aniMate or aniMate2?

HyJinx

Could someone give me a quick rundown of aniMate and aniMate2? For some reason, I was of the understanding that Daz included one of them in the initial software download, but that may not be the case. Anyway, since aniMate2 is on sale I thought it would be a good time to purchase it, assuming it's something I'll need in the near future. I've read the product description, but all I really concluded from that was that it was better than the first one. The original didn't offer much in the way of a description either.

So I ask you fine folks, what it the software (plug-in?) used for, and is it worth investing in?

Thanks!

DaWaterRat

AniMate is an aide for Animation that uses pre-recorded "blocks" (designed for use with V4/M4) to help construct said animation.

How useful it is... I bought the AniMate starter bundle back when we thought my daughter might need it for her elementary school computer class (the plan was to be ready for the upgrade path), but then they changed teachers and curriculum, so other than playing with it a little, I never used it all that much, and when I switched to DS4, I didn't upgrade to AniMate 2, since she no longer needed it. There have been a few project ideas I've had that I kinda wished I had more than the Lite version that comes with DS4, but I don't do enough animation to make it a priority.

patience55

AniMate2 is well worth the $ if one plans on doing any amount of animation. Multiple tracks and more options as to what can or not be done including creations of aniblocks. What can be done with multiple tracks are things like having a galloping horse on one track, flicking of the tail on the 2nd ... presupposing one had such aniblocks or made some of course.

Now it also comes in a bundle which normally goes on sale at least once a year.

HyJinx

DaWaterRat said:

AniMate is an aide for Animation that uses pre-recorded "blocks" (designed for use with V4/M4) to help construct said animation.

How useful it is... I bought the AniMate starter bundle back when we thought my daughter might need it for her elementary school computer class (the plan was to be ready for the upgrade path), but then they changed teachers and curriculum, so other than playing with it a little, I never used it all that much, and when I switched to DS4, I didn't upgrade to AniMate 2, since she no longer needed it. There have been a few project ideas I've had that I kinda wished I had more than the Lite version that comes with DS4, but I don't do enough animation to make it a priority.

Thanks for the info!

I'm inferring from this, that it's not compatible with Genesis? Or is the updated version intended to work with Genesis?

HyJinx

Patience55 said:

AniMate2 is well worth the $ if one plans on doing any amount of animation. Multiple tracks and more options as to what can or not be done including creations of aniblocks. What can be done with multiple tracks are things like having a galloping horse on one track, flicking of the tail on the 2nd ... presupposing one had such aniblocks or made some of course.

Now it also comes in a bundle which normally goes on sale at least once a year.

Awesome!! I love bundles, but I don't see one that includes aniMate 2, I'm likely just overlooking it though. Do you happen to know what the bundle includes, or do you have a link?

Thanks!

DaWaterRat

bduncan86 said:

DaWaterRat said:

AniMate is an aide for Animation that uses pre-recorded "blocks" (designed for use with V4/M4) to help construct said animation.

How useful it is... I bought the AniMate starter bundle back when we thought my daughter might need it for her elementary school computer class (the plan was to be ready for the upgrade path), but then they changed teachers and curriculum, so other than playing with it a little, I never used it all that much, and when I switched to DS4, I didn't upgrade to AniMate 2, since she no longer needed it. There have been a few project ideas I've had that I kinda wished I had more than the Lite version that comes with DS4, but I don't do enough animation to make it a priority.

Thanks for the info!

I'm inferring from this, that it's not compatible with Genesis? Or is the updated version intended to work with Genesis?

I don't know if the updated version works with Genesis, but the AniMate Lite (part of DS4, as is a 30 day trial of AniMate 2 that started when you installed DS 4) *can* work with Genesis, but there are quirks about the feet (as I recall. As I said, I haven't done a lot of animating.)

Edit to add - just tested with AniMate Lite - and the feet are angled, as the Gen 4 figures were modeled with pointed feet, and Genesis was modeled with flat feet. Using the High Heel adjuster fixes some of that, but the toes are still bent.

patience55

bduncan86 said:

Patience55 said:

AniMate2 is well worth the $ if one plans on doing any amount of animation. Multiple tracks and more options as to what can or not be done including creations of aniblocks. What can be done with multiple tracks are things like having a galloping horse on one track, flicking of the tail on the 2nd ... presupposing one had such aniblocks or made some of course.

Now it also comes in a bundle which normally goes on sale at least once a year.

Awesome!! I love bundles, but I don't see one that includes aniMate 2, I'm likely just overlooking it though. Do you happen to know what the bundle includes, or do you have a link?

Thanks!

Yes however as I was off looking for the link, discovered V6 was now free, so quickly put in a request for store credit :-)

http://www.daz3d.com/animate2-leisure-time-bundle-for-m4

On their website as I recall, there is an adjustment pose for the feet of Genesis and that's free.

Many aniblocks are usable to some degree between various figures esp. those of the same generations [because of the bones].

There is an animation aniblock set available too that was recently on sale for the more recent figures. One does not need to purchase AniMate2 to make aniblocks work - generally speaking they'll work in either edition.

edit to add link: It's still on sale! http://www.daz3d.com/genesis-v5-walk-aniblocks

DaWaterRat

Taking the info from Patience55's post, I did a search that came up with this:

http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/15802/

which has links to the Genesis foot fix, and a couple other useful scripts/aniBlocks.

Since DS 4 comes with aniMate lite, you can play around and see what works for you.

HyJinx

Thanks y'all! I've been looking at the bathroom poses for M4, because I really need a scene with one of my characters brushing his teeth, and that set is the closest thing I can find. That's a lot of money to spend for one pose, though! Surely I could find a workable individual pose, right?

DaWaterRat

Static or Animated?

Because I can tell you how to set up that one using static poses so you're just fiddling with the exact placement of stuff.

patience55

Oh if you're looking for single poses, also check out sharecg.com. There are a couple of fantastic pose artists in there.

Jaderail

Here is a Direct Link to the GoFigure Genesis Foot fix AniBlock, This should go as a Subtrack of the Genesis Figure.
http://gofigure3d.com/Amm/Genesis-Offset.zip
This will mostly allow Generation 4 AniBlocks to work on the Genesis Figure.

blkznqueen

I have a question. I have Animate 2, it only works for my V4. Can it be used with the other Daz figures? I tried it, but it doesn't work.

patience55

jekingwilliams said:

I have a question. I have Animate 2, it only works for my V4. Can it be used with the other Daz figures? I tried it, but it doesn't work.

It works with whichever rigged figure is selected.

Testing6790

Hi! I have a reply and a question.

Reply: I would highly recommend aniMate2 if you plan to animate at all, for the ability to use subtracks and make aniblocks. I made a post about this very recently asking how to do this (which, of course, I figured out minutes later).

For me animation was a huge PITA and I would not enjoy it very much, even when I really had a cool idea for an animation. I used to just use the timeline and it was complicated and going back to make changes was a nightmare.

Being able to do keys in aniblocks also allows copying, cutting and pasting (which saves hours alone) and repositioning the entire block is simple and usually requires very little adjustment.

In a testament to this, I figured it out yesterday and ended up spending 6 hours playing with an animation. I only managed to make about 1200 frames in those 6 hours, but that was also a lot of trial and error getting used to system and me being anal with getting really realistic musculature / living adjustments.

Which leads me to my question...

Someone was mentioning aniblock bundles, which I have a couple of... but they are all for v4. Simple things like blinking do not work on G2F/M. Is there a way to convert these?

Edit: A good trick I've learned, if you have "idles for v4" is to find the most neutral one, which is the first couple seconds of one the bug ones. If you have aniMate2, use that, slow it down to 40% of it's normal speed and crop the aniblock at the point where she starts swatting the fly. I slightly adjust the arms inward, as the block is kind of... wide. Save that off as a personal aniblock and you have a really good "baseline" for your animations.

My current animation is always using that when the character is standing, and it adds enough realism so that they aren't standing like a robot. Play around with the speed dial for different results. I saw you mentioned you wanted to make M4 brush his teeth or something like that. Use the technique I described, make a sub-track that is used to control his arm movements, do the brushing with that, and then make another sub-track to control the face / head.

Easy.