Fixed the Daz3D Definition file in Autodesk Motion Builder

TruebonesTruebones Posts: 0
edited December 1969 in Daz Studio Discussion

http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=UUDsZWfELx-oE3C-qfqD4SbQ&v=KQtVhSp35jY&feature=player_embedded#!

Here is a video explaining what was wrong with the Daz3D Genesis Definition file in Autodesk MotionBuilder.

Now the motions play flawlessly in Daz3D

This is some really good information, Please share with your friends.

Comments

  • ReDaveReDave Posts: 815
    edited December 1969

    Oooh, useful! Bookmarking.

  • marblemarble Posts: 7,449
    edited January 2013

    is there a link to a download of the definition file? If not, is there a tutorial on how to create one? I think your fix assumes there is an existing Genesis definition in MotionBuilder.

    Sorry if my questions are naive but I've just downloaded the trial version from AutoDesk but have no experience with it yet.

    Post edited by marble on
  • TruebonesTruebones Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    Hi Marble,

    Yes there is one, but its just as easy to make one. I will show you how so you will better understand how it works.

  • marblemarble Posts: 7,449
    edited December 1969

    Truebones said:
    Hi Marble,

    Yes there is one, but its just as easy to make one. I will show you how so you will better understand how it works.

    I'll look forward to it - are you making a YouTube video? If so, could you let us know when it is up and viewable? Thanks.

  • TruebonesTruebones Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    marble said:
    Truebones said:
    Hi Marble,

    Yes there is one, but its just as easy to make one. I will show you how so you will better understand how it works.

    I'll look forward to it - are you making a YouTube video? If so, could you let us know when it is up and viewable? Thanks.

    Hi Marble,

    Yes it will be a Youtube video, I will post it here soon.

    Thanks and Cheers

  • TruebonesTruebones Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    marble said:
    Truebones said:
    Hi Marble,

    Yes there is one, but its just as easy to make one. I will show you how so you will better understand how it works.

    I'll look forward to it - are you making a YouTube video? If so, could you let us know when it is up and viewable? Thanks.

    Hi Marble,

    Heres Part one, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0--a-AAnTR0&feature=youtu.be

    in PArt 2 I will post a link to the sample files for you.

    Thanks and Cheers

  • marblemarble Posts: 7,449
    edited December 1969

    Thank you Mr. Bones.

    I watched Part 1 and am looking forward to trying it myself. I am awy this weekend but hope I can have some time early next week.

    Cheers.

  • TruebonesTruebones Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    Heres Part 2 showing how to load the BVH into Jazz Dennisis

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLQOgoKqTfk

    Let me know where you want me to send the definition file too.

    Thanks for watching.

    Cheers

  • marblemarble Posts: 7,449
    edited December 1969

    I just sent you a PM.

    Thanks.

  • marblemarble Posts: 7,449
    edited December 1969

    Well, my trial download of MotionBuilder ran out but I have to say that I could not get it to work as you show in your video. I suspect there are things that someone familiar with the software will take for granted that others, not so familiar, will struggle to find. For example, I couldn't follow the video after importing a BVH - I tried one of the CMU free ones and ended up with a tiny stick man and could not figure out how to characterize it.

    Anyhow, I decided that the software was far too expensive for my humble pocket so I looked elsewhere. I found that iClone has similar features and looked cheaper. I bought Decimator while it was on sale but, after reading more about the iClone product, it transpires that it requires 3DExchange to move figures between DAZ Studio and iClone. The package in total is "on sale" for $799 ... again, far too much for me.

    So I guess I'll have to tinker about with the timeline until DAZ adds better animation features. Maybe "soon" ... sigh.

  • Swawa3DSwawa3D Posts: 231
    edited December 1969

    marble said:
    So I guess I'll have to tinker about with the timeline until DAZ adds better animation features. Maybe "soon" ... sigh.

    I'm not sure if you already familiar with this stuff but here are some quick tips that made working with BVH motion files in DAZ a lot easier for me.

    Turn limits off before importing. Active Pane Options: Limits: Off

    "Pose Controls" are separate from the full motion data imported from BVH files. You can use them to offset & tweak the motions non destructively on a separate layer. For example you might need to adjust the arms so they don't pass through the body for different figure types. They are available under the parameters or posing tabs.

    To add multiple BVH file motions one after the other you must first save them independently as "Pose Presets", turning on the "animation range" option. You can then re-import them to the time line at the current active frame. put a small gap between them to blend them.

    I'm not sure your budget but there are several animation plug-ins by DAZ Published Artists that really extend the animation capabilities of DAZ. Visit the links for more details.

    http://www.daz3d.com/animate2
    http://www.daz3d.com/keymate
    http://www.daz3d.com/graphmate

    Animate is more for working with full motion files, looping, blending, layering, offsetting, etc. It can import and export to the DAZ timeline but it is separate from it. It works great with BVH motions like the ones from TrueBones.

    KeyMate & GraphMate work on the existing DAZ timeline, extending it's capabilities. They are great for creating custom animations. They allow you to visualize and work on nodes independently and to adjust curves.

  • marblemarble Posts: 7,449
    edited December 1969

    HI Swawa,

    Thank you. Yes, I do have those three products from GoFigure. I have managed to get some BVH files to work but others seem to be all over the place. The CMU download is supposed to be "DAZ friendly" but I'm not sure about which generation of characters it is friendly to. Genesis seems to be a bit of a problem.

    As for Animate2 - It has a graph editor but I've had problems with it which I've reported of the GoFigure forum. Nobody seems interested in answering - it has been there for weeks now. I need more information about KeyMate and GraphMate - GoFigure promised more tutorials but all seems to be deathly silent over there. Their website hasn't been updated this year (it is still saying "Keymate coming in December").

    I think I have the limits turned off when I import a BVH but I'll check again. Does the separate layer thing only work with Keymate? I didn't think the normal DAZ timeline supported layers? If Keymate - I understood from another thread that it isn't much good for editing Aniblocks and/or BVH files because every frame is a keyframe - or am I misunderstanding the mechanism here?

  • Swawa3DSwawa3D Posts: 231
    edited December 1969

    I have not spent much time with the free CMU files. The quality seems variable (higher # folders are usually better). The latest conversion is supposed to work best, I think it's the one by Ecstasy Motion on Sept. 19 2012?

    With the full AniMate2 you can easily correct most minor issues due to various figure proportions by making an offset layer. You just add a sub layer set to add/extend (default). You can set offsets once if they are consistent through the motion or you can animate them if needed.

    I have very little experience with the Animate2 Graph editor so can't help there.

    The "Pose Controls" (parameters/posing tab), are standard in DAZ Studio, requiring no plug-ins. What I mean by layer is that the data is stored separately. If you widen the legs on the first frame they will be that much wider throughout the entire animation. If you just made them wider with the general transforms it would only be wider on that 1 single frame. You can also animate pose controls. There are a limited number of Parameters available though. With Animate2 you can offset any type of motion and do multiple layers.

    Yes, KeyMate is better for custom animation tweening from scratch, not motion capture because they store data on every frame. You could delete in-between frames manually but it would take some time & make the motions less realistic. It could be a good way to clean up noisy motions though.

  • marblemarble Posts: 7,449
    edited December 1969

    Swawa said:
    I have not spent much time with the free CMU files. The quality seems variable (higher # folders are usually better). The latest conversion is supposed to work best, I think it's the one by Ecstasy Motion on Sept. 19 2012?

    With the full AniMate2 you can easily correct most minor issues due to various figure proportions by making an offset layer. You just add a sub layer set to add/extend (default). You can set offsets once if they are consistent through the motion or you can animate them if needed.

    I have very little experience with the Animate2 Graph editor so can't help there.

    The "Pose Controls" (parameters/posing tab), are standard in DAZ Studio, requiring no plug-ins. What I mean by layer is that the data is stored separately. If you widen the legs on the first frame they will be that much wider throughout the entire animation. If you just made them wider with the general transforms it would only be wider on that 1 single frame. You can also animate pose controls. There are a limited number of Parameters available though. With Animate2 you can offset any type of motion and do multiple layers.

    Yes, KeyMate is better for custom animation tweening from scratch, not motion capture because they store data on every frame. You could delete in-between frames manually but it would take some time & make the motions less realistic. It could be a good way to clean up noisy motions though.

    Ecstasy Motion is the one I downloaded, yes.

    I'll need to read more about the offset layer - I'm not at all familiar with the term. And I had no idea that the pose controls performed that function in animation. I thought it was just a kind of short cut instead of using the regular parameters tab. If you know of any good tutorials I would be very grateful but you have already provided some interesting pointers and I'll follow up on them tomorrow (it is getting late here in the UK now).

    Thanks again.

  • Swawa3DSwawa3D Posts: 231
    edited December 1969

    By offset (or add) I just mean that changes are added to the existing motion. For example if you add an offset of 45 degrees to an existing 25 degree bend you now have a 70 degree bend. Offsets can be created with Pose Controls or with Animate2 sub tracks. Animate2 has more options, it can also "override" instead, see their documentation.

    The AniMate2 guide has detailed info, skip down to the Tracks & Sub-tracks section if you don't need the other info. They also have videos under the support tab.

    http://www.gofigure3d.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=92&Itemid=86

    I recently learned from Trubones about how to use "Pose Controls" with animation. Here is a link to our forum discussion, there is a link to a video (pose controls are covered about half way through)

    http://www.truebones.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=60

    Hope that helps.

  • JessLoJessLo Posts: 21

    Hi!

    Here you have also a tutorial that also will help you with Genesis 2 and Genesis 3

    How to import and characterize DAZ Genesis 2 and 3 into MotionBuilder

    http://www.flipbookmarket.com/blog/how-import-and-characterize-daz-genesis-2-and-3-motionbuilde

  • jaebeajaebea Posts: 454

    JessLo, thank you for the tuts for Motionbuilder.  I have become frustrated with trying to animate in DS to I am leaning Mobu right now.  I have a subscription to Lynda.com so that gives me the basics but it is always helpful to get direction for something one is going to use!

  • Hmmmm, I can't seem to get past step 1. When I import a Genesis BVH file into MB 2017, I get a funky looking skeleton (see attached), and am unable to characterize it. 

    Any ideas what the issue may be?

     

    Untitled-1.jpg
    2560 x 1440 - 674K
  • Kiwi-HawkKiwi-Hawk Posts: 88

    Kia ora

    Thanks for the tutorial, seems Daz have updated/changes the skeleton

    Has the Daz Skeletons changed? the bone names are different now it seems, so as per the tutorial I selected the hip (same as tut) then I went to abdomenLower (abdomen in tut) and selected the bone above hip in Define, abdomenUpper (abdomen2 in tut) the Bottom bone define spine image, Chest Lower the next up and chest Upper the third one up. I do not know where to tp put the Pelvis that comes off the hip on the same leve as the abdomenLower.

  • JessLoJessLo Posts: 21
    edited July 2017

    Hi Kiwi

    Check if you are using Genesis 2, Genesis 3 or the new one, Genesis 8, as the Bone naming change in everyone.

    If you are using the new Genesis 8, please check this tutorial, and if you still have doubts, please don't head site to ask

    Tutorial: How to import and characterize DAZ Genesis 8 into MotionBuilder  

    Youtube Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ER6KB5vrkwQ

     

    Have Fun :)

    Post edited by JessLo on
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