Poses and interpolation

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hayasidist
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Poses and interpolation

Post by hayasidist »

Hi.
so I had this great idea about Poses and storing them so that you could just pop them into the timeline whenever you wanted them ... I somehow expected that the idea would not be new, so I looked in this forum and, sure enough, found the earlier threads on this subject going back 3 or more years. Lots of clever ideas, but they all seemed to end with a "but ..."
so a few questions for the older / wiser hands in this game:
  • did I miss the nugget somewhere in the near 100,000 posts that said "do it like this"?
    should I just RTFM about copy frame again, but this time with my brain engaged?
    is this now a feature in AS8 (I'm still on ASP7)?
    or is it still unfulfilled?
If it's still not really there (or maybe even if it is?)...
To try out an idea, I took a rigged character, duplicated the structure a few times and set arbitrary poses in each copy. Then I dumped these into a switch layer and optimistically set "interpolate" on. Yeah - of course - no interpolation, just step change.

SO... as switch interpolation works if you just have vectors all with the same number of points; and bones already do "the right thing" between key frames, ...
what if the "Interpolate" option on a switch worked on sublayers ([named??] bones [that are not "locked"], and [corresponding] points) using the interpolation option as set in the timeline keyframe?

any help / opinions out there?
jonbo
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Post by jonbo »

I think this can be done better with blend morphs. Have you tried them yet?
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hayasidist
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Post by hayasidist »

... er ... not yet! :oops: Now I've found the page in the manual, I'll give them a try..
Thanks!! :D

==
[edit deleted and re-posted as new message]
Last edited by hayasidist on Thu Jun 23, 2011 3:25 pm, edited 2 times in total.
jonbo
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Post by jonbo »

ur welcome. if you have trouble with them have a look at this tutorial. it shows the basics. feel free to ask any questions you have here. :)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvgJNE0z ... re=related
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hayasidist
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Post by hayasidist »

(crossed post whilst I was editing ... so reposted the edit here)

1 hour later....
ok - all good - I've just played with an eye shape that, even with just 1 bone and 4 vector layers each with a shape of 4 points gives amazing expression control, far better than the fixed expressions and jump change you get from switch layers.

but it's not quite what I was getting at. Blend Morphs are a layer-by-layer affair (or have I again missed something fundamental here?).
What I wanted was to be able to set a group of layers to be (say) standing hand on hips in a group called "pose1" and standing arms by side as "pose2" then have them in a switch that will interpolate over time rather than step change. I guess another way to say that would be to have "actions" that are defined at group level rather than layer level? (or am I just being lazy and losing out on flexibility by trying to avoid doing the morph on a layer-by-layer basis??) (or is this in 8???)

anyhoo ... thanks for the heads-up and next time I'll play with the new features a bit sooner after an upgrade (I was on ASD6 until I got ASP7 about 3 months ago - yeah - then 8 pops out :roll: and knowing my sense of timing, I'll probably wait until 2 months before 9 in announced to buy 8! )
jonbo
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Post by jonbo »

yes, you missed it. blend morphs can be used on bone layers to give smooth interpolation or quick snap, however you use them. your using AS7? i'll try to post a sample to see if it's what you want to do. give me a moment to set it up.
jonbo
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Post by jonbo »

okay, here's a file with the liz character. i made 3 poses for her and used blend morphs to vary between the poses. some poses are slow and some snap, it is just a matter of playing with them to get what you need. is this something like what you want?



http://www.mediafire.com/?ln5yyh47xoc5n8d
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hayasidist
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Post by hayasidist »

thanks - I'd figured that you can use actions on bones - what I was thinking was that in (e.g.) your pose3 I could ALSO have (say) hairbangs up and eyes closed as well ... in other words morphing to pose3 would change not just group layer but also sublayers. I can see how "all I have to do" is to edit hairbangs and eyes switch to make new poses and then use morph to put hairbangs / eyes keyframes at the right place in the timeline. I'm just being lazy and wanting automatic generation of keyframes for all the layers that are changed in each pose...

WHOOOAAAAA.... :shock: ok -- ok -- I've cleared all the animation from the doc; done the edits to hairbangs and eyes and - voila - just what I wanted....


that's the learning point, I think - if you change a pose you need to re-do the animation?!
and, if you have made a change to (say) eyes in pose 2 then you need to make sure that you have explictly set eyes to what you want in other poses?!
Oh - and bones as well... if you've moved just one bone in pose1 and a different one in pose2 then ... oooooh - and points too???


OK -- so the technique has to be something like - the first thing you do in an action pose is to reset points, switches and bones, then move them to where you want the ones that move to be. if you want the top half and lower half of body to work independently, then the "master reset" only needs to be done to the relevant half. Then, in Mainline, blend ...

so you'd have, say, 4 upper body poses: both arms down; left arm only fully up; right arm only fully up; both fully up; plus 4 equivalent lower body poses ... and blending those in any mix across the timeline will give you just about any combination of arm and leg position and pace of movement...


Am I getting there!?! :)
jonbo
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Post by jonbo »

yup, it sounds like you are finding the workflow that works for you. blend morphs are very powerful. keep playing and you are sure to get there :)
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hayasidist
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Post by hayasidist »

thanks a lot! I'm most grateful. I'm off to the sandbox...
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