IK Chain naturally move hips
bdproductions
Posts: 45
Hello,
I'm having a problem with IK target. Basically I want to move the hips naturally. For example, I want to be able to move the hips down and have the knees bend (or move the hips up and lift the feet up off the ground). If I move the hips forward, then everything else will follow. I was able to achieve this type of motion in Poser 6. I understand kinematics, just not how to achieve the type of motion I described in Cararra 8 pro. Any help, guidance or direction would be greatly appreciated.
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At this point, it seems the answer to my question/post lies in reattaching the bones to the figure and setting up the IK Chain to do what I want. The constraints and bone hierarchy are preset for DAZ and POSER characters when imported into Cararra (and you can't detach them from the figure). I tried using the IK Chain feature on a DAZ charterer and it didn't work. However, creating an IK Chain worked on a figure that I modeled.
I'm no expert in this technique, as I actually do what you prefer no to - move the whole figure via the hip, and then rotate all of the joints by hand. I know that this isn't as quick and easy as when the feet and/or hands are pinned, but I prefer the results.
There is a way, and I think that evilproducer knows the process well. But you need to add a target helper object (Toward the bottom of the "Insert" menu) for each thing you wish to pin, and then apply IK to that - rather than to try and redo the IK on the figure itself. I think that you access this function by right-clicking the target helper after parenting it to the foot, for example.
It sounds like a tedious process, but much easier and quicker than it sounds.
fabaone has a pack of Genesis Helpers that do this process for you, but I don't think that it works properly in the official version of Carrara 8.5
What you can do, as dart mentioned, is to insert a target helper object (or any object really) and select the feet to track that object. The advantage of the target helpers is that they're a little wire frame cross hairs that do not show up in the final render.
I'll post a couple screen shots in a bit. I'm in the middle of rendering some crap.
Thanks Dartanbeck for your response. I'm working on martial arts animations and the hips are the natural center for most fighting movements. I've tried a technique quite similar to the one you describe used by Evilproducer. The result wasn't quite what I was looking for but I understand the process. Once again thanks for your response, it was much appreciated.
Thanks for the response evilproducer. When you've got the time, I would be interested in checking out those screen shots.
Since it sounds as if you've used functions like I'm describing, I'll off this caveat: Carrara does not have a pin feet to the floor type command or function. The closest that I am aware of is using tracking and helper objects. There may be ways of doing it, but I haven't worked out how.
So, what I do is drop in a target helper object. There's a bulls eye icon at the top of the Assembly Room window. If I want to lock the feet, I position it over my foot. Keep in mind the hotpoint for the foot is the ankle joint, so position the target helper over the ankle.
You can adjust the size of the target helper and its color in the target helper's effects tab. If you want a target for both feet, you can either add a new one or use the Duplicate command under the Edit menu. I also rename the targets in the target helper's General tab, to something like, R foot Target and L foot Target, just to keep things straight.
Next, select one of the feet in the figure's hierarchy and select the Modifiers tab. You should see the Inverse Kinematics modifier with the option to choose an object to track. Click the icon and select the appropriate target helper. You can also select the option to track the object's orientation. This may provide a little more control keeping the feet locked in position.
A little added tip that I figured out recently is that if you change the constraints of the foot joint to Ball joint, and use Track Object Orientation, you get a near perfect pin to the floor. If you drag the hip to the point where you exceed the length of the limb then Carrara will do its best to keep the foot tracking the target, but it won't stay pinned.
You can also keyframe the tracking, by enabling and disabling the Enable checkbox over the length of the timeline.
Continued:
Thank you for this easy way, Evil :-)!
So here's an illustration of changing the foots constraints to ball joint. The first linked video shows the standard constraint on the left foot. The second video shows the effect of the ball joint constraint. You'll notice there is no float or shifting of the foot in the second video.
Note that except for head, eye and right leg movement, the entire animation is done by using IK. Meaning I selected a limb and moved it, and the rest of the rig followed.
http://youtu.be/NY8nM1Uqsao
http://youtu.be/KQhoy3hB9J0
Ahh..thank you. What I was doing was using a primitive as a tracking object and hiding the object from view. By the way..I feel like I'm talking to a Cararra Celeb. I've noticed your post (and Dartanback and a host of other Cararra Celebs) over the course of the last few years! Thanks for the quick response and solution. I'm working on an ad and an animated music video. I'll be sure to post a link with the results. Thanks again!
I can't wait to see the results!
BTW, there are many tools to get the animation job done, such as hand keyframing, Mocap and IK. I like them all in. It depends on the situation. That being said, I've always said that using target helpers and IK it should be theoretically possible to make V4 ride a bike! Using a combination of manual keyframes (to maintain pedal orientation and control upper torso movement) I was able to do just that! I've got some weird extra movement in the upper torso that I want to nail down, but I locked the feet to the pedals and the hands to the handle bars!
I'll post the video on youtube when I get it rendered.
Edited to add: I also keyframed a bit of hip movement/roll to simulate the extension of the leg's drive stroke on the pedal. I didn't look up any reference video, so it is purely artistic license. ;-)
Your method is obviously effective. I'm fooling with it right now, and so far so good. I've been using Cararra since 2005 (Cararra 2 Basics back then). I use all of the animation methods you describe as well. I have a nice library of BVH files that I use to get certain animations going. Usually BVH files need some clean up, so I turn them into NLA clips for that. I use reference videos for scratch animations. It usually takes about three months of work to get a scratch animation completed to perfection. My production company is investing in a Motion Performance studio this fall. I'm hoping that Cararra will fix a few things (soft body, auto restore) because it is my workhorse!
Thanks again for the tips and if there is anything I can do in return, feel free to ask!:-):-)
Very cool, evil! Argus1000 made a cool 'pedal a bike' animation using this technique as well.
bdproductions,
Yeah, I look forward to seeing your video!
I often want to try the techniques described here, but always end up opting for my comfort zone of just rotating manually. Why do I feel so comfortable doing that? One would think that it's more difficult and time consuming. To me, however, I find it to be very natural feeling, at least in Carrara. This actually sets Carrara into a whole new league of its own compared to Poser and DS for me - because animating in such a way in those gives me a headache, where I can do it all day for months in Carrara! LOL
Carrara Celebrities!
Heh, that's cool! I felt the same way when I started asking questions in the forums and getting responses from everybody here. They've all been so kind and helpful. I wouldn't be nearly as far along in my efforts without their advice and even their criticism. evilproducer has always been a huge favorite of mine - as he was always showing me renders of scenes that totally play to my taste of art that I really like. I am really glad to have conversed with him enough to where we have now actually become quite good friends. But I feel like I've made a good many friends here on the Carrara forum. There are many here whose art is so impressive! Many Carrara animation gurus - I am still in the learning phase - well, I guess we'll always remain in that phase no matter how good we get. But there are many folks here that are far more experienced with it that I am.
I love this: Carrara 8 Promo Reel
and when I first joined this forum, these guys all frequented here and offered all sorts of godly advice and things that just put me in awe!
evilproducer did the short clip labeled his real name: Kevin Wyeth
Jeffrey Felt is own own Dimension Theory published artist, here at DAZ 3D.
Just a Bit of Fun is still my favorite work that I have put up on YouTube, even though it was just a simple experiment trying out Sony Movie HD software with a bunch of test render animations that I haven't deleted yet at the time. Although it almost seems to follow a sort of storyline, the renders weren't actually set up that way. I just made it seem structured during the experiment. They were just the only way that I could truly see how certain things would look animated out - like the ocean waves, certain lighting, new body morph I made in Carrara, timing, etc.,
Sounds like you're an old hand at this.
I started with C5 Standard, and before that, RayDream 5. I've had some success with BVH, but haven't had the need to really do anything with it except experiment with cleaning them up and converting to NLAs. Usually just simple walk cycles. The tedious stuff.
I would like to apologize if I ever respond in a way that seems over-explanatory. I try and write my responses not just to the person with the question, but also anybody else that looks, and I have to assume that there are new users included in that group as well. Plus I'm still trying to educate Dartanbeck about target helpers and IK. ;-)
The Carnegie collection has some really nice stuff in it, if my memory serves correctly. I haven't tried using those for a long time now, and I'll probably have to go in and update what I have. But I might be in the market for some more good files to add to my collection - if you might know of some cool sites.
I have been doing a lot with GoFigure's aniBlock collections. I import the aniBlocks and keep only the keyframes that I really want, and delete the rest. Sometimes I do want the whole thing, but that's easy and doesn't require further explanation. But I'll open DS and load in the base figure of what I want to use in Carrara, and run through my aniBlock collections, looking for specific movements that I need. Sometimes it's just the arm movements, or the head and neck. Quite often it's the hip and feet. I have the Martial Arts sets (all three), which I think are spectacular. It's my female hero, Rosie, who's the martial artist, so I have tweaking to do to get them working on her. But it's totally worth it in the end, because it saves me gobs of time! :)
But so I'll save various NLA Clips of different body parts doing different things - all cataloged in my browser's clips tab. I haven't been actively adding to this library lately, however, but is that ever fun! And it's a great way to quickly throw together a needed animation - especially for the background stuff - where my focus characters will always get more specific attention.
Sounds like you're an old hand at this.
I started with C5 Standard, and before that, RayDream 5. I've had some success with BVH, but haven't had the need to really do anything with it except experiment with cleaning them up and converting to NLAs. Usually just simple walk cycles. The tedious stuff.
I would like to apologize if I ever respond in a way that seems over-explanatory. I try and write my responses not just to the person with the question, but also anybody else that looks, and I have to assume that there are new users included in that group as well. Plus I'm still trying to educate Dartanbeck about target helpers and IK. ;-)Apolo-what?!!!
Get the f.... I mean... get real, man! Thanks for helping! :vampire:
Glad we're friends as well Dart. Rosie looks like a badass, so I'd hate to be on the wrong side of her! The way I look at it, is the day we stop learning is the day they stick our corpse in ground.
This walk cycle is all hand animated except for the target helper keeping the hand on the hip, and the jiggle deformer for the breast movement.
http://youtu.be/nkWBRuJlQhA
Ouch! Wolf whistle!
I know of at least one occasion that I irritated someone because they thought I didn't know what they were doing despite the post count they had. I had to explain to them the reason I was so detailed in my response, wasn't because I assumed the knew nothing, just that new users may also read the thread, so I was being detailed in how to do whatever it was that I was explaining. It wasn't a big deal, just a couple ruffled feathers.
This bike ride is really cool! I think I've impressed myself, which is moderately easy to do on some days! ;-)
Dartanbeck
I've been lurking around the forums since 2009 and have learned quite a bit from many people as well. Dimension Theory is another Cararra Celeb that I have relied on for tutorials as well (physics to name a few). Both DAZ and Poser are excellent programs, but Cararra is a workhorse for the underdog and budding professional. I'm pretty comfortable with my abilities in Cararra. My specialties are lighting and textures . I've gotten structural vertex modeling a bit under my belt (I've been building an entire city over the course of the last three years). I've gotten the modeling aspects down enough that I also use it to create weapons and costumes accessories. I completely comprehend figure modeling, just perfecting the craft. I make final adjustments to M4, V4 and other DAZ models in the modeling room.
I've posted a storyboard image of the video I'm working on. I use props from DAZ, TurboSuqid etc, to create mockups of a scene. Once the storyboard is finished, I start to model my own props with purchased props as my pattern (You may recognize quite a few DAZ oriented props in the image).
Thanks for the help and direction and if there's anyway that I might be of help in return, feel free to let me know.
Get the f.... I mean... get real, man! Thanks for helping! :vampire:
Dartanbeck,
Long post don't bother me. I tend to do the same thing. If I come across too professional (grammatically etc), it's because I'm kind of use to having to be that way. I'm a bit of a comic and tend to cuss a bit too much, but I doubt you'll catch that side of me here!
Very nice picture!
I would say, if you have the time, and you have any tips or tricks you would like to share, please do so! The great thing about Carrara is that there are usually a few ways to get the desired results, so the more suggestions, the better!
The more visible, helpful and experienced users that post here, the better it is for the new user and also for Carrara, because it helps create a positive experience for the new user. I lurked for quite awhile myself, but I finally said what the hell, I have something to add, and if it helps someone, all the better!
Ask Dart about some of my family that he's met! :lol:
Very nice picture!
I would say, if you have the time, and you have any tips or tricks you would like to share, please do so! The great thing about Carrara is that there are usually a few ways to get the desired results, so the more suggestions, the better!
The more visible, helpful and experienced users that post here, the better it is for the new user and also for Carrara, because it helps create a positive experience for the new user. I lurked for quite awhile myself, but I finally said what the hell, I have something to add, and if it helps someone, all the better!
Thanks for the complement,
I intend to share what I've learned in Cararra over the course of the next few months. I've had some success, although processor intensive, with the soft-body engine and have been creating a number of various particle effects (blood splatters and gushes, smoke, realistic flames and fires amongst a few). I had to study a bit of physics (wave and particle optics and thermodynamics) for particles and rendering, but the knowledge was beyond invaluable! I've been working on explosions with some success as well. The Cararra shader tree is quite good, but there are a few things I'd like to see improved. It pees me off when people talk nonsense about Cararra who have never really used it (the 3D Max club). When I show my work and what Cararra can achieve (with just a bit of elbow grease), it shuts them up every time!
Carrara is a very unique and powerful program. It may lack some of the fit and polish that the big boys have, but then again, it also has some features that need plugins in some of the big apps. It also costs much less than the big guys as well, so it is powerful and accessible.
The Carnegie collection has some really nice stuff in it, if my memory serves correctly. I haven't tried using those for a long time now, and I'll probably have to go in and update what I have. But I might be in the market for some more good files to add to my collection - if you might know of some cool sites.
I have been doing a lot with GoFigure's aniBlock collections. I import the aniBlocks and keep only the keyframes that I really want, and delete the rest. Sometimes I do want the whole thing, but that's easy and doesn't require further explanation. But I'll open DS and load in the base figure of what I want to use in Carrara, and run through my aniBlock collections, looking for specific movements that I need. Sometimes it's just the arm movements, or the head and neck. Quite often it's the hip and feet. I have the Martial Arts sets (all three), which I think are spectacular. It's my female hero, Rosie, who's the martial artist, so I have tweaking to do to get them working on her. But it's totally worth it in the end, because it saves me gobs of time! :)
But so I'll save various NLA Clips of different body parts doing different things - all cataloged in my browser's clips tab. I haven't been actively adding to this library lately, however, but is that ever fun! And it's a great way to quickly throw together a needed animation - especially for the background stuff - where my focus characters will always get more specific attention.
I got most of my collection of BVH files from TrueBones (http://www.truebones.com/). There should be a link there with 500+ free BVH files. If you don't see the links at TrueBonez, let me know and I'll upload the files I have to my server and provide a link to it here. There are a few other sites that are pretty good too. Let me check my listings and I'll post the links. I also have many of the aniblocks collection. The only problem I have with aniBlocks is when I re-rig a figure.Yeah dude, these BVH files come in handy when your working on a big project. I tried a trial version of one of those motion caption software programs. It was kind of a pain in the crack, but could be useful too.
Glad we're friends as well Dart. Rosie looks like a badass, so I'd hate to be on the wrong side of her! The way I look at it, is the day we stop learning is the day they stick our corpse in ground.
This walk cycle is all hand animated except for the target helper keeping the hand on the hip, and the jiggle deformer for the breast movement.
http://youtu.be/nkWBRuJlQhA
Dude, I just checked out your walk cycle on YouTube. Pretty awesome!!! I will be subscribing to YouTube and starting a YouTube page February 21. Something I've started doing with my animations is using the morph channels to create contractions and expansions in the various muscle groups. Let's say the walk cycle takes 30 frames (at 30fps), I will use every millisecond in between to create slight/subtle changes to add even more realism to my animations. The process is a bit time consuming, but worth the end product. Have you tried Renderosity (http://www.renderosity.com) yet? Another absolutely kick-ass CG goto site. They have all types of stuff there.
Dude, I just checked out your walk cycle on YouTube. Pretty awesome!!! I will be subscribing to YouTube and starting a YouTube page February 21. Something I've started doing with my animations is using the morph channels to create contractions and expansions in the various muscle groups. Let's say the walk cycle takes 30 frames (at 30fps), I will use every millisecond in between to create slight/subtle changes to add even more realism to my animations. The process is a bit time consuming, but worth the end product. Have you tried Renderosity (http://www.renderosity.com) yet? Another absolutely kick-ass CG goto site. They have all types of stuff there.
Been on a tight budget the last couple years. I don't buy much, which in a way think has helped me out quite a bit. I have no problem with commercial products- I've been playing around with an idea for one of my own for a few months.
Oh yeah, thanks for the compliment on the walk cycle. If you can, look for Sparrowhawke's site. Dart probably has a link in one of his Carrara manual or resources threads. The jiggle Deformer works great! Who needs soft body? ;-)