Clearing the Timeline
When I use Timeline and Animate 2, I ofen wish to clear the previous animation (but keep the character and scene) start over. I expected to find a tab/control on Timeline or Animate to do this, but I have not; so I have to close the scene and completely start over, with each attempt.
(Even after closing Timeline/Animate and reopening, the pane starts playing the previous animation attempt.)
I did find a 'Clear Selected Items' tab, but when I used it, the scene changed. (have read the Timeline/Animate 2 material, but I seem to be missing something.)
How can I clear (erase) previous animation attempts, so I can start fresh (with the scene), and try again?
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Your on the right way with Clear Animation but you have to use both "Clear Selected Items" and "Clear Figure" this erases all keyframes from the timeline for the given / selected node. But all Items and Figures gets reset to the default state, so you may got unwanted results especialy with a scene of arranged props and custom character shapes.
To avoid this you first have to select a frame at the timeline where everything is in place and in shape as you like then select every node in the Scene pane (right-click menu select all) and use "Memorize Figure" and also "Memorize Item" to set a new default state for these. With this you can control the results with the "Clear Animation" action in frame 0 - Pose / Shape / Transform ... just everything that can be changed in a keyframe. (in DazStudio Items = Props / Objects - and - Figures = Characters + Clothings + Hair)
[Edit]: Objects = Cameras + Lights + Groups + Nulls + D-Formers. Even if you may expect it Clear Animation dosnt respect the Playrange and allways clears all Total Frames. Propertys that are set to something other than the default value can be found in the Parameters pane Property Group "Currently Used". If you use Memorize Figure the character controler Property disapears fom the Currently Used list but all sub-component Properties stay there because they are not set to default values.
BTW this doesn't delete keyframes with values that are locked so if any keyframes remain on the Timeline check if any Property is locked in the Parameters pane and unlock it first. You can see that the Property isnt at its default value if the number is white and not dark - a little hint - if you want to reset just one Property then Alt+left-click on the value and its set to default for all timeline keyframes.
Another shorter method would be to set the Total Frames to 1 in Timeline - then save the scene - load the scene - set Total Frames back to anything you like.
I had the time to look over my posts, this morning, and noticed your comment:
Great! Thank you!
Your reply has already been VERY helpful!!!!!
2 questions:
1. How do I find 'Memorize figure'-'Memorize Item'? (Do I right-click on something?)
2. When you said Pose/Shape/Transform...were you refering to the Pose/Shape tab? ('Transform' confused me a bit.)
3. In the final paragragh...were you refering to...saving and reloading the entire scene?
1. Edit>Figure>Memorise sub-menu
2. I think that's a refrence to the different options in the Clear Anmation sub-menu
3. Yes, it looks like it
Thank you!
This will make things a LOT easier!
@ dash2128
1. use the Bookmark (the star symbol on the top right) to get a notification if someone posted on this thread
2. Pose / Shape / Transform ... I meant just everything gets cleared / set to default value on the timeline frame 0 when using Clear Anmation. The Transform properties are the positions of the Items / Figures altered in the keyframes.
[Edit]: Apearantly DS dosnt make a difference between a Pose = Figure Bone Rotations and Tansformations like Position/Rotation/Scale Properties of the Figures root node (Body) and the special bone Hip. The genesis figure can be in zero T-Pose somewhere in the scene, but if you use clear animation / clear Figure (pose) or reset Figure (pose) before you memorize it, it will snap back to the 3D world center position with zero rotation and default scale - thats the same like using Zero Figure Pose.
One workaround is to parent the figure to a group and use this for position and y-rotation in relation to the scene. Another workaround would be to use Lock Selected Nodes Pose.
At frame 0 I usualy store all my desired default figures shapes and props / object states - so if I messed up something on some keyframe I select the thing in KeyFrame 0, memorize it again - go back to the messed up other keyframe and restore it.
Or another example would be you setup the lightning in some frame - memorize it there and then use Clear Selected Items and you get no animating lights.
3. Memorize Figure, Memorize Item, Clear Selected Items and Clear Figure can also be found in the options menu of the Parameters pane - its just easier to reach
4. I'm not 100% shure if the short method with saving and reloading the entire scene will work that easy you may have to save the scene close and restart the program and load the scene again (sometimes DazStudio remembers things it should have forgotten allready if you dont restart).
But one day I thought of - damn why do I always have to click on the menu - so I decided to setup keyboard shortcuts for these most common used functions when I setup a scene with more than one KeyFrame.
You can go to Main Menu: Window>Workspace>Customize and search the left side Actions List - right-click the desired action and choose Change Keyboard Shortcut.
It had to be something I can remember for shure since there are eight commands to memorize/restore Figure/Item All/Pose. See the screenshot for my layout: the memorize is allways on the outside with the gap in between - so my fingers cant miss even if I dont look at the keyboard.
Now after I've learned how the program works - I teach the program how I want to work.
[Edit]: Updated the Overview of the Options Sub-Menus
In Customize_KeysMemRstr_1.png you can see how I setup the Keyboard Shortcuts for Memorize-Restore Figure-Item.
In Customize_AnimationKeys_1.png you can see how I setup the shortcut keys for the Timeline controls.
"4. I'm not 100% shure if the short method with saving and reloading the entire scene will work that easy you may have to save the scene close and restart the program and load the scene again (sometimes DazStudio remembers things it should have forgotten allready if you dont restart)."
Yes, I've noticed that, myself.
Thank you, again! This was VERY helpful, I have been trying to figure this out for a long time, now. It's a bit different than pressing a 'reset' button.
...and resetting the shortcuts helped!
Strange suddenly your attached screenshots apear, I didnt see them before. The picture of the Timeline with no KeyFrames (black triangles) showing reminds me of another thing that can trick you easiely.
You may find yourself in a situation where you select the Figure and the Timeline shows no KeyFrames while its still animating. You may think this is a bug or it is spooking but just go to the Scene pane select the figure right-click and choose Select Children from the menu. This will select all bones of the Figure, the Clothes and the Hair that are/is fitted to the figure.
And suddenly you can see there are KeyFrames that are stored on seperated layers like for the limbs / Bones with the Properties like Rotation/Scale and they are not stored / showing up in the Properties of the root node of the Figure. In this case you can use Clear Selected Items and it works even the bones are a part of a figure.
The good thing about this is that you can make a specific selection on some bodyparts and clear just these animations from the timeline.
I'm glad you mentioned that! I would not have known that.
custom Toolbars
I've been bussy on that Customize DazStudio Settings.
Now for to find a solution for everyone who cant remember all the KeyBoardShortCuts. Another way to deal with all these Action commands is to create custom Toolbars.
There are allot of Actions if you want to have all on screen for Figures / Items: Memorize - Restore - Zero - Clear (All / Shape / Pose).
I wonder if someone ever written a script for allways trigger both coresponding Actions for Figures / Items with one command?
I mean I can choose what to select in the scene pane and if I make multible selections of Figures / Items - why do I allways have to take care of using both Actions for Figures / Items?
I've also added the Lock-UnLock toolbar with all related Actions on that.
See my screenshot for what is possible (its almost HD this time 1920x670 to show all the Toolbars)
While doing this I've discovered some good and some bad things.
The good things are the Actions that can be toggled on/off like "Scene Lights" and most important "Parent Items In Place" (Parent In Place would also been enougth sayed because it works on Figures too).
The bad thing is that you can choose what Toolbars not to show with the right-click menu on them but then they are gone and no longer selectable in this menu - you have to "Enable" them in the Customize dialouge Activities section again.
- it would be realy great if they stay selectable even if Enabled is off for this Activity Layout - to show only the toolbars you need for the moment.
Workaround: use the Activities feature with customized Window Pane Layouts & Toolbars for different tasks with the various Tools in DazStudio.
What do you think? If you like I can attach the Workspace Layout / Toolbars / Style / Actions .dsx config files.
custom Menues
Oh well, good to know about how to customize a Toolbar but with those issues with Enable/Disable them they are not that useful - but here comes a better solution.
I just recently found out that you can create your own menues or change the existing.
The advantages are: you dont waste screenspace and you dont have to remeber a shotcut key (combination) the letters to press are showen in the menu itself.
I've added a ZIP file to the attachments Studio4_SyrusMy_Style-Menues-Toolbars.zip
Dont ask me where to put those files. To use them extract them somewhere you can find - then go to DS main-menu: Window>Workspace>Customize - press the Import button on the bottom and choose what to import Menues / Toolbars / Styles then select the right .dsx file in respect of the previous selection. I give no warranty of any kind that it will work or that DazStudio will work as expected after importing the config files.
See the screenshot for details: