Skele: Character Animation Tools, Cutscenes and Animations authoring tools

I managed to fix all the compilation errors thanks to you guys, but none of the features or tools work.

 

I'm not running into any issues after fixing the compilation errors, but I am only using the Mesh Manipulator tools. Any more info?

 

I've tried to use the animator tools but they don't exist, they used to exist where the skinned mesh render and animator component was. I've also tried the animation clip type converter (or MuscleClipConverter), the tool GUI shows up but the functionality doesn't work.

This may be because I've put that UNITY_5_5_OR_NEWER in the wrong place potentially.

 

Make sure that you check for some that are looking for U5 as well as the Unity5_3 and others in that format. I missed a few of those in my first checks.

 

i'll do some tests later tonight and get back to the list if there's any issues with my approach. in one of those scripts the defines are sort of subdefined in that the U5 define case consists of several versions of Unity 5. i added my UNITY_5_5_OR_NEWER in at least one case very early on as part of that list (in AnimMirrorEditorWindow.cs) so that it would fall under the U5 define characteristics. i think there's a variation on EUtil.cs as well, but i'm wondering if UNITY_5_3_OR_NEWER could include Unity 2017 by default in its early definition of U5_1_ABOVE. there's a little guessing here for sure. but i can say i got into the bone editor and was able to move it around with my edits.

 

How on earth did you get the bone editor to work? I've been through each file manually making sure U5 is defined and all unity version checks include this version, even a running a string find/replacer to make sure I haven't missed anything.

 

maybe i'm naming it wrong. i was able to click a model, go to the Skinned Mesh Renderer Component and edit the joint/bone rotation on the model in both FK and IK modes. i'm not massively experienced with Skele so this may not be the bone editor. but that was as far as i got.

 

Hi,

I can't get any answer from the developer after 3 days so I'm trying here. I just bought the last version of Skele and I got an error message when importing the package from the Asset Store in empty project :

"Assets/Skele/Common/Editor/EUtil.cs(24,37): error CS0246: The type or namespace name `AnimatorControllerParameter' could not be found. Consider using fully qualified name `UnityEditorInternal.AnimatorControllerParameter'"

I tried with Unity 5.4.x - 5.6.2 and Unity 2017.1 with same problem.

Anyone can help ?

Thank you in advance.
Arthur.

 

Look on the previous page of this thread. We outline it all there. It's an easy fix.

 

thank you alanmthomas and metaphysician, that solve the pb.

 

Hi, gamedevs,

As you guys have pointed out, I've got multiple feedback about the Unity2017 compatibility issues recently.

Sorry for the inconvenience,
I've just submitted to the Skele v1.9.8 to the AssetStore to fix the compatibility issues with Unity2017 and removed some old code for Unity4, removed some warnings too.

This update should be online in hours. If it works smoothly, you might not need to fix the compatibility issues by yourself,

If you find any new issues on Unity2017, be sure to let me know, mail me to the tmpxyz at gmail dot com. I'll try fixing the Unity2017 compatibility issues as soon as possible recently.

Best regards,

 

Hi there,

i got some issues with the latest version of Skele and Unity 2017 1.
I'm using Skele since months and it always worked great, but somehow, once i try to modify or create new animations, no changes get applied. It just always falls back to the default position.
I would be really happy to get this fixed, since i can't work until then.

regards

 

Using 2017.1.0f3, importing Skele 1.9.8 (as of today, 7/26) crashes Unity. I cannot reopen my project until I delete Skele from the file browser. I have tested repeatedly ... it is 100% the skele folder that is doing this. Before the 2017 fix, it was importing but throwing errors in the console.

I haven't tested in a brand new project ... but there is definitely something bad going on if I can't even open unity with Skele on my real project.

 

Hi, Wazingoo,

Thanks for the feedback

Is that you that sent me a mail talking about the same issue? I've sent you a reply.

For other's reference:
In Unity2017, you need to click the red 'record' button so you can start recording the keyframes;
Before Unity2017, 'record' is automatcially on when you scrub on the timeline.

Tell me if you have other questions,

Best regards,

 

Hi, DGordon,

Thanks for your feedback

This seems like a Unity internal crash, I just re-checked on my winbox (Win10 + Unity2017.1f3 + Skele1.9.8), the direct import doesn't cause a crash here.

Here's some possible solutions ( from simple to complex ):
1. Try renaming the scene files so Unity would not try opening the last scene at startup;
(If you don't remember what scene you were working at, try renaming all the scenes)
http://answers.unity3d.com/questions/10086/unity-crashes-on-startup.html

2. Start a new empty project, only import Skele first, after it finishes importing, then copy the other folders into the project ( better one folder a time, so we can pinpoint which two assets are causing the crash, then we can report to Unity to help them fix the crash)

3. If your project is not too large nor confidential, you could send the project to me and I will try pinpointing the conflicting assets and report to UnityDev.

Tell me if things still don't work out,

Best regards,

 

Hey there,

Thanks so much for your answer.
To be honest, i did never really notice the record button, since i never used it until now.

You're doing great work with skele,
thanks a lot!

 

Whenever I import Skele to my project it crashing and I can't reopen my project anymore. I'm using Unity 5.6.1f1 ... also I should mention it works with a new empty project but not on my project.

I have no idea which of my assets or models or scripts have compatible issue with Skele.

 

Hi, ksams2,

Thanks for the feedback,

Here's some possible solutions ( from simple to complex ):
1. Try renaming the scene files so Unity would not try opening the last scene at startup;
(If you don't remember what scene you were working at, try renaming all the scenes)
http://answers.unity3d.com/questions/10086/unity-crashes-on-startup.html

2. Start a new empty project, only import Skele first, after it finishes importing, then copy the other folders into the project ( better one folder a time, so we can pinpoint which two assets are causing the crash, then we can report to Unity to help them fix the crash)

Tell me if the issue persists,

Best regards,

 

Hi, i'm searching for a solution to animate character directly on timeline editor that is a new feature on beta Unity version, and im very excited with your new feature, can i use it to animate my character percisely when i need to interact with environment object, for example, when i need to grab a ball on a ground, i can use ik to place each bone to right position, and if it can, it would be very helpful when you have a tutorial video about it. Thank you for your time !!!

 

Hi, IronManBK,

Thanks for your feedback

I'm currently playing around the new Timeline editor, it's simple to set when to play clips, but it doesn't quite fit the need to record a new skeleton animation.

If we force to record a skeleton animation with Timeline editor, It will add a new Animator for each animated joint, which will block further clip recoding with Animation editor.

So, currently I would suggest making a individual 'pick' clip for the character in the Animation window, then in the timeline editor, arrange the ball to fit the motion of the 'pick' clip.

Best regards,

 

Hi,

Not sure if I'm missing something or if this is a bug. When I select a model in Unity I see that wire mesh is selected on the model. If I edit a model using Skele and then complete the edit (Ie. Not editing anymore) and then select the model I no longer see the wire mesh on the model. I've checked the Gizmos and have Selection Wire enabled.

I'm aware of the setting in Skele that toggles wire mesh on/off and tried toggling it on/off but can not get the wire mesh selected on the models that have been edited by Skele.

Can you please advise.

Thank You.

Regards,
Tom

 

Hi Im a Skele owner - Ive looked through this question extensively and I thought Id ask here - I have a dog animation (obviously not humanoid so I assigned it as generic) which doesn't have root animation which I need to move the model in the scripts I'm using - Ive followed the tutorial here :

but the generate RM button doesn't show up after modding the animation clip transform key frames. Ive looked at initializing root motion directly with SKELE but I get a "NO clip in animation window error" when attempting to target root node.

If there a simple way to make the RM button show up in the clip inspector on animations with no no animation curve on the root node that would be great. (Why wont Unity address this directly? all we usually need to add is simple forward motion)

ALSO this file (to generate root motion) is missing https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1126224/Skele/20/20.html

NOTE: I just found the rather arcane solution here :https://forum.unity3d.com/threads/n...ion-option-available-in-fbx-inspector.309523/

 

Hello I had bought Skele a long time ago but only using now. I'm making a prototype using this asset for context: https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/95860
I have watch all the tutorial video (even the outdated lol) and read the docs. I have put the model on generic from the humanoid setup given with the original asset.

Here is the problem, the root isn't the hip, but a point on the ground. I use this point to have a location reference with the object to interact, basically the object has an entry point that is the target location of that root. Then I use an animation that is offset to that point, but the point itself has to not move, the reason is that it allow exit move to be properly resume to the correct location seamlessly.

I had no problem until I start making the "waking up on bed" animation:


Using IK and pin isn't helping at all but is needed to make a decent animation. The problem is that pin only work by moving the root, which I can't. What I really want is to pin the thigh segment and the left wrist on the bed and pull the spine up, but this isn't possible with skele as far as I can tell. Also mirror seems to be broken!

An alternative would be to copy and paste back the transform of the wrist and thigh bones, but as far as I can tell this isn't an option either. Also the IK goes to the root when I click the HIP, since it seems to follow parent's hierarchy (which is logical, there is only one parent, so it make intuitive sense), having arbitrary chain would be to difficult to implement?

Is there any advice to achieve these movement with little hassle? Did I missed something? Skele is super useful to have a direct animation workflow that allow better integration with the environment of a game. I was wondering if the development of the asset would continue to include those elements in order to have an ultimate animation solution directly on unity.

 

I have a question regarding how the vertex animation system handles normals. I have a rounded object that I would like to apply an effect that is similar to the ball coming out the pipe example that you show in one the tutorial videos. The problem that I am facing is that once I make the mesh editable, the normals are affected and it goes from being a nice, smooth tube to a faceted cylinder.

Any ideas on how I can apply the animation to the object and maintain the normals of the original mesh?

Thanks!

 

I can't generate root motion at all, it keeps saying that "NO clip in animation window"?

 

I, too, am having issues with root motion. I don't know for sure if it's a Skele compatibility issue with Unity 2017, or if I'm not setting things up correctly. I thought I followed the video tutorials' instructions 100% though...

 

Can anyone help me sort this situation out? Or is there a compatibility issue between Unity 2017.1 and the latest version of MuscleClipConverter?

I haven't read anything about this issue since Unity 2017.1 was released.

I tried to convert a humanoid animation clip with root motion to a generic version (just to use the clip, not to edit it) following the method of using MuscleClipConverter as used in this video tutorial:

(Clips conversion examples)

But when I try to apply the newly created generic animation clip to a generic model, the root motion portion is not ported over.

The pose animates, and the model does move forward, but as soon as the run cycle is completed, the model snaps back to the original location and position.

Looking at other posts in the Unity forums, it looks very much like this issue is related to an incorrect selection of the "root node" in the model.

But before I commit time and frustration to re-editing my model in Blender (I have it just right and don't want to tamper with it if not necessary), I thought I would ask about all of this here first, just in case the situation is indeed caused by a Unity2017-Skele incompatibility.

Has anyone else come upon a situation like this with the latest versions of Unity and Skele?

Or is this being caused by something totally different?

Thank you so much.

 

Hi. I am trying to convert one of the animation in the ThirdPersonController of the standard assets. When I take the HumanoidIdle animation, a make a copy, make it generic, and apply it to the animator, all the bones of the character appear as "missing"


Any idea why is that an how do I fix it? I mean this is the standard assets, if it doesn't work with them how can it work with anything else? Thanks!

what happened to support here?

Ok I followed this tutorial (

)and it worked!! Great! Great product btw totally happy about spending my money with this

 

TMPxyz -

Evidently there is a compatibility issue between Skele 1.9.8 and Unity 2017.1.

When using the MuscleClipConverter to change a humanoid animation with root motion to a generic one, the root motion does not carry over.

When are you planning to release the next Skele version/fix?

I can provide to you a model and animation to demonstrate, if it would help.

Thanks.

 

TMPxyz -

Hello, I am looking at purchasing Skele for its DAE export function. I'm curious to know if you've seen/heard anyone use it with Vladimir Maevskiy's Scene Motion Capture Unity package (LINK). I am seeking to confirm that the workflow works through Skele's DAE exporter. Scene Motion Capture outputs an anim file just fine and I can simply attach it back to a character and it will play back as it was recorded. Is this as simple as it needs to be with Skele to that as long as you have a working anim file in Unity, the DAE exporter will output a working file to bring in to a 3D editing application, like Maya or Max? I'm open to purchasing Skele but this is perhaps the only package I've seen with an exporter like this so I'm skeptical. What I'm seeking to do is record the transforms from my scene at runtime and have that be exported to some format I can then import elsewhere for editing. SMC and Skele, based on the descriptions, would seem to be able to fulfill this function. Would you agree? Your response is greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
-Patrick

 

Hi, Tom,

Thanks for your feedback

Could you tell me what version of Unity you're using?

Let me take the Unity2017.1 for example:

Currently the underlying API of wireframe switch is controlling the orange highlight of the selected mesh.
The wireframe, in the other hand, is controlled by the shading mode on the scene view (check the pic below)



So if you want to change the wireframe setting, you could check the shading mode.

Tell me if it's not your case,

Best regards,

 

Hi, Neoshaman,

Thanks for your feedback

The pin is an old solution before we implemented the blender-style constraints system.
Please have a look at this video.

The auto config utility will only setup for limbs, of course you could also setup for thigh or neck.
The base idea is you could use multiple targets to lock specified joints position, while moving other parts.

http://www.tmpxyz.com/Skele/docs/83-constraintsys/79-constraint-system-manual?showall=&start=22
If you use constraints to make clips, you might need to bake the target movements into joints movement and compress the clips to remove abundant keyframes.
http://www.tmpxyz.com/Skele/docs/83-constraintsys/79-constraint-system-manual?showall=&start=21

Constraints and IK you could help to make clips, and you can always returns to the old-school fashioned keyframing as last resort.

This project has been under active development, I'm currently watching on the U2017's new "Timeline system" 's feature and planning to make major UI & workflow changes to the Skele2.0 update,

Well, I'm currently working on a tight game project, so I would be keep watching on timeline system and collect user feedback for a little while

 

Hi, alanmthomas,

Thanks for your feedback

Well, just tried with a smooth normal tube, it doesn't become flat shading on my Unity2017.1


By default, I will recalc the normals when the meshes is modified.
If the meshes is morphed a lot and no recalc, the shading could become weird.

You could try disabling this behaviour by modifying "Assets\Skele\MeshEditor\Editor\Operations\RecalcNormalOp.cs"
Just commenting out the line "m.RecalculateNormals();" should do the trick.

Best regards,

 

Hi, Paper_Jack,

Thansk for your feedback

Please check this video on how to make RootMotion:

And be sure to make the model face Z+ before starting, or you might find the model going to wrong direction when RootMotion is in action.

Best regards,

 

Hi, dshillady,

Thanks for your feedback

Check this video for RootMotion, be sure to set your model facing Z+ direction before start.

Best regards,

 

Hi, dshillady,

Thanks a lot for your bug report

Please send me the model + animation package to Tmpxyz at gmail dot com,

I'll try fixing it ASAP after getting the pack.

Best regards,

 

Hi, MeanGuy,

I just took a play with SceneMotionCapture.
It basically created one legacy/generic clip for each object in group.
(The resulting clips are huge as it records full hierarchy, you better compress the clips before using it.)

You could export each captured clips, but be noted the topmost object movement is NOT exported.
So if you want to get a clip consists of multiple clips in runtime, like talking + crouching + waving arm, you could get a combined clip from 3 individual clips. But no topmost movement is exported unless it's on the children node (like hips)

The hierarchy part might be a little confusing, tell me if you need further clarification

Best regards,

 

Hey I will buy the asset but I'm confused is unity 2017 now fully supported or have to much bugs?

 

Take this for what it's worth, because I literally just started learning Skele today. That being said, however, I decided to do my learning in the 2017.2 beta 11, because this version has some Substance Designer features that my project needs (and I didn't want to have to upgrade Unity later). So far, I've been able to create animations in Skele with no problems.

 

Pin is fine, I hope it stay, it's a simpler process than full constraint rig, I first overlook the part on constraints because I thought it was just the joint limit lol. The major advantage of pinning is that you can "unpin", I have been testing with constraint now and it seem it make the workflow more clunky, slower and less intuitive, especially because they mess up unity's animation when shifting to another, it's always on, problematic when I'm in edit animation mode of skele (I can only select the bone, the IK system interfere). Being able to have a control board where we activate and deactivate element in a single place would be great (possibly with ability to save preset for a particular set up), for example the example rig for walking mess up when you try to make a lay down animation (lock the pelvis) but some time you want both in a single complex animation. But maybe it's a matter to make a more sophisticate rig ...

Right now I'm experimenting with building a full animation rig to control the skeleton indirectly, How would do a set up for IK bend target like this?

Use full for knees and elbow in a typical humanoid.

Right now I'm trying to emulate this simple rig as a start:

I hope I can up to a full rig with facial animation too in the end lol, I hope to get to a place where I could share back to the community.

 

hello, TMPxyz

would it be possible for the DAEexporter to record rootmotion?
the SceneMotionCapture recorded .anim shows rootmotion, but the .dae is inplace.

okay I see, it's not possible out-of-the-box, but could be the hip position/rotation rewritten with an animation (that is recorded prior to that)? I'd want to have a more complex rootmotion, not just straight forward/left/etc movement.

 

I've been using this a few days and I *love* it. I'm amazed at how useful you made it.

With Unity 2017.2, as other's mentioned, Mirroring is looking broken.
Another point is that it'd be great to have the option to specify the root paths, for those of us who store our assets in other places. I had to hack the source code a bit to make it work.

Most importantly though - I'm wanting to know how can I edit the hip position for a mecanim animation. I.e.
1. I make a classic animation, and move the root position (animation of person getting onto a massage bed).
2. I export to DAE, and import it as humanoid
3. I duplicate it so I can edit it
4. All good, I can edit everything, even with IK (wow!); but the only thing I can't work out is how to edit the root transform, which in the mecanim animation is Animator.Transform.Q and Animator.Transform.T.

It might be TMPxyz, or other posters, who have way more experience than me know there is a trick to doing this, or can just set my mind at rest that I have to go for the slower workflow of working on the non-humanoid, non-mecanim animations and exporting, which I'd rather avoid, obviously

thanks again!

 

I'm having similar problem with the root lol I'm doing a similar animation about "going to sleep".

I have been adding the constrain rig set up and it's almost good, I don't know if I can go to the same length that would necessary though, skele is already amazing, I feel like I'm pushing it to its limit lol, I need to test the eye's "look at" set up too, but that model is too simple for a full test of facial animation and I'm 200€ away from a set of blendshape (eisko), I'm just too poor.
- I haven't figure out if it's possible to have elbow/knee target, elbow and knee are consistently messed up by the IK in complex pose.
- I wonder, is there is a way to affect multiple bones, at the same time, with a single contraint, I mean having something to pull smile, or control finger spread and pronation as example.

Anyway being able to go so far is already amazing thanks for making this app, figure out the elbow/knee target is really the most important thing I need though lol.

 

It only works when I import this to a new project but everytime I import Skele to my own project it will ruin my project and the only way to fix it is to remove library and skele folders.

I use Unity 5.6.1f1.

 

Hi, Salja,

There's no known compatibility issues with Unity 2017 for now, as far as I know

 

Hi, Developers,

Skele 1.9.8 p1 is online now, it mainly improves the features of MuscleClipConverter & DaeExporter.

MuscleClipConverter now could not only bake the root-motion into the pose, but also directly copy the root-motion on to the newly made generic clip.

DaeExporter now could support models with negative scale on joints;
DaeExporter now could support exporting animation curves on the topmost gameObject;
This enables you such work-flow:
1) convert a muscle-clip with root-motion to generic clip with root-motion;
2) modify the generic clip;
3) export the modified clip as Dae archive, and convert back to humanoid clip;

1.9.8 p1 (Submitted on 2017/09/26)
Add: MuscleClipConverter add new mode to preserve RootMotion on to the root node;
Add: DaeExporter: now support exporting model with negative scale;
Add: DaeExporter: now support exporting animation curves on the root node;

Best regards,

 

You could click "E" key to rotate the IK-link around the axis formed by start-end points.

Right, currently you could only activate/de-activate individual IK-constraint on the GameObject.
A centralized control board would be great, I've taken note of it.

 

Hi, dibdab,

Just update to the new 1.9.8p1, you could export rootmotion with DAE exporter now.

Best regards,

 

Hi, ksam2,

Thanks for your feedback

Check this F.A.Q. entry about compilation errors solution,
http://www.tmpxyz.com/Skele/docs/84...pilation-errors-when-import-the-skele-package

If this doesn't solve your case, post the error logs here or to my email.

Best regards

 

I might misunderstand your intention, are you trying to directly edit the humanoid clip's Transform.T curves?

Well, it's possible, but the process is a little too hacky. I don't quite recommend it.



1. Duplicate the humanoid clip from the fbx/dae archive;
2. Ensure the Root Transform Position (XZ) based Upon Original;
3. Directly manipulate the Transform.T of the duplicate clip in the Animation view.

Be noted, you cannot use record as that will create new curves for the target transform, not modify the Transform.T.
You can only directly mess with the keyframes of the Transform.T

Mirroring is not very well designed. A generic mirroring for any models just doesn't work, the setup is too arcane for users, I decide to remove it for now, until I find it a better solution.