- UMotion - Animation Editor
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Questions
Simple Modification of an existing animation
Hi sorry I have Umotion pro but I'm getting pretty frustrated with the getting started tutorials. I feel like my requirement is extremely basic - I have an existing animation sitting in my project folder on a bird and for certain keyframes I just want to stop the bird's feet from moving away from where they are on frame 4-5 for example. Also the getting started tutorial is like - "I recommend setting up IK". Well why? What's the consequence of doing it versus not? What do we do when mapping in IK isnt correctly assigned? Also I dont want to modify my existing characters in scene. For an animation beginner there's a lot of prior knowledge assumed.
Answer
WAIT - that user requested tutorial might in the back third of the animation editor might be exactly what I need. LEAVE IT WITH ME
OK AWESOME I CAN JUST DELETE ALL THE OTHER KEYFRMAES I DONT WANT, UMOTION IS AWESOME LOL
Hi,
thank you very much for your support request.
I just want to stop the bird's feet from moving away from where they are on frame 4-5 for example.
You mean you want that the feet stay exactly at place? You need to pin the to the ground using IK.
Also the getting started tutorial is like - "I recommend setting up IK". Well why?
IK makes it easier for you to animate, as you can just drag the "end effector" (e.g. for the arms, you can just drag the hand to the spot you want them to be and the IK is calculating the required angles for the upper/lower arms automatically for you). When using FK instead, you would have to manually rotate the upper/lower arms until the hand is at the spot you want it to be.
Same goes for your bird's feet. If you want them to stay at the exact same spot, with FK you would have to manually adjust the rotation of the upper/lower leg bones for each frame so that the feet stay on spot. IK plus IK pinning would do that automatically for you.
What do we do when mapping in IK isnt correctly assigned?
Since your model is a generic model (and not a humanoid one), UMotion has no way to know that e.g. a leg bone is a leg as in a generic model it really could be anything. So you have to manually setup your IK chain. I recommend checking out the detailed IK video tutorial: https://www.soxware.com/umotion-manual/ProLesson2.html
Here is a video tutorial that explains what IK Pinning does and why you would use it for your feet: https://www.soxware.com/umotion-manual/ProLesson5.html
Basically IK Pinning locks the (in your case) feet at a certain world space position.
Please let me know in case you have any follow-up questions.
Best regards,
Peter
Customer support service by UserEcho
Hi,
thank you very much for your support request.
You mean you want that the feet stay exactly at place? You need to pin the to the ground using IK.
IK makes it easier for you to animate, as you can just drag the "end effector" (e.g. for the arms, you can just drag the hand to the spot you want them to be and the IK is calculating the required angles for the upper/lower arms automatically for you). When using FK instead, you would have to manually rotate the upper/lower arms until the hand is at the spot you want it to be.
Same goes for your bird's feet. If you want them to stay at the exact same spot, with FK you would have to manually adjust the rotation of the upper/lower leg bones for each frame so that the feet stay on spot. IK plus IK pinning would do that automatically for you.
Since your model is a generic model (and not a humanoid one), UMotion has no way to know that e.g. a leg bone is a leg as in a generic model it really could be anything. So you have to manually setup your IK chain. I recommend checking out the detailed IK video tutorial: https://www.soxware.com/umotion-manual/ProLesson2.html
Here is a video tutorial that explains what IK Pinning does and why you would use it for your feet: https://www.soxware.com/umotion-manual/ProLesson5.html
Basically IK Pinning locks the (in your case) feet at a certain world space position.
Please let me know in case you have any follow-up questions.
Best regards,
Peter