DAZ Studio Timeline first and then open AniMate and Right Click its window and do Create AniBlock From Studio Keyframes. You can then EDIT the new AniBlock in AniMate.

  • gaumaughergaumaugher Posts: 27
    edited December 1969

    Thanks Jaderail. That tells me how to import my animations I've created so far. I clicked in an empty space in the top bar of aniMate and it was there (took me a few tries to find where to click). Unfortunately it did not solve my problem. It turns out I had created all my other poes from scratch but in the first one I tried, one of the characters used a pose I got off the web. The position indicators when you click on the universal tool and joint editor are nowhere near the character for that pose. This seems to give aniMate a fit but seems to mostly work in the timeline. I'm not sure which one is actually causing the problem but when I moved the green axis indicator in the joint editor to where it seemed like it should be the character made the same jump in position. Is there any way to reset these back where they should be or is it just manually reposition everything?

  • JaderailJaderail Posts: 0
    edited September 2013

    You can Open the AniBlock in Key Frame mode and use the Graph Editor to ZERO all the info except the one you need. In a AniBlock the Forward is in the HIP on the Z axes.

    EDIT: You can try this, it Works for SOME Pose Files. When you load the BAD pose file Hold down the Windows CTRL key. If a Menu opens turn OFF all the X,Y,Z translates. That should only load the Pose at the ZERO of world center like the others you made yourself.

    Post edited by Jaderail on
  • gaumaughergaumaugher Posts: 27
    edited December 1969

    I have worked with this for several days now and can find no way to make aniMate2 function properly. In the timeline tab I have created a two character scene. I set two key frames, one at the beginning and one at the end. All I want is for the two figures to stay in exacly the same place without moving. I click on the aniMate2 tab and right click, select Create AniBlock From Studio Keyframes. I have tried multiple combinations of the check boxes. All looks fine until I slide the scrubber. One figure jumps to a new location. So then I click the created aniblock and then double click to enter keyframe mode. I move the figure back into place. Again, everything looks fine. I touch the scrubber and the yTranslate changes from -8.4 to -8.84. I move the figure back and again the figure moves as soon as I touch the scrubber. It move the figure for the entire aniblock including the keyframe where I was setting the position so it is not transitioning from one location to another.

    As far as I can tell there is no way to set and keep figures in the position set. This makes the tool completely useless. All I want is a method to create reusable animation blocks that apply specific body parts. From the description aniMate2 looked perfect but so far it has not lived up to the description. Please tell me what I am doing wrong. I would like to actually make progress.

  • JaderailJaderail Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    You can not Create a AniBlock for more than one item at a time,

  • gaumaughergaumaugher Posts: 27
    edited December 1969

    I am not trying to creat an aniblock for more than one item at a time. The scene has several items in it but the aniblock is for a single item and that item moves from where it is placed in the scene which make animate2 worthless because the item is now out of place. This does not happen when using timeline, only when I enter animate2. How do I force it to stay where I put it?

  • JaderailJaderail Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    I have Never seen that Happen. So I'm as lost as you. I've offered all the info I know. Items only move in a Aniblock if the Aniblock or the POSE has X,Y or Z translates on one of the nodes. And I did say ZERO the Z node which is the Default movement in AniMate. Maybe the item has movement on other axies or nodes.

  • gaumaughergaumaugher Posts: 27
    edited December 1969

    But this doesn't explain why the item won't stay put when I move it. Like I say, when I move the scrubber, the figure will hop some random amount (not rally random because it is always the same). I then move it back to the correct location and then it will hop some small offset. If I move it again, it will hop again to that same location. Could it be related to the object scale? The figure is at 86% so I actually need to move it farther to get it where I need it?

    Anyway, the real question I have is understanding your terms. I am still very new to this. What do you mean zero the Z node? Do you mean that the figure simply needs to be at a 0,0,0 for the translate values? Do I need to locate my figure at 0,0,0 and then move into the right location in the first aniblock keyframe?

    Maybe you could give me the steps and I will see what I am doing wrong, especially the reference to x,y,z translates on the nodes. What are the nodes you refer to?

  • patience55patience55 Posts: 7,006
    edited December 1969

    This might be of interest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnXP7xhNOAw

  • gaumaughergaumaugher Posts: 27
    edited December 1969

    Thanks Addict. I will check it out. I just figured my problem out a few minutes ago. It all has to do with scale. If the figure is scaled you will need to go into the keyframes and adjust the hip location back to where it should be. My steps that seem to work are outlined below.
    1. Load the figure at zero translation and rotation while in the Timeline tab. Merge a pose which also has zero translation and rotation. In this case the figure is scaled at 86%. This becomes important later.
    2. Move to end of time line (in this example frame 60) and click create keyframe. Load the same pose. This should provide a character which holds a pose the whole length of the timeline.
    3. Slide the scrubber to confirm there is no movement. Click the aniMate2 tab.
    4. Again slide the scrubber to confirm there is no movement.
    5. Right click in the top grey bar empty space and select Create aniBlocks from Studio Keyframes. Leave the default boxes checked, direct copy and to include keyframes for translation and rotation.
    6. Again slide the scrubber to confirm there is no movement. You will find this is not true and the character jump in Y position although the x,y,z translate vales set at 0 but the hip yTranslation value has changed from -70.5 to -60.63. Remember the figure scale? -70.5 * 0.86 = -60.63.
    7. Changing the character position is of no help, it simply reverts back to a hip translation of -60.63. Enter the keyframe edit mode and correct the hip position in the two keyframes. Now when you slide the scrubber all stays in position.
    8. Next double the length of the aniBlocks. Now drag the scrubber. You may see additional problems like the figure rotating. Again go into the keyframes and correct these by finding the slider in the parameters that is changing and fixing it.

    Now I will check if this same method works importing scenes where all the characters are located where they should be but I hope I finally have it solved and animate2 will finally become useful to me.

  • ChoholeChohole Posts: 33,604
    edited September 2013

    Just a tiny little note.

    Please note that "Addict" is the users forum Status, not their Screen name.

    Status goes New Member, Member, Power Member and then Addict. It is based on the number of posts that they have made to the Forum

    The screename that they use is the one that appears above the Forum status.

    :coolsmile:

    Post edited by Chohole on
  • gaumaughergaumaugher Posts: 27
    edited December 1969

    Sorry. I wasn't paying attention. I didn't have my screen scrolled up so I just saw the word addict over the picture. I will try to pay attention next time.

    An additional note on the problem. It isn't as simple as I hoped. You still have to adjust all the psitions by a scale factor to get them to go where you want them to go. And you can't base that on the scale factor for the figure, it is only a loose relationship. So to move my figure who was at a scale of 86% I hand to divide my desired x/y/z translate by 1.0398. To get my character who was scaled at 81% I had to divide my desired translate value by 1.062. So yes the smaller the scale the bigger the factor I had to use to get things to go where I want them but I haven't found the mathematical relationship to get it on the first try. So first take a SWAG and see what the results are, then tweak the number and it usually nails it.

    So to do this, record where you want your figure, do the import to animate, move the slider so the figure jumps and reset to the begining, select the figure hip and correct translations, again move the slider, select the top level of the figure and adjust the translate values using the factor. It is ugly but it is the only method I have found that works. After that you can use animate2 as it was intended.

  • partheebanvfxpartheebanvfx Posts: 0

    Hi gaumaugher,

    Please could you do a video on this. It would be very helpful

  • stitlownstitlown Posts: 284

    gaumaugher said:

    It is ugly but it is the only method I have found that works. 

    Thanks for your (now 11 year old) notes gaumauger.  It seems this is still a problem as I've been wrestling with the same issue here in 2024.  I've almost devoled back to just using the aniblocks to temporarily store poses before pushing back onto the timeline.  It seems every approach is something of a "dog".  It may not be precise, but your "move the figure" fix does appear to at least put me into the ball park.  Cheers, Lx

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