Keyframes deleted... but animation happens as if they're still there

mikethe3dguy

I'm just trying to graduate to animation from still scenes in DAZ. I recently tried to add breathing and blinking to an animation, and got unexpected results. So I've created a new scene with just M4, and I'm experimenting with eye blink animation. I create a head keyframe at frame 10, close his eyes at 15, add keyframe, then open his eyes at 20 and add a 3rd keyframe. Did that 3 times over a few seconds of animation. But there were periods where his eyes would close s-l-o-w-l-y so I assumed I forgot a keyframe or two. Deleted all head keyframes prior to trying again, and then played the animation. He's still blinking... but why?

mindsong

be sure to select all children of the character (in the scene tab, select the character, right->click and select children from pop-up) before deleting the key at the cursor/scrubber. (Also understand that you can 'expand all' and select just the things you want to select and delete only those keys, esp. the hip and head for the major morph/param sets).

Just for grins, watch the little black triangle on the timeline where the cursor/scrubber is set when you select different things in the character's scene tree. Things you had no idea are set will show as set with a black tick. Delete them to taste.

Also note that when you select the head, you'll likely see a whole bunch of shaping/parameter items appear that aren't visible/available when the hip or main character is selected... It's almost like they're hiding them from you on purpose.

Good programmers, nightmare interface designers, but once you learn how to manage it, you can still get stuff done. I suppose they see it as completely obvious, given it has been this way for years.

No... it's not you, it's hardly intuitive.

FWIW, if you select the character, then use the menu-bar 'edit->figure->zero or clear, you'll see some global-ish clear options for the frame you're on. Most folks will probably recommend that technique to be certain everything in the keyframe is clear.

be well,

--ms

mikethe3dguy

What the whaaaat? I've been using Keymate as well, and relied on it to manage/manipulate keyframes. Did as you suggested, and found that in the timeline there were head keyframes that DO NOT SHOW in Keymate, no matter what is selected. So much for trusting Keymate! Thanks so much for your advice mindsong - the little experience needle in my head just moved forward.

mindsong

ooh... keymate too! look for the TRSV button to see those missing head morphs! - up on the top of the keymate interface is a button that says TR. Change that to TRSV and your head stuff will probably show up more like you expect. Intuitive, eh?

yeah, TRSV - probably in the docs... but not the default. Can't imagine why anyone would wish to see *all* of their keyframes by default. silly me.

FWIW, if you pay for the aniblock2 plugin, you'll be able to find that the aniblock2 tab has a handy graph/key editor (for just the active aniblock!) tucked away a few clicks in (it's in the aniblock2 docs). If you use aniblocks, it's useful too. Be sure after changing things in that editor, to save the new aniblock (to a new version/name...). Also!!! none of the aniblock graph editor changes seem to reflect on the current DS timeline (or keymate/graphmate) unless you burn the aniblock to the timeline!, so do NOT assume aniblock edits are as globally occurring as might seem logical. so... working in the aniblock mode/tab, no 'burn to timeline' = no changes on timeline, and therefore no changes in keymate/graphmate - careful not to get confused by what seems to be linked, when it's not really linked. Again, all useful, but it takes a bit to get your mind around their paradigm. Two memory spaces with data-transferring between them using two functions: "burn-to-timeline", and "create-aniblock-from-timeline". The ideas are in there, but my articulation may take some deciphering. sorry...

cheers and hoping this helps you and others.

--ms