Real IK system yet?
no_mstr
Posts: 14
Hi all. Has Daz announced any plans to introduce a true IK Goal system into DS yet? I check back here about once a year, and have to say I'm VERY surprised if this has still not been announced or implemented, as it could make DS (with the addition of GoFigure KeyMate and GraphMate) a fairly attractive animation package. As someone who is constantly looking for more cost effective ways to offer more character animation to my clients, I'm hoping an option will soon be available, whether from Daz or a third party. Thanks for any info!
Post edited by no_mstr on
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Given the general progress on DS, my guess is that there's almost no chance of this happening before we get to DS 5 (and most likely the Gen 7 figures.) A few years ago it looked like DAZ was seriously interested in exploring the animation and game market, but until we also get a dynamic cloth system that allows the user to create/modify outfits, dynamic hair and multiple collisions, the program isn't going to be versatile enough to make the package attractive on it's own. That's not to say that you can't do decent animation using DS, but you have to work within a lot more limitations than you do with Poser or Blender, let alone Lightwave of C4D.
Hey Cybersox, thanks for the reply. That is really unfortunate that Daz is still ignoring the animation potential of DS. And while I agree that dynamic cloth, hair, etc. would be really really nice, I think just simply adding real IK goals, a native graph editor and perhaps a dope sheet would open up DS to a much bigger market. I use C4D for my more complex 3D work when budgets allow, but most of the time rigging the characters and resurfacing them in C4D is a big time-sink that clients won't pay for. If I could reliably animate Daz content in DS with basic IK systems it would be a huge time-saver, and allow me to offer much more 3D character animation to my clients on fixed budgets.
Hopefully Daz does sort this out for DS5 - but then again I've been hearing that DS5 will have better animation tools since 2012. Has there been any official word from Daz as to when DS5 might be coming, or even if it is being worked on?
I am with you Chazdogg89. It would be great to see advanced IK, a floor system, collision detection, physics and soft body dynamics, the ability to keyframe textures and overlays, etc,,
A few years ago it was GoFigure, I believe in-conjunction with DAZ, that considerably advanced the animation capability of DS by creating real IK chain (IK pins) for DS, aniMate, keyMate, and graphMate products. There were plans to expand these capabilities to include forward kinematics (FK) and Circular kinematics [(CK), e.g. the ability of one figure to act upon another figure], and an IK hard lock keep IK pinned actor from moving or sliding. GoFigure called these improvements advanced IK, but it seems to have been put on the back-burner or dropped.
I wouldn't wait for DAZ to add animation capabilities to DS, they seem to prefer outsourcing animation to third parties; case-in-point: there has not been any improvements to the basic DS animation timeline since DS's inception. The IK hard lock was close to implementation a few years ago, one can still see the command in the customize interface menu, but it was never completed. I think that DAZ looks at DS as mainly a 2D graphics composer program, and Carrara as more of the 3D animation program. It may be changing, but this seems the reality for now,
Actually I find Carrara the better animation program, and if DAZ ever upgraded its posing tools I would use it all the time. DS by far has the best posing tools among Carrara and Poser. I can create a keyframe animation 2 or 3 times faster in DS than the other two programs.
Just my two cents worth....
I was starting to explore animation in DS and I am glad to know that I was not simply missing something.
I greed with you all, having animation features within DS would be a huge leap forward, even if the tools are optional plugins for purchase.
You can do very good animation in DS, but as a minimum you will need to purchase keyMate. It adds significant capabilities to the DS, pretty much replacing its default timeline. Also the premium version of aniMate2 is useful, especially the aniMate constraint feature which allows you to keyframe parenting.