Animation Tools for D|S

wancow

I'd like to start this thread, basically it's going to be my wishlist for Animation tools... first on my list is Key Mate and GraphMate, which is the traditional Key Frame Editor available for D|S... (both essential for Animation, IMHO, especially if you want to do things like design walk cycles)

But I do have a question: is there, or has anyone ever spoken of a Walk Path tool for D|S like the one that Poser has?

Anyway:

KeyMate, Traditional Key Frame Animation Toolset:
http://www.daz3d.com/keymate

GraphMate: Spline Editor companion to KeyMate
http://www.daz3d.com/graphmate

aniMate2: Uhm... not sure I understand what it is this does, but it looks interesting... never played with it...
http://www.daz3d.com/software/animation/animate2

Animated Texture Plugin for D|S
http://www.daz3d.com/software/plugins-utilities/animated-textures-plug-in-for-daz-studio

KeyGrip: Fly Cameras using a Joystick
http://www.daz3d.com/software/plugins-utilities/key-grip

Anyway, there is also http://www.mixamo.com which does Victoria 4 and Michael 4 (and if ever DAZ gives policy on uploading: everything Genesis)...

Orpheus13

So as a newbie I've got to ask : can't all these things done without those, either in Daz or in Blender, with just a bit more work and skill ? Or do they really bring something more ?

And I'm not sure either which would be more interesting between Keymate, Graphmate or Animate2...

Kevin Sanderson

You can do much in Blender. For DAZ Studio, it's not easy to do the more complex things you may want to try, and some things can not be done without the plug-ins, like editing keyframes. Read about all three to decide which to purchase first for you.

mikael-aronsson

The problem with using other software is that there is no good way of getting the characters (with rig) out of DS, the only way to keep morphs is FBX and the deformations of the exported FBX leave a lot to wish for, you can always replace the righ with something better but it's a lot of work, you can also fix many problem on the imported FBX with some weightmap massage but still a lot of work.

You can export an OBJ and put another rig on it but that loose all morphs.

The only way to keep deformations is MDD or Alembic but that mean you have to do the animation in DS.

You can live without keymate to some extent but you do need graphmate.

The IK in DS is a part time system, so you need to bake all keys all the time, after a while it's a bit messy to keep track of all keys and even worse to make any changes to the animation.

Aniblocks is nice but all forms of generic premade animations cause problems, a person walking up the stairs, sure as long as the height of each step match the animation and so on.

 

wolf359

"The only way to keep deformations is MDD or Alembic but that mean you have to do the animation in DS."

Hi I use .obj/ MDD to render my Daz figures in C4D but I generate most of my motions in Iclone Pro
and retarget to G2 before baking to MDD .

WendyLuvsCatz

check the date, poor Wancow passed away a few years ago, he was a very nice guy who helped out at a food kitchen for homeless people and was very helpful on this forum too.

Sadly missed

Kevin Sanderson

Wancow started some good threads that will endure, and he was a great help. May he rest in peace.