Key Frame Animation Problem...

#1

Ok, this has me stumped!

I have some key framed animation, just blocking. So I grab all the keys for all the controllers and change them to TCB curves. If I then go in and delete every key except the first and last keys I would have expected the character to slide from the beginning pose to the end… Instead some animation is still retained, and I’m getting funky results. So, when I go in and edit keys (moving them to other frames, or just deleting them) it is totally going crazy.

I’m pretty new to MotionBuilder in general, and I can’t work this out at all. I do still have keys in my timeline, and I can’t work out where they are from.

I’m using MotionBuilder 7 Standard. Keying everything using the ‘key’ key, using full body mode. Any ideas as I really can’t work out what I’m doing wrong.

Thanks for your help

-Stu

#2

If you’ve created an IK/FK rig then chances are this is motion on the FK side of the rig. When you select the effectors in the character controls window you are selecting the IK effectors, but the FK stuff is still in there; they’re the yellow connectors that you see when you go into X-Ray mode and they can be a real pain if you don’t know about them.

A couple of ways to get rid of the motion…

  1. Open the scematic view (ctrl-w), and if you see where you have your red and blue IK effectors in the control rig, well those yellow ones off to the side are the FK controls. Select them all and manually delete any keys you don’t want, or in the Key Controls window click Animation > Clear Selected (All Properties).

or…

  1. Plot the motion to skeleton, delete the control rig in the navigator, then plot back to an IK only rig. Then plot back to skeleton, delete the IK only control rig and plot back to an IK/FK rig. I usually use this to get rid of any unwanted roll (specifically the arms).

Hope that helps you out. Let me know if it doesn’t solve the problem.

#3

Thanks for the reply Dan, much appreciated.

Unfortunately deleting the FK rig animation seems to delete all of my animation (using your first method). The second method is fantastic, but that I can’t animate the animation anymore as it’s plotted to the skeleton… Unless I then take that back into Max, and I could clean up in there I guess!!!

I’ve come to the conclusion that MotionBuilder and I don’t get along too well! haha!

Any more thoughts would be awesome.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge! :slight_smile:

Cheers

-Stu

#4

I don’t think MB gets along well with many people. :slight_smile: In the future, try keyframing in body part or preferably in selection mode, then you don’t have extra keys on all the FK nodes on the rig.

When you delete the keyframes in Dan’s first suggestion, are you making sure that you have all the IK effectors blended to 100% reach? I think if you’re blended to FK and you delete the keys it won’t show any animation even if there is animation on the IK effectors.

Also for the second method, if you plot back to the control rig, you can continue animating. What he was suggesting (I’m guessing) is to do that when you’re happy with the animation and are ready to plot anyway…you just want to get rid of the popping and rolling. But if you do that for what you’ve done, plot back to the control rig and keyframe in selection mode, you should be able to keep animating and hopefully avoid too many more extra keys.

Hope this helps!

#5

If you set keys in Fullbody or Body Parts mode, you’ll have keys for the other control rig nodes. For example, while in Body Parts mode, setting a key on the ikHand control also sets a key for the elbow and shoulder.
You may delete the hand key but the elbow and shoulder keys remain.

Art

#6

Don’t see why you wouldn’t be able to keep animating using the second method. Just to quickly go over what you’re doing…

You plot to skeleton so that you don’t lose your motion when you delete the control rig, you then delete the control rig so that it gets rid of all control rig animation. You then plot to the IK only rig so that only IK is affecting the motion; it should have removed any influence that FK was having on the character.

You could then just keep animating from here using the IK effectors, but people tend to like having the functionality of an IK/FK rig, so I then suggested that you again plot back to the skeleton, then delete the IK rig so that you’re free to plot back to an IK/FK rig. Since plotting to the IK only rig will have removed any influence from the original FK rig, that FK motion should now be gone, even when you plot back to the IK/FK rig. At least I think that’s how it works. From there’s there’s nothing stopping you from just animating as usual.

Actually now that I think about it, when you plot to the skeleton it should just be raw motion, so this may work by simply plotting to skeleton, deleting your control rig and then plotting back to an IK/FK rig and contining from there. I’ve not got a copy of motionbuilder infront of me right now so I can’t check.

#7

Try using linear interpolation rather than tcb interpolation before deleting. Also use the fcurve(be sure to select all keyed items) window and dopesheet to find wayward keys. keys that don’t show up on the timeline when character control effectors are selected include scale/reach and custom property keys. Hope this helps.

#8

Hey guys your replies have been super helpful. The method for plotting to skeleton does work, but it’s that animation I need to edit, and editing before plotting is just not working out for me… I could just be totally dumb on this but MB has a system that I just can’t wrap my head around!

Also, each effector has it’s own translation, relative from the reference effector… Crazy! I was expecting that my root joint would have the translation information for the spine and head, but they all have their own… :shrug:

Ok, I’m confused but will battle ahead! Thanks a lot for your time, I have learnt a lot! :slight_smile:

Cheers

-Stu

#9

The method for plotting to skeleton does work, but it’s that animation I need to edit, and editing before plotting is just not working out for me… I could just be totally dumb on this but MB has a system that I just can’t wrap my head around!

You’re not being dumb, i’m just not sure that you’re listening. :wink:

You CAN edit it after. Using the plotting method that I suggested you should end up with the fixed animation plotted to an IK/FK control rig. There should be no reason why you can’t then continue animating with that control rig.

I’ve explained it twice now so i’m not really sure what else to say, so I either got the process wrong and i’m missing something, or you’re just not doing it right. If you have the fixed motion on a skeleton with no effectors to let you control the rig, just go into the character settings and click “Plot Character…”, to plot that motion back onto an IK/FK control rig. If when you do that it still has the same problem that you had before then the motion wasn’t fixed. If that’s the case then try again and be sure to follow the process that I outlined to the letter.

If it still doesn’t work then let me know cause I may be missing something.

#10

Ok, Dan that worked a treat. I had to play around with the Reach settings a little and it’s sorta working! I’m way too new to this thing!

I’m ultra confused as to why every effector in the rig has values on it too. As in if I translate the hips, then the spine, head etc have translate values on them too. I’m sure I’m just not grasping this program correctly! Maybe I’m set in my ways and my brain is stubbornly not working for me! Haha! :slight_smile:

#11

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