Maya for 3D Printing - Rapid Prototyping
In this course we're going to look at something a little different, creating technically accurate 3D printed parts.
# 1 24-05-2004 , 11:09 PM
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walk/run cycles

I have built my first character and he is ready to be animated for the most part, but im looking ahead and trying to think whats the best way to animate a character in motion across a scene would be.
The first thing that comes to mind is a motion path, but then you have to animate the legs to match the pace of the body, and if you decide you want him to speed up it breaks down the whole animation, unless of course you go in and adjust the curves for the leg animation to speed up or slow down, but that seems like a pretty involved process only to learn that you actually did want him to walk slower... so that one seems a little difficult.
The next idea i had was creating a character in the trax editor and doing different walk/run cycles, but this runs into problems as well, if im creating clips for a walk cycle, the IK groups that im animating are in the same relative positions, so when i apply that to the moving root joint, the root will move but the IK will keep the legs trapped to the spot where the walk cycle is being executed. But lets say that the IK groups not following the root joint isnt a problem. Im still confined to the 2 or 3 different leg cycles that i built, which i imagine would come off very boring in an animation of a decent length.
For an example lets say i had a foot ball player running to score a touchdown, dodgeing the other players down the field in a unique way every time he gets by someone. Whats the best way to set something like this up? have the character jumping around back and forth, up and down, but still maintain the control to change individual elements of the animation without having to redo the entire thing.
thats a lot i know, but if anyone can give a general explanation, or point me in the direction of a good tutorial that would be great. if you read that whole post im proud of you! : )

# 2 27-05-2004 , 08:40 PM
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wow, what a long post...
anyways...
after u create an animation clip, like a walk,
when playing back the animation, u can still set keys on the legs.
for example, like u said, a footbal player running and dodging, u can simply create a run cycle, and make him run, and when he needs to be animated dodging other player you can simply set keys on what ever leg attribute you want, the run cycle will remain intact. because the trax editors clips are independent from the key you set in maya (keys that are key framed normally)
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very simple and effective. just becareful on how you set up and approach some things.

# 3 28-05-2004 , 01:04 AM
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well that sounds good..but i have a few questions of course : ) if im going to use the trax editor, im going to need a character set, now...what do i make a character set out of..the joint chain, or the ik handle groups...also..how do they follow the root if they are just clips...i would have the root animating all over the scene and the legs doing their little cycle thing where ever the clip was originally forged...let me know any thoughts or suggestions..

# 4 28-05-2004 , 05:20 PM
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Originally posted by Rubberkidney
well that sounds good..but i have a few questions of course : ) if im going to use the trax editor, im going to need a character set .also..how do they follow the root if they are just clips...i would have the root animating all over the scene and the legs doing their little cycle thing where ever the clip was originally forged...let me know any thoughts or suggestions..

u don't have to have a character set, but it's always a good idea
.
the clips are independent of local space, i.e. u can animate a walk cycle and use it as a clip, and then key frame a root jumping around in a scene, but the clips will remain relative to curves they were created with. and those curves are no longer part of global position in maya, just points in time i guess. it's hard to explain. the best way to learn is to just do. use a simple sphere and work with it

# 5 28-05-2004 , 05:59 PM
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i understand how the trax editor works with clips, and if there werent IK involved it wouldnt be a problem. but the thing is my legs dont follow my root around unless i key them to move manually, so if i keyframed the motion and put it in the trax editor i dont see how it would follow the root then...its hard to explain, i would love to post some pictures and movies of what im talking about but my server is out of bandwidth : ( anyway..if you know what im talking about and have an idea..let me know

# 6 29-05-2004 , 01:22 AM
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hai friend i can understand ur problem and if it is with ik i will tell u how to solve it its simple i maya u just go to animation module and next skeleton in menu bar next u just SWITCH ON (tick on) ENABLE IK HANDLE SNAP and u SWITCH OFF ALL ( there must be no tick)OTHERS now u make the fk then have ik and animate ur total skeleton and u will not get any problems, ok ENJOY RUBBER KIDNEY


siva
# 7 29-05-2004 , 02:29 AM
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unfortunatly that is not my problem : ), i have my IK set up and they work fine..my problem is that they do not follow the root, and i cant parent them to the root...because that breaks the whole thing, so now i have to animate the root, then translate the IK on the legs so they keep up with the root, its not a fun thing to do and i know there must be an easier way..once again if anyone knows of a good way to set this up please let me know...ive been watching the rigging tutorial and following along with my own character but up to this point that problem has not been addressed..it works fine when the character stays in the same place. anyway, once again if anyone has any ideas please let me know : )

# 8 29-05-2004 , 02:34 AM
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i just tried a point constraint on the IK handle..but then i cant put any keys on it, that breaks the constraint...very frustrating...thought i had it for a minute : )

# 9 29-05-2004 , 02:38 AM
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and of course if i parent the IK group under the root node, i might as well have sticky off because my feet no longer remain planted on the ground...theres got to be an easy solution to this

# 10 29-05-2004 , 05:28 AM
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if u want the feet to follow the root , then just select the root and group ot to itself, and name this group bodyTranslate, ot something, then u can animate a the alevel above the root, and everything will follow eachother, the feet will follow the root because of heirarchy animation that is above both feet and root node..

# 11 29-05-2004 , 05:54 AM
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damnit...i knew it was something simple but i was hoping it was something hard : ) thanks dude, your awesome and dont ever let anyone tell you differently

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