Animation Question

[Kvaalen]

Originally posted by dzogchen
Using the centre hip expression, I am able to propel the character to walk forward by moving the leg , however this leave my root master null behind (purple disc). If I keep moving forward my root master gets further away, how to solve this?

Usually if you are creating a walk cycle you make the caracter walk in its place and then you move it around later.

Originally posted by dzogchen
Also I have the expression for the hip height, however that forbid me to keyframe the pelvis manually to exagerate her walk? Any solution to this? :shrug:

Nope, no solution I know of. That is why I don't use that, it gives you less control.

Sorry if my answers disapoint you. :p

[dzogchen]

Thanks Kvaalen. Merci beaucoup. Too bad no way to override the expression.

[Triple G]

Originally posted by Kvaalen
Usually if you are creating a walk cycle you make the caracter walk in its place and then you move it around later.

Actually, I usually don't do that. Unless it's animation for a game (where you need to have the action cycle), I like to actually keyframe the walk by moving the feet/hips/etc to the places I need them to be in the scene. I just use the master null to position where I want the whole rig to start the shot, then forget about it.

I've found that, at least for me, it's difficult to use a pre-made walk cycle on a character and then move it around with a null, and not have it look a) like a cycle, and b) like the feet are slipping. Both methods have their uses, use whatever you feel most comfortable with. :cool:

[ngrava]

This is actually the way it's supposed to work. It's not a problem because you just use the null or bone or whatever your using to translate the character with and use that. The main or Master null is just used for initial character placement. The nice thing about this is that if you needed to move the character of change his direction for any reason latter, you just do this with the Master null.

-=GB=-

[kretin]

As ngrava mentioned, the master null is for placement of your character and it's motion within a scene, so you need that to stay in place as the character moves around the scene.

I agree with Triple G, the "only" time you want a character walking on the spot is for a game loop animation, and even then you don't create it walking on the spot, you create it walking forwards and move a parent null backwards over the same time frame so you have constant motion per frame so you can apply that constant motion to the game character and the feet don't slide.

Whenever you use automatic hip positioning, make sure you add a child null to the hip (which you then parent the object to) that will allow you to adjust the hip position. Hide the auto hip null and use the child null as your manual hip control.

[ngrava]

Originally posted by kretin
I agree with Triple G, the "only" time you want a character walking on the spot is for a game loop animation, and even then you don't create it walking on the spot, you create it walking forwards and move a parent null backwards over the same time frame so you have constant motion per frame so you can apply that constant motion to the game character and the feet don't slide.

Hey! I never knew that. That's a great trick. I've never worked on games, just comercials so I've never needed to do that. But I never would have thought of that. ;)

-=GB=-

[Tudor]

Or you create a dummy ground object and move that and not the character. Works for getting now sliding feet, and makes it easier to loop the walk cycle.

[dzogchen]

Thanks folk for all the tips. I will give it a try.:wavey:

[Jonathan]

I guess you've never tried cycle expression in messiah. You create your walk cycle then cycle the motion to the z axis of your hip null. Then you when you move your hip, the legs will automatically walk in time. This will also work for moving side to side, having to automated cycles attached to 1 controller to move in different directions. Cornering however would be a bit more difficult to set up, but these expressions are easily turned on and off with sliders so it's no diggity.

I've never tried this in Lightwave, but I guess it could work.

[Tudor]

In LW there is Cyclist. Been there forever and does exactly the same thing.

[Chewey]

I don't use hip expressions. Give up too much needed control.

[Tudor]

I agree. They take away too much control, but they can be usefull as long as you still have a way of adjusting the hip position relative to the center hip expression. It can be a quick way of blocking out an animation for example.

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