Loading...
> >

Animate2 - Anybody with experience?

Subtropic PixelSubtropic Pixel Posts: 2,388
in The Commons

And if so...how well does it work with Genesis 2 and Genesis 3?

Comments

  • mark128mark128 Posts: 1,033

    Animate 2 tool works well with Genesis 2. I have not tried it with Genesis 3, but I see no reason it would not work well with Genesis 3 too.

    Animate 2 is a tool for assembling aniblocks.  You can create your own aniblocks, but I imagine most people purchase aniblocks to use. Aniblocks are created for a given character generation. There are aniblocks available for V4, Genesis 1 and Genesis 2. I don't know of any aniblocks for Genesis 3 yet. I have used anti-blocks created for V4 with G2F, but I had to do a lot of adjustment to make it look reasonable. I'm not sure how well G2F anti-block would work with G3F.

    Animate 2 is a tool for assembling premade aniblocks, but the available selection limits what you can do with that. To create your own animation sequences, the essential plugins are KeyMate and Graphmate. In my opinion these two are essential to creating animations in DAZ Studio. I have Animate 2 also and use it some, but I use GrahpMate and KeyMate all the time when doing animations.

  • Subtropic PixelSubtropic Pixel Posts: 2,388

    Thank you for your reply.

    I think I will wait on all of these (Animate2, KeyMate, and Graphmate) to see if there will be new versions for Genesis 3.

  • fixmypcmikefixmypcmike Posts: 19,707
    Subtropic Pixel said:

    Thank you for your reply.

    I think I will wait on all of these (Animate2, KeyMate, and Graphmate) to see if there will be new versions for Genesis 3.

    I don't see why there would be new versions for Genesis 3, they aren't figure-specific plugins.

  • Subtropic PixelSubtropic Pixel Posts: 2,388

    Heh.  I just blew all my money mostly on a bunch of Genesis 3 stuff.  That's okay, I wasn't planning on impending animations anyway.  But I guess I'm pretty much "all in" now, ain't I?

  • JustSpamJustSpam Posts: 1

    Bad news as always with G3: aniMate2 is NOT FULLY COMPACTIBLY with Genesis 3!

    The aniMate2 Sub-Track Properties are hardcoded in the plugin.dll for Node names: 

    hip, abdomen, chest, neck, head,
    lShldr, lForeArm, lHand,
    rShldr, rForeArm, rHand, 
    lThigh, lShin, lFoot,
    rThigh, rShin, rFoot
     

    BUT some of those Node names split in Genesis 3 to:

    hip, abdomenLower/abdomenUpper, chestLower/chestUpper, neckLower/neckUpper, head,
    lShldrBend/Twist, lForeArmBend/Twist, lHand,
    rShldrBend/Twist, rForeArmBend/Twist, rHand, 
    lThighBend/lThighTwist, lShin, lFoot,
    rThighBend/rThighTwist, rShin, rFoot

    Some of Sub-Track Properties are wherefor no longer available and grayed out. Still available are the Body Parts:
    hip, head,
    lHand,
    rHand, 
    lShin, lFoot,
    rShin, rFoot

     

    This does indeed lower the usability ob aniMate2 for me!!!

     

    aniMate2-Sub-Tracks.png
    352 x 422 - 10K
  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 40,399

    Well you can use animate on anything regardless of bone names

    but aniblocks only work on what they are made for and most humanoid ones happen to use the same bone names in the DAZ Poserverse.

    you would need new Aniblocks for Genesis 3

  • IvyIvy Posts: 7,165
    edited January 2016
    JaguarElla said:

    Well you can use animate on anything regardless of bone names

    but aniblocks only work on what they are made for and most humanoid ones happen to use the same bone names in the DAZ Poserverse.

    you would need new Aniblocks for Genesis 3

    Right what Wendy said..lol. In order for G3F to work in animate 2  you will need new ani-blocks  created just for g3f ,or  at minimum a tool to convert older figure Aniblocks to work with Genesis 3 figures. at this time there is no cross compatibility or tools for genesis 3 &  personally I work with g2f and generation 4 characters daily for animation with great results. their easy to convert to Iray and have tons of tools & plugins for animation. So in my opinion I have seen no need for genesis 3 at this time. there is not enough  incentive for me to invest & move over to it. I mean AT all. everything that is offered for Genesis 3 is already offered for Genesis 2 and g2f  has cross compatibility with Genesis & generation 4 figures with conversion tools as well...  A lot of reason you don't see a lot of plugins or tools for cross compatibility in animation is because in a few months daz will come out with a new program or have a new figures mesh released and will break the compatibility to work with it ..  why they do this? I have no idea .. but  its one i have asked  the daz people many times.

    Post edited by Ivy on
  • wolf359wolf359 Posts: 3,940
    Yet another reason G3 is useless to us animators....G1-G2 forever!!!
  • TaozTaoz Posts: 10,285
    edited January 2016

    You can use this one to convert G2 animations/aniblocks to G3, it's very easy to use:

    http://www.daz3d.com/animation-conversion-genesis-2-to-genesis-3

    Here's a sample of a G2F jogging aniblock animation after conversion, the grey one to the left is the original G2F animation, the other the converted G3F animation.

    http://taosoft.dk/temp/g2_to_g3_ani.gif

    (I've slowed it down so you better can see the individual frames)

     

    Post edited by Taoz on
  • RuphussRuphuss Posts: 2,631
    Taozen said:

    You can use this one to convert G2 animations/aniblocks to G3, it's very easy to use:

    http://www.daz3d.com/animation-conversion-genesis-2-to-genesis-3

    Here's a sample of a G2F jogging aniblock animation after conversion, the grey one to the left is the original G2F animation, the other the converted G3F animation.

    http://taosoft.dk/temp/g2_to_g3_ani.gif

    (I've slowed it down so you better can see the individual frames)

     

    is this running on the timeline or a saved new aniblock ?

    in other words

    can you save this to a new aniblock and it looks the same ?

  • TaozTaoz Posts: 10,285
    Ruphuss said:
    Taozen said:

    You can use this one to convert G2 animations/aniblocks to G3, it's very easy to use:

    http://www.daz3d.com/animation-conversion-genesis-2-to-genesis-3

    Here's a sample of a G2F jogging aniblock animation after conversion, the grey one to the left is the original G2F animation, the other the converted G3F animation.

    http://taosoft.dk/temp/g2_to_g3_ani.gif

    (I've slowed it down so you better can see the individual frames)

     

    is this running on the timeline or a saved new aniblock ?

    in other words

    can you save this to a new aniblock and it looks the same ?

    Yes, you can save it as a new aniblock. If you use an aniblock as source you first burn it to the timeline, then you run the conversion. After that you can save it in any format available, including converting it back to an aniblock and saving it. At least with the full version of Animate 2, which has a "Create aniBlock from Studio Keyframes" option, don't know if the free version has that.

     

  • DddDdd Posts: 10

    I have the Animate2 version on a MAC and I don't see the Create aniBlock from Studio Keyframes option. Where is this supposed to appear?

    Thanks

  • TaozTaoz Posts: 10,285
    edited January 2016
    Ddd said:

    I have the Animate2 version on a MAC and I don't see the Create aniBlock from Studio Keyframes option. Where is this supposed to appear?

    Right click on the background to get the context menu (this is for the Windows version, I assume that also goes for Macs)

    animate2_context_menu.jpg
    404 x 166 - 13K
    Post edited by Taoz on
  • Testing6790Testing6790 Posts: 1,091

    Animation in DS is still a huge PITA even with all the animation tools, imo.

  • avegottenavegotten Posts: 7

    This is a problem

    JustSpam said:

    Bad news as always with G3: aniMate2 is NOT FULLY COMPACTIBLY with Genesis 3!

    The aniMate2 Sub-Track Properties are hardcoded in the plugin.dll for Node names: 

    hip, abdomen, chest, neck, head,
    lShldr, lForeArm, lHand,
    rShldr, rForeArm, rHand, 
    lThigh, lShin, lFoot,
    rThigh, rShin, rFoot
     

    BUT some of those Node names split in Genesis 3 to:

    hip, abdomenLower/abdomenUpper, chestLower/chestUpper, neckLower/neckUpper, head,
    lShldrBend/Twist, lForeArmBend/Twist, lHand,
    rShldrBend/Twist, rForeArmBend/Twist, rHand, 
    lThighBend/lThighTwist, lShin, lFoot,
    rThighBend/rThighTwist, rShin, rFoot

    Some of Sub-Track Properties are wherefor no longer available and grayed out. Still available are the Body Parts:
    hip, head,
    lHand,
    rHand, 
    lShin, lFoot,
    rShin, rFoot

     

    This does indeed lower the usability ob aniMate2 for me!!!

     

     

  • jnwggsjnwggs Posts: 89
    Taozen said:
    Ruphuss said:
    Taozen said:

    You can use this one to convert G2 animations/aniblocks to G3, it's very easy to use:

    http://www.daz3d.com/animation-conversion-genesis-2-to-genesis-3

    Here's a sample of a G2F jogging aniblock animation after conversion, the grey one to the left is the original G2F animation, the other the converted G3F animation.

    http://taosoft.dk/temp/g2_to_g3_ani.gif

    (I've slowed it down so you better can see the individual frames)

     

    is this running on the timeline or a saved new aniblock ?

    in other words

    can you save this to a new aniblock and it looks the same ?

    Yes, you can save it as a new aniblock. If you use an aniblock as source you first burn it to the timeline, then you run the conversion. After that you can save it in any format available, including converting it back to an aniblock and saving it. At least with the full version of Animate 2, which has a "Create aniBlock from Studio Keyframes" option, don't know if the free version has that.

     

    Thanks for this information. Is it still relevant now, in August? Or have things changed?

    It seems to me that if I am to create my own custom aniblocks for specific movements I'd like, that I should be creating them with Genesis 2 and then using this converter to make another aniblock for Genesis 3. Otherwise, if I create it for Genesis 3 I would also have to create it step by step for Genesis 2, since there is no software to convert from Genesis 3 to Genesis 2. Is that correct?

  • TaozTaoz Posts: 10,285
    jnwggs said:
    Taozen said:
    Ruphuss said:
    Taozen said:

    You can use this one to convert G2 animations/aniblocks to G3, it's very easy to use:

    http://www.daz3d.com/animation-conversion-genesis-2-to-genesis-3

    Here's a sample of a G2F jogging aniblock animation after conversion, the grey one to the left is the original G2F animation, the other the converted G3F animation.

    http://taosoft.dk/temp/g2_to_g3_ani.gif

    (I've slowed it down so you better can see the individual frames)

     

    is this running on the timeline or a saved new aniblock ?

    in other words

    can you save this to a new aniblock and it looks the same ?

    Yes, you can save it as a new aniblock. If you use an aniblock as source you first burn it to the timeline, then you run the conversion. After that you can save it in any format available, including converting it back to an aniblock and saving it. At least with the full version of Animate 2, which has a "Create aniBlock from Studio Keyframes" option, don't know if the free version has that.

     

    Thanks for this information. Is it still relevant now, in August? Or have things changed?

    Still working here in DS 4.9.2.70.

    jnwggs said:

    It seems to me that if I am to create my own custom aniblocks for specific movements I'd like, that I should be creating them with Genesis 2 and then using this converter to make another aniblock for Genesis 3. Otherwise, if I create it for Genesis 3 I would also have to create it step by step for Genesis 2, since there is no software to convert from Genesis 3 to Genesis 2. Is that correct?

    That sounds correct. Just be aware that the conversion from G2 to G3 is not always perfect because of differences mentioned earlier in this thread, so you may have to make some adjustments.

Sign In or Register to comment.