mcjAutoLimb2015 - A Kind of IK System - G3 and G8 Workability Confirmed

mCasual

so here we are the first non-beta release of mcjAutoLimb 2015 !

There's a high likelihood that there will be a few corrections in the near future

so you should probably keep an eye on this thread or use mcjAutoLimb2015's

"WebHelp" button which sends your Internet Browser to the release page

The Release page !!! ---->  https://sites.google.com/site/mcasualsdazscripts6/mcjautolimb2015

If for some reason you are unable to download the Installer Zip package from that web page

bluelight special

Looks so cool.

I'm looking forward to your center of mass for Genesis 3 to help in balancing poses.  Thanks for all of your scripts and freebies.

emms54

Hi Jacques,

 

Do you intend to adapt your great pinmedown to G3 characters ?

I find this script most useful, i would love to have it working on Genesis 3.

 

Regards

Emms

Tugpsx

Dude again you are so the master of this program. Your scripts add a level to Daz that is outstanding. Thanks for all your efforts and continuation in making the Daz community thrive.

Looking forward to playing with this and other scripts.

mCasual

i think the forum system stopped emailing me about this thread 

 

Ruphuss

hey mcasual

i am working with this already a lot

is it possible to combine it with "keep orientation " ?

mCasual

 i'll probably do that yes

before i lost some hard disk content i had something a bit more universal

so i'll re-write that - it's based on goals, for example, you set the goal as "minimize the distance between this finger and this button"

and instead of being limited to shoulder-forearm movements, you can select the abdomen Y-rotation or ... pretty much anything

or the goal can be, "minimize the angle, between the shoulder to finger line versus the shoulder to doorbell button" to make an arm point a finger at a button

 

Ruphuss said:

hey mcasual

i am working with this already a lot

is it possible to combine it with "keep orientation " ?

 

Ruphuss

sounds interesting

just as i am trying to do some animations i had the wish to pin down the head, neck or other bones

is this possible ?

and i have to say i would not animate at all in studio

without your tools

just a big thanks for your work

and good wishes to Amy

Ruphuss

when i use autolimb 2015 for only one foot it leads into side-side and twist movements of the thigh

that means the legs spread

is there a method to avoid this ?

another setting

one foot is pinned - the leg walks normal

the other shoud slide exactly over the terrain

the thigh moves normal- the shin must lead the foot to the ground

is there one of your tools that can do this ?

nakamuram002

mCasual,

I want to adjust a G3F pose by keeping the right hand in place and moving the shoulder and forearm.  Can mcjAutoLimb2015 be used for that purpose?

PepperoniDAZ

nakamuram002 said:

mCasual,

I want to adjust a G3F pose by keeping the right hand in place and moving the shoulder and forearm.  Can mcjAutoLimb2015 be used for that purpose?

I have the same question.

I like posing with the Active Pose tool; with G2 pinning its hands or feet will keep them in place if you adjust their parent limbs. With G3 the hands and feet will move along with their parent limbs regardless whether pinned or not when manipulated using the Active Pose.

nereus541_f392973b9f

I can visualise the same movement.  It's like pressing against a very resistant door (or one being held by someone on the other side) and getting nowhere.  I have one or two of those movements planned for my animations.

Ruphuss

hey Amy

whats up with mcasual ?

is he ok ?

nonesuch00

Wow, very interesting site from mCasual with lots of interesting scripts. LOL, but Canadian dollar is not doing good again.

mCasual

 the "pole" is what governs how the leg is twisted

when it's first created the "pole" is parented to the collar bone or to the buttock bone

the reason it's parented is, in case the whole figure moves during the animation 

in some cases it's better to unparent the "pole"

then if you re-orient the pole, it will affect the way the leg or arm is posed

in fact by animating the pole, you could get the legs to do twerks

sometimes i use my mcjUnanimate script to make sure the pole is not moving for the duration of the animation

---------

concerning walks, often i animate null nodes, and use that as targets for the feet

example,

we're at frame 0

right foot is on the ground behind the figure

i use mcjMakeTarget to create a null node at the exact position of the right foot ( ankle )

keyframe the null-node

go to frame 10

move the null node 30 cm forth

keyframe the null node

---

select the null node

select the right foot

tell mcjAutoLimb to process frames 0 to 10

---

if you want to keep the foot parallel to the grouns as it it at frame 0

select the right foot

go to frame 0

use my mcjKeepOrient script

make it process frames 0 to 10

 

 

Ruphuss said:

when i use autolimb 2015 for only one foot it leads into side-side and twist movements of the thigh

that means the legs spread

is there a method to avoid this ?

another setting

one foot is pinned - the leg walks normal

the other shoud slide exactly over the terrain

the thigh moves normal- the shin must lead the foot to the ground

is there one of your tools that can do this ?

 

mCasual

 say Genesis has a hand on the table at frame 0

her elbow is down

you want her to raise her elbow without moving her hand

at frame 0, select Genesis's hand

start mcjAutoLimb 2015

close mcjAutoLimb 2015

This created a target for the hand and a "Pole" which is attached to the collarbone ( or shoulder?)

there's an infinity of ways of posing the arm that gets the hand at the correct location

the "pole" tells us how the arm was posed initially

once its primary objective ( having the hand reach the target ) is accomplished, mcjAutoLimb will pose the arm according to that pole,

so

at frame 0, keframe the pole ( using the timeline button )

at frame 30, rotate the Pole, up

note: normally this created a keyframe, but when i want to be sure the keyframes are solid,

i do "memorize selected item" followed by "restore selected item" in the Parameters tab

--

now select the target node created earlier by mcjAutolimb

add the Genesis hand to the selection

have mcjAutoLimb solve frames 0 to 30

--

note that in some cases, it's better to unparent the Pole, to keep its orientation fixed, instead of being "transported" by the figure

 

 

nakamuram002 said:

mCasual,

I want to adjust a G3F pose by keeping the right hand in place and moving the shoulder and forearm.  Can mcjAutoLimb2015 be used for that purpose?

 

mCasual

 somehow it's like i'm unsubscribed from my own forum post

Ruphuss said:

hey Amy

whats up with mcasual ?

is he ok ?

 

mCasual

 in the forum post above, i explain it

note that in this animation

i think i did animate the pole vector to get this twerk move

but but but, maybe it's just the normal result of having the "Pole" parented to the leg

so it's one of those cases where one would preferably unparent the leg's "Pole"

 

 

nereus541_f392973b9f said:

I can visualise the same movement.  It's like pressing against a very resistant door (or one being held by someone on the other side) and getting nowhere.  I have one or two of those movements planned for my animations.

 

mCasual

 maybe in the future i'll make something like that, for the knees, hip, abdomen, chest head etc

in the meantime this new script can assist in posing a figure with the objective of, for example, keeping a head at a location (null node)

using the neck, chest, abdomen, hip, root joints

http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/73115/free-pose-helper-script

 

Ruphuss said:

sounds interesting

just as i am trying to do some animations i had the wish to pin down the head, neck or other bones

is this possible ?

and i have to say i would not animate at all in studio

without your tools

just a big thanks for your work

and good wishes to Amy

 

nakamuram002

mCasual said:

 say Genesis has a hand on the table at frame 0

her elbow is down

you want her to raise her elbow without moving her hand

at frame 0, select Genesis's hand

start mcjAutoLimb 2015

close mcjAutoLimb 2015

This created a target for the hand and a "Pole" which is attached to the collarbone ( or shoulder?)

there's an infinity of ways of posing the arm that gets the hand at the correct location

the "pole" tells us how the arm was posed initially

once its primary objective ( having the hand reach the target ) is accomplished, mcjAutoLimb will pose the arm according to that pole,

so

at frame 0, keframe the pole ( using the timeline button )

at frame 30, rotate the Pole, up

note: normally this created a keyframe, but when i want to be sure the keyframes are solid,

i do "memorize selected item" followed by "restore selected item" in the Parameters tab

--

now select the target node created earlier by mcjAutolimb

add the Genesis hand to the selection

have mcjAutoLimb solve frames 0 to 30

--

note that in some cases, it's better to unparent the Pole, to keep its orientation fixed, instead of being "transported" by the figure

 

 

nakamuram002 said:

mCasual,

I want to adjust a G3F pose by keeping the right hand in place and moving the shoulder and forearm.  Can mcjAutoLimb2015 be used for that purpose?

Thanks Casual!!  I gave your instructions a try and the work pretty well.  Is there a way I can do both hands at the same time?

 

mCasual

 Q:  Is there a way I can do both hands at the same time?

A: Not for now, since the function that ( repeatedly ) measures the distance always measures the distance between the 1st selected node and the 2nd selected node

in future versions, you'll have more options in regard to what's being optimized

for example, you'll be able to tell the script to rotate a leg in a way that minimizes the angle between a foot and the floor

-

or in your example, you'll be able to minimize a distance between anyone of the selected nodes

 

 

 

nakamuram002 said:

mCasual said:

 

 

 

Ruphuss

hey mcasual

just trying out "blooper" with 4.9 - works nice

would it be very hard to implement  a reverse function ?

in another thread someone asked if theres a way to spread out the keyframes so the animation is longer and slowed down

 

mCasual

 See my re-Time animation script

i hope compatibility wasnt broken by DS4.9 https://sites.google.com/site/mcasualsdazscripts2/mcjretimeanimation

there's also mcjCycleFilter which helps make perfectly looping animation curves 

 

Ruphuss said:

hey mcasual

just trying out "blooper" with 4.9 - works nice

would it be very hard to implement  a reverse function ?

in another thread someone asked if theres a way to spread out the keyframes so the animation is longer and slowed down

 

 

Ruphuss

i am working through lots of your scripts now

i hope you do not mind some questions

daz timeline and animate timeline react differently to frame amount changes

which is influenced by your scripts ?

is it possible to set the daz interpolation to linear as preset ?

i always have to change it after setting keyframes and sometimes forget them

mCasual

- i think what happens in the animate2 timeline  is entirely governed by the Animate2 plugin, until it gets "baked" and becomes a standard animation

- last time i checked, the default interpolation is the splined/curved interpolation, If you set Linear interpolation using my setInterpolation script, the moment you touch one of the keyframes it reverts to that splined interpolation

btw you can visualize/tweak animation curves using my SceneGraf plugin and my mcjCycleFilter ( works well with short animations/loops ) 

there's ( was?) also one or two plugins in the Daz Store to visualize/modify animation curves

Ruphuss said:

i am working through lots of your scripts now

i hope you do not mind some questions

daz timeline and animate timeline react differently to frame amount changes

which is influenced by your scripts ?

is it possible to set the daz interpolation to linear as preset ?

i always have to change it after setting keyframes and sometimes forget them

 

Ruphuss

if i understand right so no way to set linear interpolation as default

i own graphmate and keymate since they came out

but only can do changes after keyframing

thats annoying

if i have a ready animation in animate timeline -not aniblocks-

and change fps

they display in different tempo whether animate or daz timeline are used

so they react different to fps change

could it be possible to add keys say to every second key so the animation spreads out ?

mCasual

 maybe you could "bake" your animate animation

then use mcjDecimate which re-keyframes animations at fixed exact-frame keyframe times

then from there if need be, use mcjRe-Time to adjust the movement

 

 

Ruphuss said:

if i understand right so no way to set linear interpolation as default

i own graphmate and keymate since they came out

but only can do changes after keyframing

thats annoying

if i have a ready animation in animate timeline -not aniblocks-

and change fps

they display in different tempo whether animate or daz timeline are used

so they react different to fps change

could it be possible to add keys say to every second key so the animation spreads out ?

 

FrankTheTank

I'm trying to use this with a Gen 2 figure, but I can't seem to get it to work at all. Does this only work for Gen3? Should I be using an older version for Gen 2 figures?

Ruphuss

if the calculation is done from the toes

is the foot bone also altered ?

mCasual

if you select the toes, then the toes are the 'targeter'

the script bends and unbends the shin joint untill it gets the required leg length

the leg length is the distance between the thigh joint and the targeter ( toes )

the required length is the distance between the thigh joint and the target 

then the script points the leg at the target using the Bend/Side-side/Twist controls of the thigh joint

then it twists the leg according to the pole vectors

----

the script never touches the foot rotations

my mcjKeepOrientation and mcjHoldOn scripts are worth looking into when doing AutoLimb work

 if i remember well, this animation was done with AutoLimb with the toes as the targeter

the location of the toes doesnt look like it but, usually it would be very very immobile in space

to make it perfect, one would orient the toes  parallel to the ground at frame zero

and use mcjKeepOrient to freeze it at that orientation for the duration of the dance

 

Ruphuss said:

if the calculation is done from the toes

is the foot bone also altered ?

 

mCasual

maybe i broke Gen2 compatibility when i introduced Gen3 compatibility 

but nah, i recently used it on Aiko5 ... she's Genesis 2 i think

i never really ascertained if my Gen2 figures were automatically converted to Gen3 when i installed Gen3 and/or Daz Studio 4.9

so lets verify this

--

-1 load a Genesis 2 figure

My DAZ 3D Library\People\Genesis 2 Female

she doesnt have Aiko5 morphs, just Victoria 6

- 2 - i select her index finger [3]

3 - i start mcjAutoLimb2015

4 - i exit mcjAutoLimb2015 

this created a target node at the location of her index finger[3]

and a 'pole vector' which indicates how the arm is twisted

- 5 - i move the target node near A3's face

- 6 - i select the target node, followed by the index finger[3] node

- 7 - i use mcjAutoLimb2015 for the current frame

it works !

then using null nodes positioned on the "palm" of their finger tips as the 'targeters' you can do precision posing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DominicTesla said:

I'm trying to use this with a Gen 2 figure, but I can't seem to get it to work at all. Does this only work for Gen3? Should I be using an older version for Gen 2 figures?