Answered

Question regarding additive layer & advice requested for first time user

Anonymous 2 years ago updated by Peter - Soxware Developer 2 years ago 5

Hi. So first thing, I could use some general advice. I have an animation pack (Rifle anim pro) I am trying to use on 5 different characters (all different rigs) and thought maybe the umotion pro asset would solve my problems. As you can see below, each character needs some tweaking to make these animations work well. This is a good use case for Umotion pro right? I do have 30+ animations that would need fixing though. 

Here is a quick picture of the issues I explained above:
https://i.imgur.com/JjgdE3D.png


For some it's the feet, others it's the arms, and they're all looking down instead of up. For some reason when I used them in UE4 they worked fine, but in unity with these rigs I encounter issues.  

So if you do think Umotion pro is what I need for this, which I did, my next question is: I was following one of your tutorial videos using an additive layer. First off, was this the right call? Anyway, after using the additive layer I couldn't apply any of my changes. The keyframes disappear when I add the new layer and I am unsure where to add new ones or where to apply my changes. If I hit the 'apply' button on the window that pops up for each individual property it does nothing, perhaps because I have no keyframes on this new layer?

https://i.imgur.com/fYHWTml.png

Thanks.

UMotion Version:
1.29p01
Unity Version:
2022.1

Answer

Answer
Answered

Hi,

thank you very much for your support request.

For some it's the feet, others it's the arms, and they're all looking down instead of up. For some reason when I used them in UE4 they worked fine, but in unity with these rigs I encounter issues.

Take a look at how you configured the humanoid avatar. Maybe the character's are not in a perfect T-stance or bones are not assigned the correct humanoid role. You can check the humanoid avatar config by clicking on the character's FBX file, and then in the inspector click on the "rig" tab, then click on "Configure..." to open the avatar editor.

First off, was this the right call? Anyway, after using the additive layer I couldn't apply any of my changes. The keyframes disappear when I add the new layer and I am unsure where to add new ones or where to apply my changes. If I hit the 'apply' button on the window that pops up for each individual property it does nothing, perhaps because I have no keyframes on this new layer?

Yes with UMotion you can adjust your animations. Regarding your additive layer, make your changes and then save them to your addtive layer by creating a key frame on the additive layer. Creating keys in layers works the same as on the base layer, either by clicking on "Key Selected" in the pose editor or by using auto key.


These two video tutorials both use additive animation layers:

https://www.soxware.com/umotion-manual/InPractice2.html

https://www.soxware.com/umotion-manual/InPractice3.html

Please let me know in case you have any follow-up questions.


Best regards,
Peter

Answer
Answered

Hi,

thank you very much for your support request.

For some it's the feet, others it's the arms, and they're all looking down instead of up. For some reason when I used them in UE4 they worked fine, but in unity with these rigs I encounter issues.

Take a look at how you configured the humanoid avatar. Maybe the character's are not in a perfect T-stance or bones are not assigned the correct humanoid role. You can check the humanoid avatar config by clicking on the character's FBX file, and then in the inspector click on the "rig" tab, then click on "Configure..." to open the avatar editor.

First off, was this the right call? Anyway, after using the additive layer I couldn't apply any of my changes. The keyframes disappear when I add the new layer and I am unsure where to add new ones or where to apply my changes. If I hit the 'apply' button on the window that pops up for each individual property it does nothing, perhaps because I have no keyframes on this new layer?

Yes with UMotion you can adjust your animations. Regarding your additive layer, make your changes and then save them to your addtive layer by creating a key frame on the additive layer. Creating keys in layers works the same as on the base layer, either by clicking on "Key Selected" in the pose editor or by using auto key.


These two video tutorials both use additive animation layers:

https://www.soxware.com/umotion-manual/InPractice2.html

https://www.soxware.com/umotion-manual/InPractice3.html

Please let me know in case you have any follow-up questions.


Best regards,
Peter

How do you know when to use additive layers vs override layers? 

Like in this case. Can you walk me through what questions you ask yourself before you decide between additive changes or override changes?

https://imgur.com/a/1f5VlJv

An additive layer adds an offset on top of the existing animation. E.g. if you add a key that shifts the hand IK target 10 cm to the left, that offset adds up to the underlaying motion of the base layer. That might be what you are looking for to correct the hand in your screenshot.

An override layer completely replaces the underlaying motion. So if you key something in an override layer, the underlaying motion is going to be ignored/overwritten.

Best regards,
Peter

Also, is it possible for me to edit multiple animations at once? I feel like if I have:

Idle,
Walk, 
Run,
Run & Shoot

animations, if I were to edit where the character holds the gun during the RUN animation, it would then require the same editing for the RUN & SHOOT animation, since they're similar animations except the shooting one also has some recoil. Being able to edit them both the exact same way so they're synced up would be great. 

Thanks for reading both of my new questions.

If you apply an offset/correction in an additive layer and you want the exact same offset in another animation you could just copy & paste the additive key from the one animation clip's additive layer into the other animations additive layer.


The only way to edit multiple animations at once would be to create one animation clip that contains all animations one after each other (you can do this by copy & pasting all keys of the base layer).


Best regards,
Peter