Daz 3D is part of 
Connect
DAZ Productions, Inc.
224 S 200 W, Suite #250
Salt Lake City, UT 84101
Licensing Agreement | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | EULA
© 2024 Daz Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved.Daz 3D is part of
Connect
DAZ Productions, Inc.
224 S 200 W, Suite #250
Salt Lake City, UT 84101
Licensing Agreement | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | EULA
© 2024 Daz Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Comments
Do you use it with pins (Active Pose or other) or does it replace the need for pins entirely?
While LimbStick is obviously aimed at animations, it is actually pretty handy for static pose tweaking too.
An example would be if you have a pose where the hands are placed beautifully on the face, but you would prefer the head to be turned to the side. Using LimbStick, you could create a keyframe at say, frame 30 that has the head in your preferred pose. Running LimbStick with the hands and head selected would result in a new pose with the hands still in place, but the head in a new position. Simply save the figure poser at this frame as a static pose and you've created a tweaked pose.
Steve
We also have a video walkthough example of using the custom range with our guy catching a ball.
It would be fairly simply to create a figure wiping a window. Simply have a small plane or null that you animate in circular movements on the window model and use that as the target to stick the figure's hand to.
Spreading sun lotion on a leg while possible, would be rather difficult as you would need to animate a null (or something else) to move along the surface of the leg for the hand to target to. We are currently experimenting with a different tool that may make something like this fairly easy.
The values will be slightly different because the positions of the joints in the final frame are calculated. The differences are normally fractions of degrees, but you could always run the script over a custom frame range just skipping the final frame.
LimbStick doesn't rely on Daz Studio's pins or anything like that. It is simply a matter of posing your figure the way you want in the first frame you will process from. Check out the example video to see it in action.
I'm so happy this thread came about as I saw the script when it launched and didn't quite understand what it was, but after reading through this I got so excited as this is something definitely needed. I snagged it tonight and just tried it on a shot for a film I'm doing that I had already conceded what I wanted wasn't possible before in Daz. All I wanted was the guy to open a car door, look up at the marquee with his left hand resting on the door, and get in the car. Two days I worked at trying to get the hand to stay in one spot with zero luck so I had already said forget it and rendered it with his arm staying down. I just put the guy's hand back on the door, ran the script and it worked perfectly! So now I'm rendering out those frames to reinsert into the shot so I can have what I originally wanted. Thank you!
Just saying, I have most of your scripts and use them often, if you were to make a script that would remove the Daz rig and put a rig like Rigify or MHX onto a character and have real IK all around, it would make a lot of people happy. An idea to mull over.
Thanks again!
Well, I'll have to describe it as my animations while non-pornographic is not suited for Daz's PG13-rated forum...
Dang... now I want to see em' even more.... sigh....
Anyway
I bought this tool even though I've never made an animation before... and it looks like I am not the only one (reading the above posts)
So, it might be a big ask, but when you make more tutorials, keep in mind that there are some of us that no abosolutely nothing about animation in or outta daz.
Thanks for your replies ... I hope you keep coming back to answer more because I think that this script has generated a lot of interest - especially since the poor IK in DAZ Studio is such a common complaint. From the point of view of the DAZ Studio user it is a pity that we need to buy a script like this because the native feature is not fit for purpose but then I buy morph packs from Zev0 which fix hip and glute bends, etc., which should be catered for in the base figures.
Back to the question: yes I have watched the video and I get how it works (I think) but I haven't had a chance yet to test it - hopefully later in the week I can dedicate some time to it. My thoughts on active pose were - at least the way I use it - I pin the hands and feet and then drag the pelvis forward or backward to create the animation (like your push-ups example). Active pose is supposed to manage the position of all the bones between the pins. Watching your video it looks like you set an initial pose, then a final pose and let the script work out the bone movement in between?
I've been using Active Pose for years but the reason I bought your script is that Active Pose tends to have the limbs twitching and moving so there is a lot of time wasted trying to put them back in place.
I found it really helpful when I needed to keep a character's hand on a sword sheathed at his hip while adjusting other parts of the body. It's a situation where I'd usually have to spend a lot of time readjusting the hand because the fingers and object have to interact naturally in whatever position they end up in.
To use Limb Stick does not involve pinning anything. See what the plugin can do. My example of the man in green sitting down was only using Limb Stick. His feet stayed on the floor and in place. I had then saved out the pose and perhaps missed something to check or uncheck and so had to pin the feet to the floor in my pose which was NOT using Limb Stick. And as [hopefully] people can see, the feet slide. Hence using Limb Stick is a great help!
I can see many uses for this script, but I don't think it would resolve some of the most troublesome items on my IK wishlist which are:
1. Having a couple maintain a natural hold during a ballroom dance.
2. Being able to apply a BVH in which feet are moving yet have feet stay adjusted to the floor plane.
3. Being able to apply a guitar playin BVH to a character and get the limbs to move a guitar in a natural way by parenting to hands to the guitar
I guess these types of animations would require DAZ to have more complex solvers built in.
I bought this tool a couple of days ago and have been playing around with it. & I have a few words on this product for what it worth . I have not posted any demos videos of it
First in case anyone is wondering . This worked for me in daz studio version 4.12.0.86 so I figure it must be based on the 4.5 SDK code for those using older daz studio versions. like I said it worked for me but i won't guarantee it will for others I have a pretty complex computer set up for animations.
If your looking for a FK/IK solution this is not it . you still have to make primitives just like before when setting up your Ik-chains. and it does not work using Null's like a Ik-chain will
its does calculate all keyframe & sub keyframes required movements in the animation automatically which I found amazing because is very useful in not having to do all the movements by hand. someone above mentioned that this was similar to mcjAutolimbj-script . I find limbstick to actually easier to set up. and you can customize the timeline movements & timeing.with limbstick. I found moving the limbstick scripts properties panel tab down to the to timeline level makes it easier for me to use in the animation work flow using dual monitors
I found the set up is super easy. this is great for when you need your character to keep their certain body parts pinned to a prop or another characters. I bought this because I hope it will be very handy for making adult animations to pin genitals together. because it very time consuming calculating the movements by hand as of now. & I am hoping this will be great for things like using Num-chuks & fighting staffs in animation as well. because without a script calculating all the movements it has just been impossible to accomplish.
The negatives & draw back I found right off is it does not work as a 1 click hard surface pinning solution. if you plan on using it for seamless interactions . you will still have to make a stop/ cut scene or stop in the animation to make your parent attachment run script and then resume your animation cycle so the script can calculate the movements. it does not automatically parent the props . example would be if your picking a sword off the ground you. you can not just walk over and pick the sword up. you will have to stop the animation cycle just as the characters grabs the sword . . then attach/parent the sword prop and resume the animation the script will then calculate the proper hand, wrist and arm movements of the sword when its being picked up. But you will have to still manually parent the sword unless I am missing something in the instructions
Its the same as if you were making 2 guys greeting each other and shaking hands. when the guys greet each other before the hand connect together, you will need to still stop the animation on that keyframe on the timeline then apply the limbstick to the sphere primitives for each hand, then run limbstick script to calculate the hand shake movements which will resume your animation on the timeline. so to me that is the same set up as it is working with the ik-chains as well. to make the body part to attach/parent and unattached/unparent it does not do the parenting on the fly so to speak
So foot pinning during walk cycles such as if you are trying to make a characters climb stairs, or uneven terrain. you will still have to set up the limbstick the same way you would for a Ik-chain. by creating a primitive for each place the feet will step along the path so they have a place to attach to & limbstick will calculate the proper body movements for climbing the stairs. . i could not get the hand to pin to the hand railing on the stairs at the same time as the feet were pinned to the steps. and like I had mentioned it does not work or recognize Nulls which I use a lot of Ik-chains because I can attach multiple ik-chains to a null where i can't using primitives.
I am sure that I will have to work with this a little more to work around these issues to make this product work better for me. . i just got this product and I am still figuring out how to use it .
My conclusion is this will be very useful for me in animation use because once a prop or character is parented the script does all the movement calculation automatically on the timeline .where before when i used Ik chains I had to do it all by hand manually so I am hoping this will speed my work flow up. when hand keyframing animation.
Good Job 3DU . this is 100x better than your glue to the floor script. thank you for keeping us animators in mind.
screen grab of all my Daz programs on my start menu so maybe thats why this script works in daz 4.12 click to enlarge
I have a question for you @3DUniverse
Is this limited in use for props ? is it limited on use for geographs as well? I ask Because it does not work for the genitalia of either sexes or whether its g3 or g8 is there a way to work around for the genitalia? because it does not work on the 3rd party dickcotor prop either which is rigged with bones dials
I ask because the genesis8 gens do not work for this products, and sadly that is one of the major uses I had intended use for this product?
Any ideas how to make this work? do I need to rig bones in to genitalia?
I can go back to manually adding in Ik-chains and do it as I have been . But I was hoping to use this product to speed up things any idea how to get this to recognize the genitalia for both sexes?
well I tried as a experiment to add in bones and rig the labia . But it doesn't work when you add and rig bones to the gens either & that is a real pooper any ideas?
I still have not had the chance to set aside a few hours to put together some animation scenes and play with this script so I am not speaking from experience. However, in reading the responses here in this thread, there appear to be some elements that might be improved in future updates (I'm speculating because I have no idea what would be involved). For example, I found that there can only be one target so I assume that you couldn't target a foot to a stair and a hand to a handrail? Secondly, I can't see how it would help with, for example, a simple walk cycle where foot and target necessarily become detached.
The problems with geograft anatomy pointed out by @Ivy are something of a disappointment for those who regularly work with geografts (a large percentage of users, I would imagine).
Hey Ivy! What if you were to put a cylinder or a cone, or a plane, and size it to where the genitals would be and parent it to them, and use that with the script, and then after the script is run just turn off the primitive. In theory it should work because the hand would be placed in that spot either way. Worth a shot.
LimbStick seems like an excellent add-on for Studio. It reminded me of some IK experiments I did a while back:
Daz Studio's IK feature has some good things about it and some bad. You can see a weird wobble happening from time to time, no idea what causes it. Also once the limb is positioned outside its anatomical limits the IK sort of breaks. This happens even if you turn off all limits.
Forgive my ignorance but why should a primitive work where other geometry (the geograft) doesn't?
Well, I haven't tried geografts, but the script has worked with every single primitive or object I've tried it with. So in my mind, just use an object that we know will work in the exact place of the geograft with the same basic shape and it should work when you turn the object off and turn the geograft back on.
Glad it works for you! Means might work for others too? Would be nice to hear from others.
I checked my net framework win10 version as I never checked this yet with so much else to do on new PC.
Supposedly since net4.0 everything overwrites etc in same dir C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319.
Right-click accessibility.dll and see details>product version. Mine shows latest 4.8.* net framework and MS won't let me install older 4.5 sdks cause it says all is up to date.
So not sure why i got error in 4.12.0.86 whereas in beta 4.16.1.2the script works well.
Nice to see someone else had these issues. Changing stuff on timeline is a fact of life, so even careful workarounds could break or worse changes means things don't work anymore. Hopefully this can be addressed. Auto-Scripts like this one show some promise.
Nice to hear 3Duniverse has another product in concept, even if dealing with somewhat other issues, which is great too.
Hi Bennie
I tried that trick as you mentioned . but i still got that it requires bone error message. if you noticed in my screen grabs I had created and parented a sphere primitive to the geograph of the genitalia but its still a no go. I also noticed it does not work for deforce clothing either, if your trying to use it to take off a piece of clothing thats deforce. using the clothing item as the prop it does not see it in the properties panel nor will it attach the hand to the primitive locations on the location of the clothing you want the hand to parent to as to simulate the pulling of clothing by the hand. I get that same this is not compatible with deforce clothing errors. so at this point unless I can figure out how to get it to work with these things. its only good for a few things . I can do all I had mentioned above manually using Ik-chains and nulls. and parented primitives
Running this script with it's custom range specs saves me instantly the time (and money) it would have taken to manually do it. After that it's free. What's an hour worth? See it as one super affordable tool among a big toolset. But that's just my thought.
Current Script appears limited to main figure bones for following (probably for best predictable results and strict script control), but still see it as a very good tool. Can't see a workaround as is for geografts at this time with more bones. Would be very nice to have though :)
I'll hang on to the script (not return for refund) in the hope that the PA will look at updates to address those shortcomings mentioned by @Ivy and others.
I'll properly keep it as well it does work great for other things. & so far in per test I am able to change hands within the same timeline measure on the dope sheet without halving to use a cut/scene with the num-chuck prop That will be very useful for future uses in my Karate girl films It works for holding a paddle & rowing a boat very well, a nice flow to the motion. with the body and arms and it worked great for the daz jeep. steering wheel though I did use a extra primitive for the steering wheel I haven't tried it on other vehicles yet.
I did wish it worked for deforce clothing and geograph's & shells. I tried the extra primitive trick for deforce too and got that same compatibility error Maybe 3du will have update or have a work around like you said for those uses as well
I bought this as it is just nothing but a positive improvement to the few tools DS has to try and animate... It is that and it does exactly what it says very well, fast and with the ability to just keep re-doing the script for the same parts to fix things or try changing anything at all, as many times as needed/desired. It's very similar to Spring Dynamics in that and almost every way other than the type of calculations it's making to add Key Frames.
It's really worth watching the second video on the product page. It will show you generally everything it can do and how to do it.
Part of the problems or limitations mentioned above may be due to the fact that as far as I can tell, you can only set Hands and/or Feet to follow a desired Target (hence, the name LimbStick). There are a lot of clever ways to use this even with this limitation, but keep in mind any "tricks" have to include the thing that isn't a Hand or Foot being the "Target" in the equation, not the thing that is going to "Follow".
You can also make each foot and each hand all follow separate Targets if desired. There is no limitation to how many "Follows" you can apply to one Genesis Figure, other than the fact that each will only have 2 Hands and 2 Feet to be able to set to follow up to 4 "things".
It may be limited as far as what some hoped they might be able to do with it, but for what it actually is, it's a totally awesome product, as expected. I have most of the 3DU script products and they've all added so much fuctionality and/or quality of life, it's crazy. My thanks on top of the rest of the previous thanks for all your hard work, 3DU!!
This product is for limbs (i.e. an arm or leg of a person), hence it's name - genitals are not limbs.
To clear up some of the misconceptions about LimbStick:
LimbStick can use any node as a target to follow. The node can be a null, bone, prop, anything. As far a LimbStick is concerned, as long at the target has a position and rotation that can be tracked - it's happy. Unless you were wanting to animate a hand moving over a flat surface (eg. washing a window), you would not need to add anything as a target as you can simply use the actual plane/prop/node/null/whatever as the target. The important thing is that at least one appendage needs to be selected and the follow target (which can be any node) should be selected last.
LimbStick calculates the positional difference between the appendage and the origin of the follow-target at the first frame and will maintain that relationship throughout the calculated range. The only reason we used a plane in some of our examples is because wee needed a node to select as a follow target.
LimbStick does not parent anything to anything else. It mathematically calculates the position that the limb would need to be in to maintain the positional difference found in the first frame that is analyzed. To simulate something being picked up, the item itself could be animated from the frame that you wish it to be picked up at and LimbStick could be run from that frame onwards, but no automatic parenting will take place.
LimbStick also (as per it's name) is made to automatically animate limbs. This does not include the torso or any other "bits".
Thank you for clarifying
I purchased Limbstick but I keep getting the "Error Opening File" dialogue box and Log File says Script won't load error in both DS 4.14.08 pro 64bit DS 4.12.1.117 pro 64bit (public build).
I tried the script on G3 figures as well as G8 and get the same error each time. I am selecting the node on the figure and then the target the run the script but still error each time. Does anyone know what the issue could be?