Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[daniel99]

Amazing news, Steve.
Might be a good idea to have a check box for locking the limbs. For example, when animating a quadruped, the feet would be locked, and maybe automatically unlock when moving the feet controls.

And, btw. Great job with the normal map. I believe would be awesome to also have a displacement map. Will you consider it?

Thanks !

[Steve]

OK I posted an updated IK tool in build 1235. The controls have been improved significantly, so check it out and let me know what you think!

[daniel99]

I'm checking it right now

[daniel99]

OMFG....Just after a few minute playing with it, ..I'm ... I'.m .... you should see my face now )
It's just perfect, and you added the right-clight+drag for Y axis, that's just great. Also, thanks for giving the option to hide the bones while IK controls are on.
I can not describe how happy I am for all these amazing options.
Btw, is there a way to add the root IK and I didn't find it, or not yet?

Thank you Steve.

[Steve]

I posted build 1247 with a lot of new IK features.  See the first post in the topic for details

[nemyax]

Without limits you can get some strange

I find that currently you can't even use IK unless you set up some limits.

different IK solvers

Do you mean regular IK and spline IK?

[daniel99]

Hey, Steve!

I was out for a walk with my gf, and when I got home, seeing the new build I was like "Wow, that's a great Birthday Gift for me from Steve"
I love the IK updates.

* I would say it's sad 'cause we can't lock more than one bone. When making a quadruped, would be useful to be able to lock all limbs.
** Also, there's kinda bug, I guess, when the foot doesn't stick in place (0:33 in vid)
When animating, it sticks in place, but when you playback, it kinda wiggles.
It's great this new addition, even with the foot locked, you can still move it by shins.

And also a bug that sometimes happen, the bone snaps back in place, and I have to restart Anim8or. (0:00 to 0:30 in video)

[/youtube]

[Steve]

nemyax: Anim8or's IK doesn't work very well with unrestricted joints. There isn't any limitation to how the boned can bend and it just goes whacky. This is because the only current IK solver is very general. When you define joint limits Anim8or uses the default angle as the preferred angle. Programs like 3DStudio Max have multiple solvers, including ones specially designed to model a human arm or leg (ball socket at the hip/shoulder, hinge at the knee/elbow) and they mimic how these joints work. To do this in Anim8or with the current solver you need to give the knee/elbow one degree of freedom (and don't let it bend backwards unless it's a bird's leg!) and the hip/shoulder all 3 degrees.  I'll be adding different solvers once the overall interface is more or less final.

daniel99: Yes, the snapping back looks like a bug.  I'll investigate.  As for the locked joint slipping, I'm aware of this. The plan is to add locked positions as animatable properties and keep the position locked as frames are interpolated. This requires doing IK on each frame, which is in the works but not yet finished. Once this is finished the slipping won't happen.

As for locking more bones, yes! this is what I want to do. I just haven't yet come up with a good overall definition for how this should work yet.

[daniel99]

Steve:
Thanks, man! I can't wait That's amazing! And I really love all these weekly updates/builds.

[nemyax]

I'll be adding different solvers once the overall interface is more or less final.

Wouldn't a single generic solver for non-spline IK be better? One that would support a pole vector, stiffness settings, rotation limits, axis locks, etc.?

[ELECTROHERMIT]

!!!!!!!!!WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!

Steve, I can't believe we have another build and the interface is amazing. I'm so excited it almost doesn't seem real... the rest of my evening has just been put to the side to play with this new Anim8tor build and appreciate how lucky we are that you are back in the lab!

David Davis
Professional Medical Illustrator AEIMS, AMI, M.D.A

[Trevor]

Maybe I misunderstood but, when you say;
" I'll be adding different solvers once the overall interface is more or less final"
Do you mean there will be a list of preset properties to choose from (Custom, Ball-Joint (Shoulder), hinge (Knee))?

Trev

[johnar]

Hi there steve and all.
The IK is coming along awesomely.
 A couple of thoughts.
 When you move an IK chain, keys are created, but not selected.
IK keys should be selected when they are created.
 Not only does it make them more reckonizable in the time track, it would also allow for quick copy - pasting, which i think is pretty essential.
 

  The other thing, i don't know about anybody else, but i'm still finding it pretty hard, at times, to easily see the IK box before its selected.
 Perhaps they could be a different color than the rig?, and maybe even a smidgen bigger ?

 One more thing.
 At the moment, you need to move an IK chain to set any keys.
 Ideally, there should be a way to key the bones in the selected IK chain without needing to move it. Perhaps it can be tied in somehow to key selected bones, where anim8or knows which bones to key because of the IK chain selected.
 Keep up the great stuff steve.
 Anim8or is absolutely rockin'

[Steve]

johnar: Good feedback. I'm still experimenting with the look of the IK handle. One thing you can do now to help the visibility is to move and scale the handle. In the Figure editor, click on the handle to select it. Then use the Scale and Move tools to change it's location and size. User colors is also a really good idea for this.

[nemyax]

When you move an IK chain, keys are created, but not selected.

If I'm getting Steve's idea right, these keys are a temporary solution anyway (or at least only a secondary solution). When animating with IK, you generally set keys on the target, not on the chain members. In the final version, to change the motion, you only have to reposition the target, and the chain will still follow it wherever it goes, without being keyed.