Doubt about animation in XSI

#1

Hi everyone!

I’m a 3dsmax user learning Blender and XSI. I noticed both softwares work quite differently from 3dsmax when it comes to animation. And I must get my head around this different method…

What I like in 3dsmax when animating is that if I have Auto Key ON and change, say, the transformation, it creates the keyframes as expected. But if I have Auto Key OFF, it still LET me translate the object freely, and changes the animation curves as needed. To make it easier to understand is like if in XSI we have object A linked to B, and we animate A, if we move B, the animation in A remains the same. However, it’s not exactly the same thing and in practice it can be complicated to try to do this in a rig, for example.

I’m missing A LOT this ability because it is much easier to relocate things in the scene after they were animated…

Regards,

Jr.

#2

you can add an animation layer in XSI if you need to transform the complete animation curve as you discribe.

#3

A bit confusing so lets try by parts :smiley:

  • A is Linked to B

  • A have a simple Up and Down Motion

  • B have no Motion

  • Move B to one Side and A should follow and still keep the Up and Down Motion

Isnt this that is ocurring?

#4

Easy : parent A to B, done
“A is Linked to B”

#5

No No, this was just an example of a way to do in XSI what max does. But max need no parenting for that to happen, I just can move the animated objects. That’s the point.

Yeah! Thanks, forgot this feature. Interesting is that in max Character Studio is just like XSI (animated objects get “locked”) and the solution I used to use is just that. :slight_smile:

Regards,

Jr.

#6

you may think this is a bonus feature when coming from max (as least I did when I first changed years ago), but it is more like a bug. If you are doing any sort of character animation you would never want this kind of thing to happen, it would be way too easy to inadvertently screw up your animation. like someone said, if you want to globally move an animated object just put it under a null, and move it. XSI method protects the user from completely screwing up hours of work.

#7

max’s transform stack is more complex, from what i can tell it has a built in parent space that you can move that offsets all curves. which as many have pointed out, just add a parent object and offset the parent.

at work we always rig with a world and move all controls. these are reserved for specific uses, like offsetting the entire character, constraining to vehicles, etc

#8

Just parent to a new null. That’s a couple of clicks or so.

Are you referring to character studio? That thing is like a veil wrapping everything under the hood (including bugs) and all I ever learned with it was sequences of meaningless keystrokes to avoid the bumps and hurdles (and features?) I couldn’t see.

#9

Thanks for the tips guys. After thinking for a while I realise that max in fact is wrong. Altough in some cases this behavior was quite helpful for me, in MUCH others it was a lot worse, because if you forget to tun autokey on you will pretty much crap everything and this happen VERY often. Now it’s just a matter of getting used to…

Regards,

Jr.

#10

ON a side note- look into creating character key parameter sets and keying with those- very nice and handy IMHO and can give you some extra ease in animation without having to worry as much about messing up your rig etc.

#11

I always find having autokey on for everything is a dangerous thing. I dunno. Guess we all work differently.
Bear in mind, in xsi’s preferences you can set a few different kinds of autokey preferences. There’s set key on all frames, set key on existing frames, and set key on existing fcurves. I normally have set key on existing frames on (it makes the auto button yellow rather than red), so that I can set keys manually, but go back and change them easily.
Each app is different. Give them a chance before ditching them entirely. Get used to the workflow and see if you like it.

#12

You can try use a plugin I wrote, one of it’s options, does exactly that.
check out the “Offset Value” button in this plugin, you move/rotate/scale the animated object(s) to a new pose, and click the button (it will offset S R and T according to what
is marked)

plugin is here:
Fcurve Tools Plugin

Cheers,

#13

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