Skele: Character Animation Tools, Cutscenes and Animations authoring tools

Hi can someone help me? I am having trouble animating a character from standing into a crouch or kneeling position using IK mode. The pelvis acts like it is pinned so the character won't actually go down.

I would expect to be able to pin the feet, then grab the pelvis and move it down and backward to get into a crouched or kneeling position, but instead the pelvis won't move and the entire character model just goes crazy.

 

Hi, jwvanderbeck,

You mean something like this?


Be noted, the PIN can only locks the foot at spot for specified frame. When interpolation kicks in, the end joint (e.g.: foot/hand) might be not staying at spot in the middle frames.

You could handle that by inserting more keyframes in the middle. More keyframes could help the interpolation to make the action more smooth ( like I did at the 0:30 above )
Also you can use undo to clean up mess, or rotate the joint manually, or adjust the curves.

If you find it hard to get it right, send me the model in question, I could make a short example video with that.

Best regards, Be creative,

 

The problem isn't with interpolation, the problem is I physically can not move the hip/pelvis area of the model, any model, down - or any direction actually -- it just won't move. For example the robot model that you have in the sample scenes.

It won't move at all like your video above.

 

I recorded a short video to show. I am sure I must just be doing something wrong, as I am new to Unity.

 

Hi, jwvanderbeck,

Thanks for recording the video, it's very helpful,

The point here is to click the "Pin" button under IK mode first, then you could pin down specified joint ( e.g.: foot, hand )

Tell me if you find it not clear enough,

Best regards,

 

I did do that it just isn't shown in the video. Am I supposed to stay in "pin" mode? If I do that how am I supposed to change what bone I am moving?

The interface is a little confusing to me. I'm used to just moving goal objects around.

 

Hi, jwvanderbeck,

Yeah, you should stay in "pin" mode when move the pelvis down, the "pin" will lock the feet at the specified position.
After the pelvis reach position, you could then deactivate "pin" mode, and use FK/IK to tweak the pose.

I made a crouch animation in this video, and I attached the converted muscle clip for your reference.

Best regards, Be creative,

 

Hi, I use Skele to animate my character(a "hand" in fact) and change it to another pose. After that I want to edit its mesh a bit, but I find that mesh manipulator can't match my character. It create mesh at the original position instead. Is that normal?If not, how to fix that? Thanks

 

Hi, zhuchun,

Thanks for the feedback,

Yeah, for SkinnedMeshes, the mesh-morpher would directly modify on the original mesh, so if you rotated the bone before starting the mesh-morpher, their position might not match.
But the morph and animation will still work as expected. (See the gif below )



I would try finding a way to improve this for later updates.

Best regards, Be creative,

 

Hi, yes, they work correctly. BTW can I drag select verts/tris? My model have a lot polys so pressing shift and select them one by one seems inefficient.

 

Yes, for multiple select,
1. use "shift+LMB" to add/remove single vert;
2. click "B" to use block select; ( it works more precisely under transparent mode )
3. use "ctrl+LMB" to loop select;
4. use "A" to select all/none verts;

Check this video for detailed explanation:

 

Hi, Developers,

Thanks for your support during the Sensible Sale.

Currently I'm working on the new constraints systems for Skele.
One important part is the new IK constraints with CCD IK, it will give you an easier method to setup the constraints and avoid the unnatural rotation of joints.

I hope it could help you make better animation and IK control.



Best regards, Be creative,

 

Probably the single best asset I have purchased to date. ( eh, maybe SimpleLOD also).

I will tell you where this shines for me. Humanoid attack animations. It is absurdly easy and fast to tweak an existing attack animation to make 4-5 different versions of it. This makes your enemy much more interesting for your players.

For my specific game, I was also able to quickly add a ´stunned´ and ´hamstringed(slowed)' animation to my enemy humanoids. This is amazing for a realistic style game because you can show your player that the enemy is stunned without having to flash a big icon or other UI element. The other thing I was able to do was fill in needed, but missed, animations from store bought assets. Like an amazing asset, but had no ´was hit´ animation... took about 2 minutes to create one.

 

@TMPxyz
Console throws an Error:
Assets/Skele/CharacterAnimationTools/Editor/Misc/AnimCompressEditorWindow.cs(111,45): error CS0117: `Path' does not contain a definition for `GetFileNameWithoutExtension'

Any suggestions?

 

I bet there's a script w/o namespaces conflict with "Path", very common. Try use your editor(monodev/vs) and find the definition to confirm that. In this case, you can use explicit namespace to avoid this error. What's more, you may want to report related script to its author because it's always not a good idea to use class name like "Path" w/o namespace.

 

Thanks for fast answer, problem was iTween, iTween draws a lot of "pathes" ;-) I remember now iTween caused problems before.

 

Hi, Slowbud,

Thanks for your feedback,

... And it seems that your question has already been answered. Thanks for the help zhuchun

Best regards,

 

Is it possible to choose more than one animation when using the dae exporter, to export a file with multiple animations
?

 

Currently we only embed one archive with one clip, we've been taking the animation splitting scheme method (Multple model files) in the Unity manual:
http://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/Splittinganimations.html

I will check the collada spec to see if it could export multiple clips separately in one dae archive .

 

Hi, Developers,

I just submitted the Skele v1.8.3b1 update, it includes the new CCDIK & constraints implementations.

1.8.3 b1 (Submitted on 2015/09/29)
Add: CCD IK & Constraints (editor + runtime);

You could check the video for brief intro and the doc for details

The document is here:
http://skele.userecho.com/topic/934221-ik-constraints-since-v183b1/

Best regards, Be creative,

 

Just watched the intro videos of MMD, quite helpful and informative.

http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm12995526
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm12996331
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm12996611

 

Working on integrating " Animator: Timeline Editor " with Skele on Unity5,
This could be better in making cutscene than the native animation window

 

Hi there! I have a problem, which i can't solve with standart unity layers and masks. I need to play some attack anims while "running" anims. So i create another layer for attack, create mask. But attack has some body movement in all axis, so result can have 2 cases :
1)Mask floor platform not enabled(green) and attack animation affects on player axis (in all sides)
2)Mask floor plat. enabled, but in this case i have too clamped angles of torso movement and some jolting, and attack looking not so good
Desirted result : legs animations from running, arms, body animations from attack, but with origin not clamped angles.
Can i somehow delete rotations of all body parts and remain just for torso?

 

Hi, justtime,

Thanks for your feedback,

I don't quite get what you mean by "but with origin not clamped angles".

I guess you're trying to make your player to use mouse to rotate upper torso to face the enemy during attack animation.

If that's the case, I think you could leave one of the spine bone (e.g.: "Spine1") out of the control of the "attack" animation.
And use script to rotate the "spine1" to face the enemy, of course, you need to add some constraint so it won't rotate more than 90 deg.

Best regards, Be creative,

===============================

If you want to delete rotation animation of some bones, just remove the rotation properties of the bone.
Though I think it might be better to just mask off the origin bone from "attack" animation.

 

I need to remove rotation from legs and remain it for torso, but animation has only root rotation which affects all body. So i need to delete it and adjust by hand torso rotation, right?
In 5.2.1f1 i can't convert humanoid into generic properl. I got just static model when trying play

 

I think you just need to use AvatarMask to mask off the hips + legs.
There should be no need to modify the animation.

Check the example:

 

Just tested on Unity5.2.1f1, it works fine here.
Could you check if you've put the new Generic clip on a Humanoid model?

 

First time i didn't check this, buy now check and animation still don't works
So, transfom avatar mask only for non-humanoid

 

Yeah, as I've tried,
Humanoid mask for humanoid rig model;
Transform mask for non-humanoid rig mode;

Although I've tried to apply transform mask on humanoid model according to this post but it doesn't work out.
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/keep-additional-bones-skeleton-masks.210419/

Also, I've tried combining two humanoid clips with humanoid mask, it looks fine here.
http://i.imgur.com/7XtBDr7.gifv

 

Generic converter works. I've tried a lot of methods but due to skeletone structure it's doesn't work how i need . So i put hidden player copy in to scene, make duplicate animator controller but without mask and copy hips rotation Y axis from hidden body to spine X rotation of the player while attacking. It's ugly method, but i can't do better and it's look like i need =)

 

I'm just curious, what stops humanoid mask from working on the model?

Eh, could you send me the model and attack animation, so I can try the avatar mask on them?

 

I can't send model, but it's the same with Ethan Default. Attack https://yadi.sk/d/KnjwYsuLjd5rJ

 

I got a mail asking about hand animation from janek by the ibersource.com mailserver, but his/her mail server refused my reply mail.

If janek happens to see this message, please PM me in forum or mail me by another mail server.

 

It's quite a wild attack animation, but I think it could be combined with a walk animation if used with a humanoid avatar mask.

You might also use some script to control the spine rotation in LateUpdate() to make it face the target

 

The integration and upgrade work for "Animator: timeline editor" is nearly done, should be eligible for a beta version soon.

http://i.imgur.com/En8Nr7l.gifv

 

The newly integrated timeline editor will replace the original implementation for cutscene authoring.
I used to wait for the Unity's "designer" system, but it would be nice to have a timeline editor ready to customize.

 

Hi, Developers,

I just submitted the Skele v1.9.0b1, it includes the modified version of Animator: Timeline Editor.
I think it could make a good alternative of AnimationWindow for Cutscene Authoring.

Be noted this mod is still in early beta state, if you find any issues, be sure to report to me.

====================================
1.9.0 b1 (Submitted on 2015/10/22)
*NEW*: Integrate Timeline Editor
====================================

Best regards, Be creative,

 

Hi, Developers,

I've been working on the constraints system recently. You should be able to have a try with them soon.

Basically, I'll port most of the blender constraints system into Unity. You could refer to the blender doc here:
http://www.blender.org/manual/rigging/constraints/introduction.html

Here're some gifs that look interesting:

1. The spline editor and the Follow path constraints


2. Squash it

 

After updating to to 1.9.0 b1 following Error:

Assets/Skele/CharacterAnimationTools/Editor/IKSolvers/LimbSolver.cs(17,14): error CS0738: `MH.IKLimbSolver' does not implement interface member `MH.ISolver.Execute(float)' and the best implementing candidate `MH.IKLimbSolver.SetBones(UnityEngine.Transform, int)' return type `void' does not match interface member return type `bool'

Suggestions?
Thanks

 

Hi, Slowbud,

Thanks for your feedback,

That's weird, have you tried deleting the Skele directory and re-import it?
I guess there might be something wrong during unpack.

Tell me If it doesn't solve,

Best regards,

 

@TMPxyz
Yes, deleted it and reimported already before. The problem, when I delete it inside Unity, after some minutes it installs itself again by itself. Others I tried: Close Unity and delete in file browser then start Unity and re-install. Didn't help either.
(A fictive question would be, how do I uninstall Skele when I don't want to use it anymore, but it installs itself again?)

The only way I got Unity run again, was closing, delete Skele, and restored a backup of the older Skele folder. (I do regular backups). Now I got following Errors, but Unity runs and I can work.

NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object
MH.VertAnim.MorphProc._GetBasisShapeKey () (at Assets/Skele/VertAnimation/ShapeKeys/MorphProc.cs:358)
MH.VertAnim.MorphProc._ForceSetMeshAsBasisWithoutChangeAllWeights () (at Assets/Skele/VertAnimation/ShapeKeys/MorphProc.cs:420)
MH.VertAnim.MorphProc.ResetToBasisShape () (at Assets/Skele/VertAnimation/ShapeKeys/MorphProc.cs:308)
MH.VertAnim.MorphProc.Awake () (at Assets/Skele/VertAnimation/ShapeKeys/MorphProc.cs:106)

And following:

System.IO.IOException: B:/Unity/VR-AMAZONS/Assets/Gizmos already exists.
at System.IO.Directory.Move (System.String sourceDirName, System.String destDirName) [0x000b2] in /Users/builduser/buildslave/mono-runtime-and-classlibs/build/mcs/class/corlib/System.IO/Directory.cs:396
at RogoDigital.ImportControl..cctor () [0x00019] in B:\Unity\VR-AMAZONS\Assets\Rogo Digital\Shared\Editor\ImportControl.cs:12
UnityEditor.EditorAssemblies:SetLoadedEditorAssemblies(Assembly[])

 

@Slowbud
Ah... I don't think there exists an auto-recovery system within Unity, if you deleted a folder (in file-browser or in Unity project view), the action is permanent and not undo-able.

Maybe it's some recovery software in your computer that undo-ed the deletion?

If you need to uninstall the Skele package, just delete the "Assets/Skele" directory should do the job. That's what I've seen in clean-install test every time.

I just re-downloaded the package from AssetStore and imported in Unity5.2.1, there's no errors here. The MorphProcs in "Playground.unity" scene works well too.

So, maybe the package you downloaded is corrupted? Could you check it by start a new project and import the Skele unitypackage to see if there's any errors.

As for the second callstack, it seems that's another plugin trying to move a folder to an occupied position thus caused an IOException. (ImportControl, is it your code?)

 

@TMPxyz - Should Skele be working in 5.2.2 yet? I've not played with Skele in a while, and so I imported it into an empty project and started looking at some of the examples, but was getting odd results. Like, the SharedSkele example. I was curious to see what that was about, and so far as I can see it doesn't do anything. There is just a frozen Kyle robot. And in the Playground demo, are the two robots supposed to be animated, or just posed? (They're not moving.)

Anyway, just looking into the plugin after a while away, and I thought I'd notify you of the situation in case there were some compatibility issues.

 

Yeah, it should work on 5.2.2.

The two models in Playground scene are supposed to stand still, they are for users to try posing with/without IK constraints.
One of them is pre-configured with IK constraints on limbs.

The SharedSkele scene, it's used to test the share_skeleton feature , which is used to process two skinned-meshes so they can be animated by one skeleton;
Check the use case explanation
http://answers.unity3d.com/questions/44355/shared-skeleton-and-animation-state.html
It's a very old feature and almost nobody asks about it, I almost forget it too.

==================================

After I finished the new constraints system, it's time to build a wiki+forum and rebuild all the documents. It seems that videos cannot replace the old plain wiki text.

 

sorry if this has been said before, but
is it possible to save first frame with T-pose and make animation retargetable with skele, since it can export dae and unity3d can read dae?

(has anybody made humanoid animation out of animation made with skele)

 

Hi, dibdab,

Do you mean
1. make a generic animation with Skele,
2. then export it as dae
3. make unity import the dae to make it humanoid animation?

Yeah, that's just the primary objective of DAE exporter.
Indeed it's the byproduct that we could import the generated DAE archive into external 3d softwares

Check the video of conversion between generic & humanoid

Tell me if I misunderstand your intention.

 

no, that was what I was interested in. (though I want to import it back into unity)
I'd like to make animations that are reusable for any character, not just the character it has been made for.
because I made .anims and those cant be turned back into humanoid (or generic)
they dont have a T-pose either... (or the original avatar def would work for it (?) though I doubt it)

so I suppose I could add a T-pose as a first frame in skele (it has been some time I've been working with it) and when configuring humanoid skeleton it will set it up alright?

 

Can this be used to animate 2D?

 

Hi, dibdab,

Humanoid clip is the animation that can be shared with other humanoid models.

It's NOT required for a humanoid clip(or "muscle clip" in another word) to have a T-pose at first frame.

Just export your animation as DAE archive, and in the importer tab, set it to humanoid rig type, configure the muscle setting, and you get the humanoid clip ( you don't need T-pose at first frame ).

Of course, this process assumes that the model's skeleton structure comply with the humanoid skeleton requirement.

You can see in this video that, we transferred the walking animation from the RobotKyle to Unitychan.

Tell me if you find it not clear,

Best regards,

 

Well, it could animate 2D elements with some tweaks.
Like in this GIF:


But it uses a non-optimized prototype-style workflow, so I don't recommend use it with 2D before we come out with a specially designed 2D workflow editor.

The prototype-style workflow:

Tell me if anything is not clear enough,

Best regards,