DAZ Studio 4.6 Wants a Serial Number for Animate 2
Subtropic Pixel
Posts: 2,378
It does this every time I start DS.
I usually enter OK or CANCEL and it proceeds to launch with no apparent further hassle, but I'm a bit befuddled. I don't remember purchasing Animate 2, so either it came with DS, or else there was a mistake.
Animate 2 is not listed in "My Library", nor is it in any of "My Orders" or "My Licenses" on DAZ 3D.
What is Animate 2, do I need it (I'm pretty sure I probably want it!), and how do I go about locating my license key (if indeed it came with DS4.6)?
Thanks!
EDIT: I searched the store and I found it. Looks like it's a paid add-on and yes, I probably will eventually want it...I just knew that beforehand! The product page has descriptions and pictures, but no videos. I would really like to see a well-presented product video for this one.
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Comments
Animate 2 rules. It really improves the possibilities that you have in DS. I was able to animate figures within (!) 3 clicks: V4 walking all around the screen.
Try youtube :)
I haven't been too impressed by animate, it just seems a bit wonky to me.
But same goes with other lower budget software animation add-ons such as in Poser.
What I do know is that lower budget animation is still in its children's shoes now that home pc's are getting more powerfull.
Serious 3D animation is becoming more and more an option for non-professionals because of that and the software is growing with its users ^^
I haven't seen much good figure animation done with DS. There are a ton of examples with Poser. RWBY and Red vs Blue season 8+ are very good examples. Nothing like that with DS as far as I know. I've got my ear to the ground though.
DAZ Studio and AniMate2 are for Hobby level animators, that much is true. DS will ask for a Serial as AniMate2 Full is installed and runs as full for 30 days with the install of DAZ Studio. It then becomes AniMate Lite without a Serial installed. For hobby level work or just getting your feet into animation the first time DS and Animate are a great place to start for any user.
I'd say that depends more on the quality of the motions used rather than the capabilities of aniMate. If you have a decent mocap animation, it's irrelevant if it comes in a .pz2, .bvh or aniBlock format. The pro's of aniMate I see in the ability to chain up different motions and the ability to edit them to some degree without ruining the original motion data.
If you could get your hands on the mocaps you mention, they'd be as good in aniMate as in any other animation software.
Wow, thank you all for the great info.
I shall file that safely under "TBD"!:coolsmile:
Question. I'm under the 30 trial. Is there any more moves (Dance,walk Jump, and others?) other than the ones that are unlocked know?
I was trying different things and I see that Gen arms went behind her back. Is that because I started in a pre set pose? Or because I used the wrong Gen. A few days before I used a Gen. and all work right. Just not sure when one I used. Maybe from now on I will just stay with one.
There is a bit misunderstanding. The motions can't and don't need to be unlocked, the serial needed to get aniMate2 fully functional (beyond it's 30 days trial period) is for the plugin itself.
Until then and from then on aniMate will take any aniBlock you give it. You can even convert from a imported .bvh file.
If you're looking for additional aniBlocks beyond those freebies included in DS, you might want to have a look at GoFigure!'s (http://www.daz3d.com/gofigure) , SKAmotion's (http://www.daz3d.com/skamotion) and/or ReallusionAnimation's (http://www.daz3d.com/reallusionanimation) store here at DAZ.
There's a collection of a bunch of free motions, mostly for Poser (which can be used in DS, too) and some custom aniBlocks at shareCG (http://www.sharecg.com/v/64032/gallery/11/Poser/100++-animated-poses-for-poser-daz3d).
About the "disposition": the free aniBlocks in DS are made for Victoria/Michael 4, so yes, it's the wrong Gen... almost. They'll work on Genesis, too, but need adjustment because of the differences in the skeleton of theese figures. Which can be done within aniMate, but need a bit more knowledge about aniMate... and a lot patience wouldn't be bad, too.
You might want to look at this (shameless self-advertizing :P) one, which adresses some (not all) of the major problems of aniBlocks made for the Generation 4 series of figures used on Genesis (http://www.sharecg.com/v/67223/view/21/DAZ-Studio/Genesis-Pose-Adjust-aniBlock). Works good on the basic Genesis figure and the Gen4 shapes, but needs further adjustment on V5,M5,S5... and so on.
It's free until January 1, 200,495. :)
Once I'll recover from my 99th nervous breakdown over it's hand zero-pose, I'll do that for Genesis 2, too. Or... if :P
You also might have a look at the animate2 User Guide (http://www.gofigure3d.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=92&Itemid=86) and on the video tutorials provided (http://www.gofigure3d.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=54&Itemid=56) if you start to get the "wtf-is-this-guy-talking-about" syndrome :).
Once famililiar with the bvh-to-aniBlock conversion process you also might have a look on Mixamo's store (http://www.mixamo.com/motions). Good thing is, they're decent motion captured and can be rigged for Victoria/Michael 4 in their build-in editor. Bad thing is, they're mostly [selfcensored] expensive. Nothing for those who want to "just-play-around".
GoFigure will update the aniblocks for Genesis?
Would be nice if they would do, but, honestly I doubt that. Their last aniBlocks were published in August 2010 and Genesis appeared in mid 2011 if I remember correctly. Though they didn't release at least one Gen4 to Genesis conversion for one of their top products in more than 2 years it seems most unlikely they're planning something like that. It would make much more sense if they'd adapt even only those which are released within DAZ Studio since Genesis is the core figure since DS 4.0. Having actual content bundeled together with oudated one which doesn't seamless work together is a somewhat unlucky approach. For me it's like releasing a 2013 sports car with a Ford T engine.
Since GoFigure wrote a while ago, that they lost access to their prefered mocap studio, I also guess they won't release any new ones so soon.
But... maybe one of the GoFigure guys reads that and talk to his mates: "Guys, I have a great idea! Let's convert all our aniBlocks to Genesis! They would praise us and name their children after us."
Hope dies last. :)
The most actual publisher for aniBlocks is SKAMotion and (silly me, getting old already) PoserMocap (http://www.daz3d.com/posermocap). While SKA seems to have switched to the Genesis 2 Figure lately, PoserMocap went to support Genesis at least in their latest products ("Investigations 3" and "Swordplay"). The latter one I personally find only mediocre in quality. The motions look somewhat like the person with the sword intentionally aimed for the shield of it's opponent instead of going right for the man which make fights look a bit comical for my taste.
You can get some freebies at their websites also (http://www.skamotion.com/animation.php) (http://www.posermocap.com/category/download/)
@Stefan47525: You're a genius!
Ah yes, PMC.com is great! The Genesis movements amazed me. They will also re-release some movements for Genesis.
I am thinking about using the Poser "Walk Designer" to create my own animblocks for Carrara so that Genesis can be animated well. :/
Aww, not really! :P But thanks! :)
Aye, read that, too. But what I took out of it, is that the re-releases would be completely seperate products. I can be wrong here.
Can't say much about Poser, I tested it several times but have been uncomfortable with their uninspired User Interface every time. In that category I find DAZ created a much more inspired and user friendly one. Although DS hasn't got some of the features (by now) that Poser offers, I prefer to work with DS 4. If DS would get a Rigid Body, Fluid, Cloth and Particle Dynamics plugin in the near future I'd be the most happiest guy around. :)
Good luck with your project then. Doing decent keyframed animations is a really tough job.
Agree, some of their motions are very nice. The "And Stay Dead" animation (0:19 - 0:34) make me laugh evertime I watch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MG11zhX6_jo
:D
There's a nice award winning short movie done by some spanian within Poser with a very low budget and a bunch of free content around on YT.
Although it is almost aimed on effects a lá Martix and lacks a decent backstory and dialogue, it shows nicely the abilities of todays "cheap" rendering and animation software. Some of the motions used are drawn from the above mentioned Poser collection on shareCG made by ANYMATTER.
What bothers me a bit is that the guy forgot to properly credit all the people whoose content he used. Even it it wouldn't be necessary from creator to creator, it belongs IMO to the good tone if you do it nevertheless.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MG11zhX6_jo
Since I watched that one I decided to learn as much as I can and try to do something similar ind DS... or even better.