A few questions regarding IK and editing multiple properties at once.
Hi, i picked up umotion pro from the recent bundle and i'm really liking it thus far, i do however have a few doubts and i'm wondering if you could help me out.
One thing i noticed is that if two keyframes have the same start and end value then i can't edit the curves at all. To get around this i must edit either value by a tiny bit. Picture
Is there a way to avoid this?
Another thing: Let's say i'm making a crouching animation and i need to lower the entire upper body as the animation progresses (so that the feet remain attached to the ground), this means i'll need to move the root node (usually the pelvis) down.
Without using IK i immediatly run into the issue of having the feet wobble a bit as it's hard to match their position and rotation manually.
However when using IK the targets will also move when lowering the root node, is there a way to prevent that from happening?
That way i can lower the character and set IK to FK, making the feet not move as the character crouches.
Copying the position does not work as it's relative to the root node.
I also got asked whether i want to keep, discard or abort modifications, yet when clicking on "keep modifications" nothing happens (same as clicking on abort), i'm thus forced to use "key modified" (which doesn't always work for some reason, usually when working with IK there's 1 or 2 properties that aren't keyed, although it's rare) or "key all" (which will create keys for all unchanged properties, which i'd rather avoid). I know i can auto-key but sometimes i prefer to disable it, am i doing something wrong or is it a bug?
Lastly, I've been trying to change the easing between two keyframes, but i'm having trouble when dealing with positions or multiple properties.
Let's say i'm making a jumping animation and i want the character to quickly leap into the air and then to slow down as it reaches the apex of the jump.
Currently i can lerp and slerp by selecting a tangent and clicking on linear (lerp) or flat (slerp), but to further fine tune the tangents (for example if i want an exponential interpolation) i need to change each one individually.
The issue i'm facing regards editing multiple properties or positions while keeping them "synced" with one another: while rotations can be controlled with a single curve, positions have 3 of them.
While this isn't a major issue for biological animations where imperfections are hidden by the bigger movements, it makes more precise, mechanical animations harder to do.
Is there a way to edit multiple tangents at the same time? I tried holding shift/ctrl/alt and looking at shortcuts but i couldn't see the option.
What i'm trying to do is to move all 3 curves at once: Picture
Thank you for your help, being able to animate straight into unity is awesome! :)
Hi Kepp,
thank you very much for your support request.
"One thing i noticed is that if two keyframes have the same start and end value then i can't edit the curves at all. To get around this i must edit either value by a tiny bit. Picture
Is there a way to avoid this?"
This is only the case when using rotation curves in "Progression Interpolation" mode. You can set your rotation curves to euler instead (but be warned that this can introduce gimbal lock). More information can be found in this video tutorial:
"However when using IK the targets will also move when lowering the root node, is there a way to prevent that from happening?"
Yes you need to use IK for that (not FK). In order to keep the IK targets pinned at their world space position, you need to tick the "IK Pinning" channel shown in the "Channels" section of the pose editor when having the IK target selected. IK pinning uses the child-of constraint under the hood, so please watch the following two video tutorials to learn all the details about this feature:
"I know i can auto-key but sometimes i prefer to disable it, am i doing something wrong or is it a bug?"
Using the "Key Selected" button only creates keys for bones that are selected. Bones whit modifications not yet keyed are displayed in red. When no bone is shown as red, you won't get the dialog that asks you if you want to discard your modifications. I'm currently not aware of a bug related to this feature, if you find a reproduce able bug don't hesitate to report it.
"Is there a way to edit multiple tangents at the same time? I tried holding shift/ctrl/alt and looking at shortcuts but i couldn't see the option.
What i'm trying to do is to move all 3 curves at once"
I'm sorry this is currently not possible. I've taken a note on my "ideas for the future list" so that I can consider this for future updates but I can't promise anything right now.
Please let me know in case you have any follow-up questions.
Best regards,
Peter
Need UMotion a rigged model?
Need UMotion a rigged model?
I have a non rigged model, create uMotion the bones for me?
Hi Andres,
thank you very much for your support request.
Yes, UMotion requires your model to be skinned/rigged (i.e. it must already have bones). You can use Mixamo (a free web service by Adobe) to auto-rig human like characters or use Blender (or any other 3rd party modeling application) to manually skin/rig your 3D model.
Please let me know in case you have any follow-up questions.
Best regards,
Peter
Animator Parameter Custom Property Keys Should Be Normalized Time
Unity expects the keys in custom curves to be normalized time like events.
This causes a 9 second animation to have 78 seconds of empty animation at the end, and the Animator property does not sync with the animation as expected.
Can't remove motion from some bones
I'm trying to edit an animation for a character with a generic rig. I import the clip and the first thing I need to do is delete all keys after the first frame. Then I want to paste the keys from frame 0 to frame 30. But when I do this there is still movement happening on the model. I looked in the curve editor and some bones have rotations happening event though there are no keys between the first and last frame, and the last frame's keys are identical to the first.
I've also tried just keyframing all the bones on the last frame as there are no keyframes after the first, but the same thing happens. I just need the character in the pose from the first frame and then add some small movements to create a simple idle animation, but some parts of the original animation keep staying behind.
Export transform of melee weapon in hand as an animation?
Hi,
I'm trying to make a simple first person game and I don't want visible arms but just a melee weapon in the camera view. I tried animating a 'swing' animation for the weapon but it doesn't look good. I have some motion capture animations of melee weapons being swung but I just want the transform position and rotation exporting in an animation for my weapon to move, so it looks natural? Maybe if I added an object to the hand bone of the animation, I could export that objects movement?
Is this possible? Thanks
Hi,
thank you very much for your support request.
The following could work:
- Create a script that copies the world space position/rotation of one transform to another (each frame). You can use this script to copy the mocap weapon transform to your weapon (that is not parented to anything).
- Then use Unity's animation recorder package to record that animation (you can get this via the package manager).
Another method (that would result in less key frames):
By using the "Sync" button in UMotion, you are able to synchronize the frame cursor of Unity's Animation Window (or Unity Timeline) with UMotion's frame cursor. So you could play the mocap animation using a Unity window, and use it as a reference to animate your first person melee weapon in UMotion. More information regarding the "Sync" feature can be found in the manual chapter "Unity Timeline Integration".
Please let me know in case you have any follow-up questions.
Best regards,
Peter
sound synching
Hi,
Is it possible to sync voices or music with animated clips in the timeline?
Thanks
Hi,
thank you very much for your support request.
UMotion doesn't support playing audio clips by itself, but Unity Timeline does (since Unity 2018.2). If you use the "Sync" button (see UMotion Manual "Unity Timeline Integration"), you can synchronize UMotion with Unity Timeline which should give you exactly what you need.
You need to enable "Audio Scrubbing" in Unity Timeline as shown in the screenshot below:
This video shows you how you can sync UMotion with Unity Timeline:
Please let me know in case you have any follow-up questions.
Best regards,
Peter
Live root motion editing
Hi!
I'm adding some root motion to an animation right now. This is my process:
I have one keyframe on the root moving the character forward. I tweak it. Then I play it. I tweak it. Then play. And so on.
Like this:
It would be nice if you could edit this window while playing the animation in root motion mode (the model keeps walking forever), so you could follow the model and update it in real-time.
Just an idea. Maybe there's a even better way to do this process already?
Hi,
thank you very much for sharing your idea. I really appreciate that.
With the current software architecture this would be rather hard to implement. I've added this to my internal document where I collect all ideas so that I can consider this for future updates, but I can't promise anything right now.
Best regards,
Peter
Hi,
thank you very much for your support request.
Bones of characters of type "humanoid" only support rotation. If you want to translate or scale bones, you need to configure your character as "generic" instead. But most of the times you don't want translation on bones anyway (as bones in the real human body only rotate as well).
Please let me know in case you have any follow-up questions.
Best regards,
Peter
Problems with custom curves and FBX export
I bought the Pro Version but I am having some issues. I want the animation curves that Unity lets you set (I use it to play footfalls at points in the animation) but that only works on FBX Files. My Umotion .Anim files are really good, but no matter how much I tinker with it the results on an FBX export are terrible. I have to choose between giving up my Unity's native functionality (Curves) or find a way to turn your .Anim files into FBX that doesn't distort them beyond usability.
Hi,
thank you very much for your support request.
"I want the animation curves that Unity lets you set (I use it to play footfalls at points in the animation) but that only works on FBX Files."
A common way to implement foot step sounds, is by using animation events (see video tutorial). Custom curves (like the one you can set in the animation import Inspector) are also supported by UMotion (add a "Custom Property Constraint" in "Animator Parameter" mode; more information in the manual at "Pose Editor/Constraint System/Custom Property").
Both are supported for *.anim and for *.fbx export.
"My Umotion .Anim files are really good, but no matter how much I tinker with it the results on an FBX export are terrible."
Are you using humanoid? In that case, make sure to export the animation into the *.FBX file of your character instead of exporting into a new *.FBX file (in the export settings set "Write Mode" to "Update Existing File"). This ensures that the correct humanoid avatar setup is used by Unity when it imports the *.FBX animation as "humanoid".
Please let me know in case you have any follow-up questions.
Best regards,
Peter
How to link chracter to clip editor without pose editor and add animations
I've been looking through the manual but I cannot find how to link my character to the clip editor to make an animation. I cannot make animations when the pose editor is open because I can't find how to save the positions and it keeps making me reset the position. Am I missing the documentation for this? The only thing the clip editor portion of the manual says is that you can use it without the pose editor but can't use the pose editor without the clip editor. How am I supposed to put my character in the clip editor and how do I make the animations? Also, there is nothing in the video tutorials to tell you how to do either of the things I'm asking for help with. If I'm somehow overlooking this portion of the manual, please tell me which page it's on.
Hi,
thank you very much for your support request.
" I cannot make animations when the pose editor is open because I can't find how to save the positions and it keeps making me reset the position."
Set "Auto Key" to "Generate" in the Pose Editor. This tells UMotion to automatically save keys whenever you make changes to the position/rotation/... of your character. To manually create keys click on "Key Selected" or use the "Key Dialog".
Please check out the "Video Tutorials" section in the manual to see all video tutorials (they cover stuff like that). Use the quick start video as a starting point:
(2:19 is the position where keys are created the first time).
To add (import) animations to the clip editor, you need to have a character assigned to the Pose Editor. Manipulating animations without the Pose Editor is possible (e.g. by manipulating the animation curves) but usually you edit the animations together with the Pose Editor.
Please let me know in case you have any follow-up questions.
Best regards,
Peter
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