Feet fixed to the ground

RuphussRuphuss Posts: 2,631
edited December 1969 in Art Studio

is there a way in animate2 or just dazstudio to really fix feet to the ground so they really dont move in animations
i didnt found one
can Carrara do that ?

Comments

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 100,888
    edited December 1969

    The ActivePose tool will do it, but then you are limited to using just the in-viewport translation tool on the bones you want to adjust.

  • RuphussRuphuss Posts: 2,631
    edited December 1969

    thx i will try
    is there anxthing official how to use the active pose tool
    i read in a thread a year ago
    http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/12600/
    that daz will work on the posing/pinning Problems
    did they?

  • rek_2158272rek_2158272 Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    Active pose tool works the same as far as I understand.
    I think the issue you see - feet moving below ground level - is because of the interpolation between keyframes.
    If you have keyMate or graphMate, you can change the interpolation type. In animate2, I don't think you can do this.
    You can also add one or more keyframes in between the ones where the feet go below ground.
    I couldn't find it back, but I remember having seen a video on youtube showing how to deal with this. Have a search and see what turns up

  • RuphussRuphuss Posts: 2,631
    edited October 2013

    activepose has no Rotation involved
    you cant move both thighs together
    you can pin and pin and often thats useless
    powerpose have no abdomen2 and no pelvis
    no its a pain to work with and i tryed alot

    Post edited by Ruphuss on
  • SempieSempie Posts: 658
    edited December 1969

    Somehow Studio never got it down, I do not know the state of things with
    Poser since I never got beyond version 7.

    I have done some professional character animation in Maya, and there it
    is easy. You move characters up and down at the base, which is placed at
    feet's height in the neutral T-pose with stretched legs.
    Feet with a 0 Y-value will always be on the base.
    Feet with zero rotation values will be flat on the base.

    You put the base on ground level, wherever that is. Usually you fix
    the pose for the base, you do not use it to create forward motion
    during walks (But you could animate it in case the character would
    move up an escalator, for instance)

    You fix the feet on the floor.
    Set two keys for the foot position, the second a copy of the first one.
    In the graph editor, you create flat tangents between these keys.

    And they will be fixed to the floor.

    As long as the motion paths between the keys remain some form
    of curvature, however small, the feet will float, or even sink through
    the floor.

    Then there are toe and heel roll blend shapes (Maya jargon for morphs)
    to change the poses of the feet, keeping toes or heels fixed to the floor.

    Maya had this since the first day I touched it, somewhere around 2005.

    We had several requests for DAZ to implement something similar
    features in STUDIO, but as yet nothing significant has happened.

  • IvyIvy Posts: 7,165
    edited October 2013

    I love Maya's mesh floor. Maya has some new Improvements
    Maya 2012 and newer versions have a floor magnet that allows you to actually stick the character to a preset level you determine as the floor and the character/obj will follow that level the giving the appearance of the character stuck to the floor during the motion cycle. the best thing with the Magnet is you can use it along the time to raise and low your character over a uneven terrain. this especially helpful for use of cars that require you to make a slide during a animation sequence. and if during a character jumping sequence this make sure your character lands on the floor at the present level rather than dropping below the mesh floor. I'm still learning Maya there are so many tools and tricks

    What I have found to work fairly well for Daz studio to give the appearance that the character is magnetized to the floor is make sure your character/.obj and Floor level are both set at zero in the beginning.. that would be a good starting point so when your moving your .obj along the daz timeline , you will always know your floor level will be zero and you can maintain your character animation to that level by each key-frame that way. to appear as it is stuck to the floor or ground. it can be a lot of work I agree but that is how I found you get the best results.
    I wish there was a script to make a floor magnet , But I'm not very good at scripts so hopefully someone will come up with one. for Daz
    Also helpful . I use the daz spot render tool to test that my character is maintain the floor level before final rendering of a animated scene
    also some ani block that will drop below your mesh floor can be fixed by baking the ani block to the timeline and then correcting the movement and re-baking the fixes to the timeline

    Of coarse I agree it is a little more tricky for moving a obj over a uneven terrain in Daz Studio ;)

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    Post edited by Ivy on
  • RuphussRuphuss Posts: 2,631
    edited December 1969

    @Ivy a Maya license is about 4000 bucks i think
    you have the free education Version?

  • IvyIvy Posts: 7,165
    edited November 2013

    ruphuss said:
    @Ivy a Maya license is about 4000 bucks i think
    you have the free education Version?

    The Autodesk 2012 entertainment suite was $4800 this semester . Plus I got use of pixar tractor cloud for one year and still have the life time use of Autodesk University Online resources... it comes part of my student package I'm taking at Tennessee State University. two
    year course.
    like I said I'm still learning and this crap is hard.!

    Post edited by Ivy on
  • RuphussRuphuss Posts: 2,631
    edited December 1969

    now pls tell me why one is using dazstudio or poser who has this resource for his work or art

  • SempieSempie Posts: 658
    edited December 1969

    Poser and DAZ Studio come with pre made content, and you can buy
    a lot of stuff for it cheaply. It is quite OK for making still pictures on the
    fly.

    MAYA is a complex beast that comes with no content at all.

    If you work as an animator with Maya in a studio surrounding you have
    experts creating the models, rigs, blend shapes, weighting,. textures,
    shaders, simulations, lights, render settings, compositing etc - as an
    animator I only need to know the animation part of Maya.
    Oh, and there is a render farm at my studio as well...

    If you are alone at home you need to learn it all.
    You need to learn how to model, how to rig, how to create blend shapes,
    how to make UV maps, how to create textures, how to create shaders,
    how to set up lights, how to do good render settings, how to split up
    a render in different passes, how to combine it all again in Nuke or
    something similar, etc.

    There are some simple cartoony free rigged Maya Characters, but most
    of the content is very expensive.

    If you know your Maya you can do things way beyond what is possible
    with Poser or Studio.

    If you are new to Maya, there's little you can do right out of the box
    and you have a steep learning curve ahead of you.

  • RuphussRuphuss Posts: 2,631
    edited December 1969

    thx for Explanation sempie
    so you say you cant use Genesis or V4 in Maya ?

  • IvyIvy Posts: 7,165
    edited November 2013

    ruphuss said:
    now pls tell me why one is using dazstudio or poser who has this resource for his work or art

    because student licensing does not allow me to produces film & art. for commercial use. I'm a Youtube partner and I would not be allowed under those terms

    Autodesk requires a full license for public commercial exhibition
    as stated in update to our student terms of use.

    Quote " While the Autodesk Student Version software incorporates all the functionality of our professional licenses, it may not be used for commercial or for-profit purposes, as more fully described in the License and Services Agreement. Term-based licenses of Autodesk student software are not eligible for product upgrade or migration to a commercial license"
    This is why I still have autodesk 2012
    I am taking this course for my job @ HOC.Llc they pay for about 70% student cost in reimbursements . when i am done I am hoping to be promoted to the media department.
    some times I still sneak the use of Maya into my animations ;) and I have showed case a few building models i have made on Daz forums , But licensing is different for autodesk than Daz and Poser. i think that is why lately YouTube has been asking me for EULA for the animations I've been making. But it does not stop me from applying what I know from class to daz and poser. :)

    So now you know why i don't use it for my art ... YET!
    Have a great day

    (Edited once for spelling and grammar ~ Sorry)

    Post edited by Ivy on
  • IvyIvy Posts: 7,165
    edited November 2013

    ruphuss said:
    thx for Explanation sempie
    so you say you cant use Genesis or V4 in Maya ?

    You can imports generation4 figures directly into Maya or 3ds with a bridges Smith micros has for auto desk
    its called poser fusion and it worked great for pp12 and its free as long as you have pp2012 or newer
    In the new PP2014 I read this allows you to use the new Sub Div in Poser 2014 with Maya sub div Great for close angled shots I have not got a chance to use it yet though.
    http://poser.smithmicro.com/poserfusion2014.html

    If FXB Genesis into Maya is hit or miss and most of the time you will need to re-rig and sometimes re texture the character

    Post edited by Ivy on
  • IvyIvy Posts: 7,165
    edited December 1969

    Sempie said:
    Poser and DAZ Studio come with pre made content, and you can buy
    a lot of stuff for it cheaply. It is quite OK for making still pictures on the
    fly.

    MAYA is a complex beast that comes with no content at all

    If you are new to Maya, there's little you can do right out of the box
    and you have a steep learning curve ahead of you.

    I have to agree you need to take a class to learn it. and even then it is challenging & expensive course.

  • SempieSempie Posts: 658
    edited December 1969

    I was lucky enough to learn it on the job, used to be a traditional
    cartoon animator, made a late jump to Maya and 3D.

    In the flow of artists at the studio I am working at there were
    some former Disney, Pixar and Weta people along the way,
    that helps...

    Most of the manuals that come with Maya suck, they explain
    you the menu items without really telling you how to use the
    program in real world situations.

    There are online animation schools like Animation Mentor,
    but they are very expensive.

  • IvyIvy Posts: 7,165
    edited November 2013

    Sempie said:
    I was lucky enough to learn it on the job, used to be a traditional
    cartoon animator, made a late jump to Maya and 3D.

    In the flow of artists at the studio I am working at there were
    some former Disney, Pixar and Weta people along the way,
    that helps...

    Most of the manuals that come with Maya suck, they explain
    you the menu items without really telling you how to use the
    program in real world situations.

    There are online animation schools like Animation Mentor,
    but they are very expensive.

    You are lucky indeed to be able to work it under apprenticeship, i wish I could have.
    the best way to advance in our company is to improve your education , and they offer incentive programs. so I'm trying to take advantage of it while it last. We do a lot of contract work in web site graphic design and promotion Graphic Solutions for different east coast media companies in the way of advertizements, promos and printed media, and 2 years go we started to move into animated media and Television promotions and flash advertizements. ,we even have some of the Disney studios contract for promoting their Vacation & theme parks and NC movie studios just signed on with us so I figure if our company is going to get into Animation & 3D media . I want in :)

    Have you tried http://www.lynda.com/, they have some resources on learning & training videos on autodesk and 3d animation along with other types of software tutorials

    Post edited by Ivy on
  • SempieSempie Posts: 658
    edited December 1969

    Adobe Flash...

    A program I learned to hate over the past year.
    I'm currently an animation supervisor for an animated
    TV series done in overseas studios using Flash.

    Most of it is done in cut out animation style.

    All in full HD PAL.

    Flash cannot give you real time playback at resolutions like that.
    And this cut out style with library swapping technique is only good
    for snappy zip in pose animations, subtle animations with movements
    in '3D' space are very difficult to achieve and more often then not look
    cheap and unconvincing....

    I did a pack shot for a commercial with Anime Studio, did some
    animation tests for a pilot using Toon Boom, preferred both to
    Flash.

    Haven't done any 3D animation for a while.

    Simultaneously with my project others at the studio worked at a full
    3D cartoony cinematic feature, using Maya, often wished I was part of
    that project.

    Hope to get back into animating myself again next year.

    I often wished that Poser and Studio took a better look at the competition,
    and improved their animation tools - In Maya I worked with a decent
    Graph Editor and with rigs optimized for animation rather then for
    morphing into a wide variety of body shapes.

    Cat say I worked with the Genesis characters yet, or with the latest
    Poser characters, so I do not really know how many of these things
    have been implemented already, but without simple things like pole
    vectors to adjust details of IK based poses, (adjusting elbows and
    knees, IK without it is hard to control), an IK to FK blend system to
    allow you to switch between the two in the middle of the scene, rigs
    with IK systems that automatically constrain hands to the hips or the
    head, hip controllers that rotate the hips without rotating the upper
    torso along with it, eye controllers to control and constrain eye directions,
    left-right controllers for all facial morph shapes, a lattice mode enabling you
    to animate the actual geometry of your character, or an advanced Graph
    Editor, Poser and Studio still have a long way to go to catch up.

    Maya has a steep learning curve, but once you get it, things that are next
    to impossible to do in Poser or Studio are a breeze.

  • In DAZ Studio, I used a small work-around to fix that sinking issue (tested on a squatting animation):

    - did NOT lock the feet on ground level;

    - Locked transition on Y axis on hip;

    - 2nd frame -  set the squat pose;

                       - move the hip along the Y axis, as much as is needed (did not check yet, but I have a feeling it was needed an increment on Y axis as big as the distance between floor and feet, after posing)

    - exported and preview the animation in the program I needed it for. Worked perfect! No more sinking.

    Hope this will help others, too!

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