Hand keying in MotionBuilder

[hanger102]

Are you keying the hands in a new layer? What I ususally do is have "selection" on as the keying mode and hide all the IK handles. That way I know for sure I am only placing down FK keys for the hand.

[JonStoll]

yes I always use "layer 1". I guess when I say "hand keying" I mean manually placing keys not motion capture, but tipically its on the arms that I get the issues. I could try your selection method I think I have tried that in the past and I notice it was only helpful with cameras. But I need to key in Full Body in order to key the pose. Thanks for your help

[bclark]

What excatly is the problem your seeing?

Are you keying with Flat keys? that would cause it not to be smooth. Are your reach settings animated by mistake or set strangly for the poses?

Some images/movie or futher explination would help us figure out what is going on.


Thanks,
Brad

[JonStoll]

After trial and error I noticed that I was selcting the Ik in the Character controls and keying that instead of selecting the fk controls. So I switched all of the linear keys in the Fcurve editor to Bezier on the IK curves instead of the FK curves and it was still looking linear (as expected). I thought that you could only select and key Ik nodes if they were turned on its weird becasue you really do key both of the rigs "ik" and "fk" but the rig (or curves) that need to be edited are dependant on if Ik is on or not. This just had me confused and I had to remeber that it worked like this. Visually you somtimes get a dotted line on the F curve and some times you don't. Does this confuse you ever? Thanks for you help

Jon

[bclark]

yes the reach(ik or fk ) settings, which rig? FK or IK is being edited and what fcurves are affecting the animaiton are always a problem for users. We talk about this a good deal in the MasterClass I just gave at SIGGRAPH because of that exact problem.

Glad you got it worked out though.

As for the dotted line vs. reg. it means your in quaternion rotation if its dotted.

I just pick the entire rig and turn it off in the properties panel (make sure you display all and not default). That way your contorls will be animator useable.

Hope it helps,
Brad

[LoneCanuck]

Hi Brad,

Can you explain more about the Quaternion versus Euler issue with rigs? Will turning these off make animation on a rig, with motion capture, easier as well? Just wanted clarification on the "animation friendly" aspect of it.

LoCK

[JonStoll]

Hey Brad thanks for the info? I have done some trial and error with the IK on and off while selecting the fk and IK controlls and studying the curves and the Trajectories. That has helped alot I just love those Trajectories. I would be curious to hear about LoCKs questions as well. Thanks again for all of your Help.

Jon

[Lewi]

Yeah I'd love some tips and advice on hand keying in MB. What settings ,setup and workflow would you advise to get a rig to behave like a rig in Maya, XSI or Max. I've been using MB since version 4 with no problems with mocap and subtle hand keying edits, but as soon as I try anything with intensive hand keying in MB it becomes very crunchy and unstable. Nothing locks down properly even with the reach sliders there is always some micro wibble or drift occuring in the solving. Interpolation is never predictable and sometimes never represents the IK or FK fcurves. The fact is after two productions of hand keying in MB it just isn't as easy or quick for me as it is in the pre mentioned packages. I love MB but to get the same animation results as say Maya I find myself saving every 2 frames, counter animating elements and placing nearly twice as many keyframes. So a setup checklist, brief workflow and any tips or settings .... yes please. A nocap or hand keying setting would be nice for traditional animators.

[daniloxl]

I don't know if this aplies to this topic...but it will probably be usefull to somebody who reads this topic
When you select the "body part" in the Character control panel it basicly selects only the IK effector control so if you want to reveal the FK curves for the sellected body part you have to make sure that "Display Keying Group" is checked on from the animation menu in Key Controls...then you have the acces to FK skeleton keys within FCurve editor for that body part...this was a revolutionary discovery for me :)

[Lewi]

Yup its not very obvious how to access FK curves at first. In regards to not locking things down check out this demo video from Autodesk for MB 7 on their site . LINK MB VIDEO (http://download.autodesk.com/us/motionbuilder/movies/GDC06_MB_DoubleEval/GDC06_MB_DoubleEval.html)
Its about 1:43 in and the instructor is showing you how to stop a foot sliding by using Auxillary Effectors. After supposedly fixing it he says " You'll notice that the foot no longer really slides, it's really much more solid than it was previously ". True it no longer really slides but it isn't locked down it is still moving slightly. And yes it's really much more solid than it was previously but it isn't completely locked down. Very carefully chosen words and not misleading when you analyse them. These problems have been around since MB 4 and are still here in MB 7.5.
Ok it may seem a little picky, so whats the problem with a bit of drift. Plenty let me tell you when that foot is in close up. In Maya, Max and XSI when its a held keyframe it is rock solid, and when you have had rock solid its hard to go back.

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