Sliding feet in AniMate walk cycles and movements

stug2010

I have been looking at the forums and have seen that in the past there have been discussions relating to fixing the sliding foot problem but most of the posts seem to be about 3 years old, so I was hoping that something might have changed with software updates to avoid some sort of workaround as it seems such a basic requirement of realistic animation. I have tried with genesis and v4 figures and it seems to be the same. I am using Animate2 and the aniblock animations. Is there a nice button I need to push somewhere that I'm not finding or is this really an ongoing issue. I have just purchased animate2 so still have time to return it if there is no satisfactory solution or the suggestion is I should be using something else. Also I noticed that on the Gofigure website nothing much has happened since 2012 and the forum is inactive. Is Animate2 outdated and hence the problems is there something better to be using within Daz3d? Thanks any advice welcome.

mindsong

My first warning is that Animate2 is barely compatible with the Genesis3 (current) character family, and none of the 'big users' of animate2 that I've seen discussing the tools in these forums will touch G3 with it. There are a few hacks to make G3 more compatible, but... that says a lot about the state of the product.

I have it, mostly like it, and happily use it with my older characters  (Genesis1 and the Mil4 characters V4/M4) with the DAZ/Go-figure add-ons "keymate" and "graphmate". It also works well on non-humanoid characters and props/figures (there are aniblocks for a solar-system product in the store).

The older discussions are correct in that Animate2/aniblocks still don't have a 'nice button' (heh) solution, and no, I don't see much activity with it anywhere I've looked (and I've been watching for any news for a couple of years). A bunch of us are hoping, but not betting.

That said, the ideas, tools, and result of someone who uses animate2 with the keymate and graphmate add-ons, and knows what they're doing can build a pretty powerful library of blocks that can work to good effect. There are pinning tricks ('active pose' tool) and puppeteering recording features that make it very flexible and powerful, but it is an investment to figure out the 'DAZ way', especially grocking the interactions between the animate and Daz Studio timelines.

The existing aniblocks can be converted to the newer G1/G2 characters with add-on scripts ($), adjustment morphs (free), and strategic manual edits, and it DS can import and map BVH motion files to the new characters as well as most tools.

Personally, I do my animation work in DS because of the animate2 and puppeteering tools, but I usually export them in various formats for use in carrara, iclone, and poser, depending on what I'm doing. There are fairly decent workflow paths to and from most external tools (FBX/alembic/BVH/PZ2/collada/etc.), but it's amazing how almost every transfer requires some sort of hack/adjustment on the sending or receiving side to make it work as you'd expect (nice buttons are not so common).

Lastly, the ONLY two indications I've seen from DAZ that they are interested in animation over the long-term, is their recent set of youtube videos on DS animation and animate2. That and the plugins/tools continue to work through each DS version upgrade.

For that lack of activity (4+ years w NO DS animation function additions or plugin version updates), and the lack of G3 support, I would love to say it's a good path to take with a long life ahead, but I can't. Maybe they've got a big animation skunkworks project in the backrooms, but that's not how I'd bet.

I also use DAZ's bryce, carrara, and hexagon... Do a search on "Is XXX alive?" and you' get a feeling for how forthcoming DAZ corporate is with long-term product roadmapping transparency. I like those tools (and animate2/keymate/graphmate) as they are, but I think that's all we'll ever have from DAZ, given the information we've been given. Daz Studio is the most productive tool for them to sell content, and that is their business, so that's where they invest. I dont' begrudge them that, but I won't Rah-Rah the story, just because I use the tools. I know better than to hope for change.

Good luck with this and other feedback. Again, I like the tools, as I've invested and learned them, but with no pinning button, and no updates, and no word from the company on updates in 4 years...

It's a good question.

cheers,

--ms