Professional animation tools!

Fantasyart3DFantasyart3D Posts: 59
edited March 2019 in Product Suggestions

I have Animate2, KeyMate and GraphMate, and I would say these modules are a real pain in the ass! GraphMate relies on the outdated TCB, and there are no bezier controls in the graph. For each graph you need to position and zoom yourself to the keys, and it's very common to lose them and crash Daz when they turn to be negative. In KeyMate you need to scroll for hundreds of values until you find the key you want to work with. And Animate2 is the most obscure of all. There's no Undo and you can really lose your entire work if something is wrong.

I know that the top priority for Daz3D is selling characters, but I would suggest DS team a more professional approach to animation, maybe something more similar to Blender or even iClone. And modules fully integrated to DS. I think you would certainly open new markets for your product.

Post edited by Fantasyart3D on

Comments

  • Just an example: after zooming, the keys are grouped and I can't zoom out without losing the focus. 

  • wolf359wolf359 Posts: 3,827

     I agree about graphmate , there needs to be a "reset view" option
    Like all other animation programs.

    The reality is that if you want Professional Character animation tools 
    you have to$$ invest$$ in them.

    You paid Zero Dollars for Daz studio
    and  $20 each for graphMate & keyMate ( when not on sale)
    Asssuming $60 for the full version of aniMate 2
    your  total cost was $100 USD.( again assuming no reduced sale prices)

    And you have the ability to export to all of the major formats
    to render in other free programs like Blender or unity or unreal
    and import BVH Data as well as .obj files for clothing & prop creation  

    I have Iclone Pro pipeline, I use it to retarget imotion to Daz genesis figures

    If you get the basic version of Iclone  you pay $200 USD 
    no import/ export and the graph edtior will be an additional $100 USD

    So you are already at $300 USD with no ability to use any genesis models or Daz content
    unless you buy the stand alone Character creator 3 pipeline app for another $200 USD
    Your are at $500 USD
    or you can forego the Character creator 3 pipeline app  and buy the Full animation pipeline bundle
    for $550 USD

    its gets more expensive from there depending on if you want to use a mocap suit etc.

    Or you can use Blender for Zero USD  however it will be alot of work to get you Daz content int blender
    with fidelity.

     

  • wolf359 said:

    The reality is that if you want Professional Character animation tools 
    you have to$$ invest$$ in them.

    (...)

    Or you can use Blender for Zero USD  however it will be alot of work to get you Daz content int blender
    with fidelity.

    I understand your point, but we could say we have "professional" character posing tools on Daz Studio. PowerPose for instance is integrated to DS and it works fine, it's a great tool. All we need is a good update on these graphMate/keyMate tools. 

    I have Fluidos and it's an excellent plugin, even superior than fluids simulation from Blender. And it's USD 40.

    Maybe an export plugin to Blender would be a good solution, like DazToMaya from 3dForAll. But I'll consider the iClone full package soon.

    Thank you.

  •  

    Maybe an export plugin to Blender would be a good solution, like DazToMaya from 3dForAll. But I'll consider the iClone full package soon.

    Have a look, if you have not already, at mcjTeleBlender3 - https://sites.google.com/site/mcasualsdazscripts/mcjteleblender-for-ds1-2-3-4 - and/or Thomas Larsson's Daz Importer - http://diffeomorphic.blogspot.com/p/daz-importer-version-13.html

    I find the latter has better results for getting a posable figure(s) into Blender.  It's had some updates to work with Blender 2.80 beta.  Not sure about the status of mcjTeleBlender's compatibility with 2.80 beta.

  •  

    Have a look, if you have not already, at mcjTeleBlender3 (...) and/or Thomas Larsson's Daz Importer

    Thank you. Already tried these plug-ins several times. Mcj does not export morphs. Thomas Larsson's is good, but imports some characters with issues, and you need to reduce the "verbosity" level of the importer in order to bypass them. 

    Still waiting a good update from GoFigure team. Come on, guys!

  • johranshadijohranshadi Posts: 134
    Why animate in blender when you have Carrara (unless you only do animations with G3 and later)? It loads any duf scene and it has all the powerful animation tools you'd wish for. Besides, it doesn't take long getting used to like with Blender.
  • takezo_3001takezo_3001 Posts: 1,971
    edited March 2019
    Why animate in blender when you have Carrara (unless you only do animations with G3 and later)? It loads any duf scene and it has all the powerful animation tools you'd wish for. Besides, it doesn't take long getting used to like with Blender.

    Carrara does not support generation 7/8 (Not everyone has an aversion to post 2004 characters...) they completely abandoned it...

    Post edited by takezo_3001 on
  • wolf359wolf359 Posts: 3,827

    Still waiting a good update from GoFigure team. Come on, guys!

    Daz has acquired the rights to Graphmate & keyMate so an update is possible

    "Gofigure" stills "owns" aniMate2 and  sadly they seem permanently MIA.

    Carrara does not support generation 7/8 (Not everyone has an aversion to post 2004 characters...) 
    they completely abandoned it...

    I am given to understand that there is a user created kludge /hack to get G3/8 into Carrara
    however I can see why many would not want to invest in a program that is clearly at a developmental
    Dead end. 

  • Why animate in blender when you have Carrara (unless you only do animations with G3 and later)? 

    I have Carrara Pro 8.5 and never used it. Maybe I should take a look. 

    Can't understand why Daz team doesn't incorporate these advanced animation features into Daz Studio.

    Thank you!

  • johranshadijohranshadi Posts: 134
    I have Carrara Pro 8.5 and never used it. Maybe I should take a look. 

    Can't understand why Daz team doesn't incorporate these advanced animation features into Daz Studio.

    Thank you!

    You are welcome! The animation tools in Carrara are fantastic. If you are after professional animation I suggest Phill's "Animation in Carrara" course (keep an eye for March Madness sales). It helped me a lot to get started. What I like about Carrara is not only it's powerful animation tools but also the ability to use oceans, fire, clouds, landscape, particles, physics, etc with my scenes. By the way, if you like animating in Daz check out this new script you might find useful. It's a real time saver and works like charm. 

     

    Carrara does not support generation 7/8 (Not everyone has an aversion to post 2004 characters...) they completely abandoned it...

    That's a little sacrifise I'm willing to make in favor of making better looking animations in shorter time. 

     

    wolf359 said:

    I am given to understand that there is a user created kludge /hack to get G3/8 into Carrara
    however I can see why many would not want to invest in a program that is clearly at a developmental
    Dead end. 

    I personally don't mind as long as the program works as it is and it will very likely to continue to work for decades. 

  • It is a shame KeyMate never had alignment or auto zoom tool... As for extra animation tools you need to google "daz plugins" see if you can find anything out there!  

  • hookflashhookflash Posts: 169

    Has anyone else noticed that Gofigure3d.com is back up? Still old info on the site, but the copyright is for 2019. Should we get our hopes up?

     

    In any case, I'm with the OP 100%. The fact that Daz is selling a plugin that basically doesn't work with the past 2 generations of content is extremely frustrating, especially when serves such an essential purpose.

  • IsaacNewtonIsaacNewton Posts: 1,300

    Maybe DAZ3d will surprise us all and release DS 5.0 with professional animation suite, real time physics/collision options, mesh manipulation brushes and so may other things we've been asking for, for so long. Or am I delusional?

    I would be happy if these things were available as plugins which were bought separately form the DS program.

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