I have a few animation cycles in different files but would like to have them all in the same file... is there a way to transfer keys between two different files that have the same skeleton?
thanks in advance.
take animation between files
Moderators: Víctor Paredes, Belgarath, slowtiger
tricky
You're probably not going to like this but although it is possible to do what you say it's important to have previously built your cycles as actions.Then you import the anime model and its actions will come too.
Then you copy and past the vectors of your desired shapes onto the skeleton which has these actions.
There might be some rerigging, I can't remember but I have done this and I was able to make a crowd of people with a library of actions, you just have to build that library first. It would be awesome if you could import actions like you can in 3d apps.
If anyone knows a better method I would also love to hear
I do it like this:
First I animate my character in a cycle in a separate file. I like to have an own file for each character because that way I can change the speed of the cycle if necessary later.
Then I open another file and "Import Anime Studio Object", which means I open the first file and pick the top layer of the character. Now that caracter and its animation is included in the new file.
Repeat for each character.
As you've noticed, this only re-uses a whole character. It does not exchange keys or animation between different characters. It is not even possible to paste keyframes from a character A in scene 1 to the same character A in scene 2.
So if you need to build up a library of movements for several characters, you need very good planning ahead. It can be done, within some limitations. Recently I did a library of movements for one character, all in the same file. From this master file I created some copies, in these copied files I erased whatever I didn't need for that specific scene. unforunately some animation you add to the master after you created the copy can't be included into the copy that easily. But there's a trick: put that additional animation into a separate file (by copying and trimming), then import from that new file into your working scene, and switch visibility of the characters when needed. (You now have the same character twice in that scene, but only show one of it at a time.)
First I animate my character in a cycle in a separate file. I like to have an own file for each character because that way I can change the speed of the cycle if necessary later.
Then I open another file and "Import Anime Studio Object", which means I open the first file and pick the top layer of the character. Now that caracter and its animation is included in the new file.
Repeat for each character.
As you've noticed, this only re-uses a whole character. It does not exchange keys or animation between different characters. It is not even possible to paste keyframes from a character A in scene 1 to the same character A in scene 2.
So if you need to build up a library of movements for several characters, you need very good planning ahead. It can be done, within some limitations. Recently I did a library of movements for one character, all in the same file. From this master file I created some copies, in these copied files I erased whatever I didn't need for that specific scene. unforunately some animation you add to the master after you created the copy can't be included into the copy that easily. But there's a trick: put that additional animation into a separate file (by copying and trimming), then import from that new file into your working scene, and switch visibility of the characters when needed. (You now have the same character twice in that scene, but only show one of it at a time.)
Well said
Nice, Slowtiger, yeah that's sounding like the same method in essence, but better worded, more coherent and probably more flexible too . I like the switch trick, esp when in a bind.
But you can paste the shapes of one character in place of another character and delete the old shapes, so it is more like moving the character to the skeleton than the other way round, I think that the main issue huh?
Of course this will only work when reusing skeletal animations for bound shapes, any point animation will by necessity, be lost.
So this technique would work if I wanted to change,say, the running dinosaur I use on my avatar as that is all skeletal but not points.
Switch layers will probably work fine too using the same method .
I hope these posts help you, empty.
But you can paste the shapes of one character in place of another character and delete the old shapes, so it is more like moving the character to the skeleton than the other way round, I think that the main issue huh?
Of course this will only work when reusing skeletal animations for bound shapes, any point animation will by necessity, be lost.
So this technique would work if I wanted to change,say, the running dinosaur I use on my avatar as that is all skeletal but not points.
Switch layers will probably work fine too using the same method .
I hope these posts help you, empty.
chucky:
I have indeed re-used an animated skeleteon for a different character, and for the same reason as you: doing a crowd scene.
There are some problems with this approach. First: you can't just animate a skeleton because it will not show up in the render ... and you can't use onion skin (for the delicate adjustment of feet) as long as there are no shapes attached to the bones.
What I do is to create one basic character, complete with fills and colouring. It is wise to use named styles for this. I animate this character as needed and save the file. I duplicate the file now and create new shapes, which mostly is just copying the old ones, or just colour them differently. (That's where named styles come in handy.)
This can be a fast technique as long as it's only basic walks. Body parts like feet and hands don't need to be replaced. New heads and maybe some adjustments of clothing create new characters. Don't forget to change the duration of walk cycles, it will make the scene much more interesting. Have a look at http://www.one-line-graphic.de/p_passant.html, the bottom example was done in that fashion.
I recommend to keep separate versions of files to make adjustment easy. A basic walk with just 4 keys can easily be changed in expression and speed, only after that I go and adjust the feet to the ground (which will create more keys). I think this is more important than to have a couple of characters with exactly the same animation. And with experience you'll get so fast in creating a walk cycle that you don't bother with copying any more. It really shouldn't take more than 15 minutes to create a basic walk once the character is drawn and rigged.
I have indeed re-used an animated skeleteon for a different character, and for the same reason as you: doing a crowd scene.
There are some problems with this approach. First: you can't just animate a skeleton because it will not show up in the render ... and you can't use onion skin (for the delicate adjustment of feet) as long as there are no shapes attached to the bones.
What I do is to create one basic character, complete with fills and colouring. It is wise to use named styles for this. I animate this character as needed and save the file. I duplicate the file now and create new shapes, which mostly is just copying the old ones, or just colour them differently. (That's where named styles come in handy.)
This can be a fast technique as long as it's only basic walks. Body parts like feet and hands don't need to be replaced. New heads and maybe some adjustments of clothing create new characters. Don't forget to change the duration of walk cycles, it will make the scene much more interesting. Have a look at http://www.one-line-graphic.de/p_passant.html, the bottom example was done in that fashion.
I recommend to keep separate versions of files to make adjustment easy. A basic walk with just 4 keys can easily be changed in expression and speed, only after that I go and adjust the feet to the ground (which will create more keys). I think this is more important than to have a couple of characters with exactly the same animation. And with experience you'll get so fast in creating a walk cycle that you don't bother with copying any more. It really shouldn't take more than 15 minutes to create a basic walk once the character is drawn and rigged.
recycle
HI Slowtiger, you are right about importing the skeleton and reusing it, I thought maybe 'Empty' might have been expecting a similar thing to how it works in other programs such as 3d apps and that a different approach is necessary in Anime, so that's why put it that way.
Here is my DINOCHOOK with reused skeleton and actions from my rexxy.
Thanks for sharing your method Slowtiger, it's good to know.
Here is my DINOCHOOK with reused skeleton and actions from my rexxy.
Thanks for sharing your method Slowtiger, it's good to know.
Last edited by chucky on Mon Mar 31, 2008 9:04 pm, edited 3 times in total.
and one more thing......
Can you post swf's here? If this doesn't work I'll delete the post........
http://charleskenway.com/goodies/dinochook.swf
Oh well it's a link, that'll do.
notice my rubbishy line joins, it's hard to keep attentive to that construction detail, it would be nice to have a visual clue to when line don't join in construction I think, or a round line tip
http://charleskenway.com/goodies/dinochook.swf
Oh well it's a link, that'll do.
notice my rubbishy line joins, it's hard to keep attentive to that construction detail, it would be nice to have a visual clue to when line don't join in construction I think, or a round line tip