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[Kevin Gales]

I have never taken much time looking at the animation side of anim8or since well I have Blender,Maya and Akeytsu for that...but then since well I am free I decided to check it out I re-modelled the dummy person I used back in the days to learn animation in Blender and AM...
.Then I coded a script that allows me to import videos into anim8or for reference...Keep your eyes peeled I will be attempting to make a decent base animation on anim8or...
I have already rigged the dummy person...I'll update this post soon

The script will be available soon as I compile it...because it's PHP unlike ASL which is already supported by anim8or

[Steve]

I'm looking forward to seeing your script. Let me know what you think about Anim8or's animation tools. I'm always interested in feedback of what works, what doesn't and what's missing

[Kevin Gales]

I could not find a better compiler but the one I got embeds a server + gui browser in an executable which allows you to run the PHP program from anywhere ,no need to install anything ,no need for internet...just that the size is ridiculous for such a simple program +-66MB

Anyway you can download here (my google drive) https://drive.google.com/file/d/1peRXSTeDxeiY9PD84w3ijv4c2iFM9LJA/view?usp=sharing

What does it do?
The program embeds a video into anim8or which can be used as a reference in the background.The video can be scrubbed and resized in scene mode only.

[Technique]
It's simple really, the program first creates multiple objects,assign uv and material to the objects and automatically key frames every object.
[Technique]

Instructions?
Well the package above includes a video tutorial

Known issues?
Well the program is limited to handling only 10 seconds video at 30fps because anim8or would crash everytime I tried to load any file with more than 15 seconds
Only tested on windows 8.1
If there are any other issues let me know.

 

[Kevin Gales]

I decided to search the forum to check if someone haven't done this before I came across Raxx's Animated Textures Using Controller Scripts post...I will be trying this one it looks more efficient than mine...only way too complicated...

[Kevin Gales]

Wow anim8or's weight painting is pretty clean especially in wired mode...I love it...I think it would have been awesome if we could edit the points in figure mode..imagine that.
Anyway I don't prefer having to press CAPS first in order to "unhide" (h/H) I feel like it would have been easy if the buttons were maybe "h and g /h and j" like close to each other and no need for CAPS first.Because the hide/unhide toggle is very essential.

Anyway back to business I have managed to add ik and joints to the rig.The essential areas of human like distortions (marked in red) came out pretty sweet(results of weight painting)
I am only left with rigging the hand.Then the base animation will be ready in no time

Also one more thing I still feel like the bone system should have been just "wires/lines" like ones in blender I once suggested this it's way more cleaner..this way even the hand can be rigged easier. Bonesystem.jpg that's what I am talking about

[Claude]

How about reducing the size of the bones in the bone editor ?

[Kevin Gales]

How about reducing the size of the bones in the bone editor ?

I do reduce them and hide those that are not important...I am just suggesting a cleaner solution
Take for example rigging a hand you will need 10+ bones and you have to manually change the diameter of each bone one by one..do not forget anim8or auto influences only the closest vertex this means...If you prefer influences you will then have to manually adjust the envelopes for each bone...if you use weight paints you'll have to paint each weights relative to each bone properly...That will take you forever...

[Claude]

Hi.Sorry,I fail to see the difference between the
Blender sticks and this in Anim8or.
You can choose the bone size default value.
Menu: Options/New joint limits.

Bye.

[Kevin Gales]

Well...I decided to attach images to show you what I am talking about...you see those influences on the right side of anim8or.jpg I had to do them manually I had to hide some bones so I can see the influences of each bone at the same time to make sure they don't overlap too much...Blender does not show you envelopes but if it did it would still not get dirty.I think the trick is the bone"xray" method they used...

Anyway I agree with you about the idea of default size for all bones or sizing of multiple bones that could come in handy as long as the influences also cover as much vertex so that weight painting can be less lengthy.

[Claude]

I corrected my post because both are already possible using Menu: Options/New joint limits.

[Claude]

Well, I understand. You dont have a problem
with the size of the bones, but the size of the
bubbles.

[Kevin Gales]

  Thanks man I did not notice that feature...that will surely save me some time...Wow

[Steve]

I've tried automatically reducing the diameter of a bone to be more proportional to ot's length when it's very short. I'll try adding that as an option (perhaps the default) if you think that might help.

[Kevin Gales]

I've tried automatically reducing the diameter of a bone to be more proportional to ot's length when it's very short. I'll try adding that as an option (perhaps the default) if you think that might help.

Thanks Steve.Claude showed me an option that helps with the diameter, this functions "Options/New joint limits" ...and set the diameter(for all selected bones) works just fine...The problems is the influences/envelopes just like in the anim8or.jpg above...I was forced to hide other bones so I can adjust the envelopes of bones behind them...I think it would have been easy to just make them boxes(I don't know if that's possible) or when you select several bones it shows only the envelopes of those bone (this could work).If neither of the methods is possible.You could just put the hide/unhide toggle and the select all/inverse all options as buttons on screen.(Because so far they are essential features)

Also I have been trying to move around ik controllers(cubes) in figure mode..Is that possible perhaps with a combination of keys or something?
It would be helpful if I can put them where I can see them clearly without the need of changing viewpoint everytime.. since well some are hiding behind the object in other viewpoint.

[Kevin Gales]

So I decided to try another sequence...in this sequences I tried to work around inbetweens and all...also paying attention to what's working and what is not
Below I have attached the outcome of the test..it doesn't look that organic but that's far as I could go...
I have also attached two anim8or files
the _no finger file contains the dummy rigged with no fingers I had to ditch those..why? check the feedback below.
the other file contains fingers rigged you'll see what I mean by the feedback below..the fingers were not any easy to animate due to hiding IK controllers though I rigged those just fine.Just so you know in the anim8or files below the actual animation begins on frame 76 I ignored animating the first 75 frames intentionally...to sync with the video reference in the background

Feel free to modify the file and post your animation tests on this post or elsewhere.