UMotion - Animation Editor

Hi, @SoxwareInteractive

We have bought your tool "Animation Converter" to convert humanoid->generic animations.
During the process, we had encountered some issues and are wondering if buying "UMotion Pro" can fix it.

After the humanoid->generic animation conversion, the rotation curves on some bone transforms are broken into segments instead of a continuous curve. The yellow curve has several segments that jump from -180 to +180.

The original humanoid clip and the converted generic clip both played fine inside unity, but we exported the generic animation to FBX (using the official FBX exporter by Unity). And later opened them in MAX, and MAYA, that particular bone is flickering like crazy.
Is there anyway to fix it? Maybe some filters to auto fix -180 to +180 wrapping issue?
I have already tried AnimationCurve.SmoothTangents(), AnimationClip.EnsureQuaternionContinuity(); but that didn't fix the problem.
Thanks a lot in advance.

 

Hi @AKQJ10,
thanks for reaching out and for purchasing the Animation Converter.

The FBX exporter needs to convert all rotation curves to euler curves. Either the rotation is not converted correctly (if e.g. "ensure continuity" isn't executed on the resulting FBX curve by the exporter) or your model's joints aren't setup correctly so that the euler curve produces gimbal lock. If it's the first issue, then yes UMotion Pro's *.FBX exporter most probably fixes the issue. If it's due to gimbal lock, the joints need to be corrected in Max/May to avoid gimbal lock.

If you want, you can send me your model and the *.anim file and I'm converting it to *.FBX as a test to see if UMotion Pro would solve your issue. Feel free to contact me via the email support form.

Best regards,
Peter

 

Hi, @SoxwareInteractive
Thanks a lot for the quick response. We just bought "UMotion Pro" and it seems fine now.

One more question about converting humanoid to generic animations. Animation Converter's window has two settings "Apply Humanoid Hand IK", "Apply Humanoid Foot IK", we are comparing the results with these IK options on and off.

For some key frames, we don't need hand IK (avatar raises the arm, and extends the whole arm sideways, so no need to match the exact location of hand bone. In fact, if IK is enabled in this case, arms will bend in the elbow, instead of have the shoulder, elbow, wrist in a straight line).

But in other key frames, we must have hand IK (avatar's hands are clapping, both left hand and right hand must meet in the middle, so need IK to match the exact location of hand bones).

But Animation Converter's setting window only allows the hand IK to be always on or off.
Is there anyway to define a list of time segments that can turn on/off hand IK? Or even better, a curve parameter that has the same length as the animation clip, while the curve value (0-1) is the blend weight between IK/FK?

Or any tips about where the logic is implemented, so I may take a look and modify the code by myself?
I really appreciate your time and your tools are totally amazing, compared with all the other animation tools we have tried.

 

I have a question regarding UMotion. I thought it would have the ability to rig models and make bones for them but this seems not to be the case?

 

Umotion cannot rig a model, I bought Puppet 3D for that, but Umotion doesn't recognize the bone structure, so I went back to using Mixamo, which does work with Umotion.

 

I'm sorry there is no such a feature implemented in the Animation Converter yet. But you could convert the animation twice (once with and once without IK). Then open both in UMotion and mix the two animations by copy & paste the keys. In order to get a smooth transition, you can remove a few keys so that the interpolation will generate a nice transition.

@Willbkool_FPCS is correct. While you can create bones in UMotion (for creating helper rigs) you can't skin them (meaning that you can't assign vertex weights to them). Services like Mixamo do a great job in automatically rigging/skinning your character. The resuling *.FBX is also completely compatible with Unity humanoid.

 

Ah well creating bones in Umotion is already pretty useful I guess.
Any plans to add support in the future for auto-weighting and painting?
Yes first world problems, I know I know I am being a bit entitled but if you can already create bones in Umotion then the final step is adding the weights and that then eliminates the need to go to blender for example which cuts out a key middle man.

 

Unfortunately I currently don't have plans to implement vertex weight painting in UMotion in the near future mainly because it is hard to be done right (so that you can export the vertex weights and that it is fully compatible with external applications too). Furthermore, I don't see much benefit when done inside Unity as vertex weight painting doesn't require "interaction" with your game in any way. Thus I see my development resources currently better spent in improving the animation workflow because animating provides actual benefits when done inside Unity.

 

UMotion Pro @ Unity Awards 2018

Hey guys,
I hope you're having an excellent time. I just noticed that UMotion Pro was nominated for this year's Unity Awards in the category "Best Artistic Tools" That's an amazing honor and I know very well that this has only been possible due to every one of you! Thank you, you guys rock!!

Please support me with your vote --> https://awards.unity.com/#best-artistic-tool <--



Also make sure to check out all the other categories of this year's Unity Awards. There are lots of amazing games and assets nominated that are well worth your vote

 

Delighted to, good luck ! Hugo

 

Hi there,
I've got Umotion pro and after installing Unity 2018.3 I cannot get the "clip editor" to show anymore.
When I try to open it, the window shows empty and then crashes (disappears) after a few seconds. Errors below:

- GUI Window tried to begin rendering while something else had not finished rendering! Either you have a recursive OnGUI rendering, or the previous OnGUI did not clean up properly.
- ArgumentException: Getting control 1's position in a group with only 1 controls when doing repaint Aborting
- Assertion failed on expression: 'device.IsInsideFrame()'

I tried uninstalling and then reinstalling several times but it didn't fix the problem.

Any ideas?
Thanks in advance

 

Hi @m506,
thanks for your bug report. I really appreciate that.

I've opened a dedicated support thread regarding this question in the UMotion support forum. Please check out my answer there: https://support.soxware.com/1592/af...nnot-clip-editor-show-anymore?show=1593#a1593
Please reply there (no login required) so that we can keep the discussion organized.

Thank you very much.

 

Hey I just wanted to say thank you SO much for this tool. It's allowed me to bring my AI's command system to life really intuitively. Here's to hoping Unity acquires this!

 

Thanks, I'm glad you enjoy working with UMotion.

Wow, your project looks incredible! Keep up the amazing work

 

Regarding the voting, nothing is in the same league as UMotion. The others are just utilities you could write in a couple days.

Without UMotion, there's no Unity.

 

Thank you so much for your support. It's an amazing feeling when people like what you're working on

 

is Umotion compatible with Final IK, i would like to use Final IK in my project but would like to know if it will eb compatible with Umotions IK?

 

Hi @aquilinajake, yes that is possible by using a callback method. Please take a look at the manual at "Pose Editor --> Options". The headline "Extending UMotion" is what you're looking for.

 

I own UMotion and am having a problem when importing a human animation.
The animation has other properties besides bones that are animated(example: bow string).
After importing the animation into Umotion all those properties are lost and the bow string no longer moves.

How do I go about importing the animation with all the same properties that are in the original?

 

Hi @katasteel,
thanks for reaching out.

I've answered your question on the official UMotion support forum: https://support.soxware.com/1645/im...ion-doesnt-animate-everything?show=1646#a1646

Please answer there if you have any further questions (no login required).

 

What could be the issue if exporting an fbx + clip animation the result is an fbx with just the bones and nothing else in it? The animations seems to be exported correctly though ^^

 

Hi @HitsuSan,
thank you very much for your support request. I've answered it on the official UMotion support forum: https://support.soxware.com/1655/exported-fbx-contains-only-bones?show=1656#a1656

Please answer there if you have any further questions (no login required).

 

Thanks and done

 

UMotion V1.16 was just released on the Asset Store

Update now: UMotion Pro V1.16 | UMotion Community V1.16

Beside some minor bug fixes, this update is based on the most common support requests I've received in the last several months. I tried to add helping hints and links to the manual that help you dealing with common issues.

A few impressions:

"Humanoid" projects have additional transforms (like weapons, equipment,...) locked by default. The message now explains how to make these visible for animating.


Playing with the Animator Foot/Hand IK setting has great influence on the quality of the quality of imported humanoid animations. This is often overseen by users, thus deserved an additional hint.


Clicking the link will open the manual's "Exporting Animations FAQ".

Exporting Animations FAQ

Probably the most common type of support requests that I usually receive are in the sense of "My exported animation doesn't look like in the UMotion Editor". Most of the time, this is just some issues with how the exported animations are configured so I created an "Exporting Animations FAQ" that summarizes the most common problems and how to solve them.



Please let me know if you have any suggestions on what I should add to the FAQ.

Complete Release Notes
This post highlights only a few of the new improvements. Please refer to the release notes for a complete list of changes.

Spoiler: Complete Release Notes

UMotion V1.16
New or Changed Features

• Line numbers are now displayed in exception stack traces.
• Added a warning messages to the animation importer when a bone/transform that is animated in the imported animation is locked in the UMotion project. Furthermore a dialog appears that asks if the locked bones/transforms should be automatically re-configured to show the animation.
• Improved the text that is displayed in the "Channels" section of the Pose Editor when a locked bone/transform is selected.
• Added helping links to the export settings and the export log window that refer to the "Exporting Animations FAQ".
• Added a warning dialog when a GameObject is assigned to the Pose Editor for the first time and bones/transforms have duplicate names.
• Added an error message when exporting *.fbx animations and duplicate names are found in bones/transforms.
• Added a "Tip" to the clip import dialog regarding humanoid animator IK.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed that UMotion windows are closed everytime Unity is opened (happens only in HDRP projects).
• Fixed that a script with an obfuscated name is shown in the "Add Component" menu.
• Fixed that the description in the "Key Dialog" window is cut off.
• Fixed that UMotion thinks it crashed if a 3rd party script throws an exception in "MonoBehaviour.OnValidate()".
• Fixed that some special operations (e.g. deleting only a single key and then closing the project) don't set the umotion project dirty thus are not stored.

Manual Changes

• Added a new chapter "Exporting Animations FAQ". Helps troubleshooting issues related to exporting animations.

Let me know if you like the new update. If you discover any problems, please issue a bug report at the official Support Forum.

 

Hi, I get this message assigning UMA character to Pose Editor at Runtime.


UMA uses humanoid avatar and I'm not sure why it won't work.
If it doesn't support currently, will you add UMA support in the near future? Thanks.

 

Hi @chrisk,
thanks for reaching out.

I've answered your question on the support forum: https://support.soxware.com/1675/ge...character-pose-editor-runtime?show=1676#a1676

Please answer there if you have any further questions (no login required).

 

UMotion V1.17 was just released on the Asset Store

Update now: UMotion Pro V1.17 | UMotion Community V1.17

Keep Character Pose in Scene
Usually when you remove your character from the Pose Editor by clicking the "Clear" button, all modifications done on the pose of that character are reverted (in the scene). In some cases you might want to keep the pose of the character even after clearing it from the Pose Editor. By clicking on the arrow next to the "Clear" button you now have the option to do so.



Improved UMotion Lock
The UMotion Lock script ensures that UMotion has the exclusive right to manipulate the GameObject currently applied to the Pose Editor. It also ensures that as soon as the GameObject is unlocked, all changes are reverted. Due to changes in Unity 2018.3 related to the new prefab workflow, the UMotion Lock script required a fundamental rework under the hood.

In nearly every case the locking mechanism should still behave as before but there is one difference to the old behavior: When applying a GameObject to the Pose Editor while Unity is in Play Mode, OnDisable() will be called on all scripts of that character. As soon as the character is cleared from the Pose Editor, OnEnable() is called again.

Complete Release Notes
This post highlights only a few of the new improvements. Please refer to the release notes for a complete list of changes.

Spoiler: Release Notes

UMotion V1.17
New or Changed Features

• Clearing a GameObject from the Pose Editor but keeping the current pose in scene is now possible by clicking the dropdown arrow next to the "Clear" button.
• Reworked the GameObject locking mechanism ("UMotion Lock") to better incoperate with Unity's new prefab workflow (introduced in Unity 2018.3).
• When syncing UMotion with Unity Timeline, the animated GameObject isn't temporarly removed from Unity Timeline anymore.
• It is not possible to create a prefab of a GameObject that is locked by UMotion anymore.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an exception that is thrown when a GameObject that is a child in new prefab (Unity 2018.3 or above) is applied to the Pose Editor.
• Fixed an exception that is thrown when Unity is started and the project contains a prefab with a UMotionLock component.
• Fixed that the FBX exporter doesn't export the clip settings correctly (e.g. loop, start frame, end frame,...).
• Fixed that modal windows aren't automatically closed when the parent window is closed.
• Fixed an exception that is thrown when clicking on the File menu (Clip Editor) and there are backup files with an invalid name in the backup directory.

Manual Changes

• "Unity Timeline Integration" chapter: Updated text to indicate that GameObjects aren't removed from Timeline anymore.
• Updated the "Pose Editor" chapter based on the latest implementation changes.

Let me know if you like the new update. If you discover any problems, please issue a bug report at the official Support Forum.

 

My model's triangles are not following the IK handlers, has anyone had this issue? I've used the IK wizard, watched the videos and tried on 2 different models - can't figure out what's wrong:

 

Ok found it, FK-IK blend. Stupid me.

 

I imported a humanoid animation and then saved it out using the export function of Umotion after adding some layering stuff-it exported it out as an .anim file and then I had to re-rig my model to get around a bug between Blender and Unity so I had to re-import the saved .anim file again but I get this error that "this clip of type generic uses a different rig and than the animated object and is thus not compatible. Change the animation clip type to humanoid and try again".

I get that the rigs are not the same but the animation I imported was of type humanoid from the Everyday motion pack on the asset store. The only thing I can think of is somehow Umotion exported them as generic instead of keeping them as humanoid or something. When I go to the exported animation settings there is no way to change it to humanoid but there should not be a way for the animation to have changed to generic-me confused....

That same animation plays just fine into this new rig through the animator-so I am not sure what's going on here.

Also for some reason this saved animation even the original rig has move my player down (even if root motion is on or off) and when I press Foot IK on animator I get this weird leg behavour.
I know I used IK Pinning on the feet so they wouldn't move but I did animate the root a little so when foot IK is not enabled in the animator his feet move a bit forward and back but as mentioned before his whole body is pushed down 1 metre.

 

Hi @SilverStorm ,
thank you very much for reaching out. I've answered your question in the support forum (no login required). Please keep the conversation their to keep this thread clean and organized.

 

This asset just keeps getting better every time I use it. Thank you for the continuous updates.

 

hi can anyone help me? for some reasons the only transforms im allowed to do on a humanoid model is Rotation, ive tried enabling scale and position but no matter what I press it stays unavailable

 

Hi @TruenoNeno ,
thanks for reaching out. I've answered your support request on the official UMotion support forum. Please answer there (no login required): https://support.soxware.com/1892/humanoid-only-rotation-allowed?show=1893#a1893

 

Hi great tool btw. I had a question related to this one posted awhile ago. Basically we have a generic skel (not humanoid) and want to do the whole head turn look at stuff while animating. Because its no a humanoid skel OnAnimatorIK will not be called. So question is what is the best way to do this then in UMotion (or whatever if you know). We did get this working fine before when we were using Humanoid but had to switch to generic for various reasons. Thanks.

>>>I guess the object of interest can move in-game so you will need a run-time solution for that. In UMotion create the regular jump animation (without head movement).
For the in-game head movement you can use the Animator.SetLookAtPosition() if you're character is of type humanoid. Just pass the position of the object of interest. Here is a tutorial video that I've found: Unity 2017 Mecanim LookAtPosition using OnAnimatorIK()

 

Hi @holdingjason ,
thanks for reaching out. I've answered your support request on the official UMotion support forum. Please answer there (no login required): https://support.soxware.com/1898/look-at-head-movement-for-generic-characters?show=1899#a1899

 

Hello! Is Umotionpro working in new Unity 2019.1 HDRP? Just when i open project, and then open character - umotion got crashed and restarted.

 

Hi @BATTLEKOT,
thank you very much for your bug report. I've been able to reproduce the issue and am working on a patch. The patch will be available in the next few days via the asset store.

 

Great! Thank you!

 

Hi there, I lately bought Final IK but haven't really played with it yet. I was really thinking to get umotion pro too, but I am wondering if it's essentially similar to what Final IK does. It does look like umotion pro is more like an editor and Final IK mostly a kinematics solution, but I wanted to ask whether it would make sense to use both in a single project, or if anyone is doing that already.

Sorry, I am a a bit of an animation noob, but if both can help, I want to have them both

As a friendly suggestion, I think it would be very beneficial for Umotion to offer some sort of integration with the super popular Final IK (if that's a thing that can be done really, i could be talking nonsense). But stressing that in your description page would help your sales i feel. In fact, it's the only reason i haven't bought it yet. I just want to make sure I am not buying two assets that are doing the same thing

 

Hi @SpyrosUn,
thank you very much for your interest in UMotion.

UMotion is an animation editor (in a similar way like Blender, Maya,...) that you can use to customize existing animations or create completely new ones from scratch. Final IK is a runtime Inverse Kinematics library (so basically a bunch of IK scripts). It makes completely sense to use both in your project: UMotion Pro to create/maintain your animations and Final IK for any situation where you need IK during runtime.

You can also use Final IK within the UMotion Editor (to replace the UMotion's built in IK system). This is described in the UMotion Manual ("Pose Editor / Options / Extending UMotion").

I will try to make this difference clearer in the asset description of UMotion Pro.

Please let me know if you have any other questions.

Best regards,
Peter

 

Perfect, thanks for clarifying, i just bought Umotion I kinda wished they work together.

 

I dont know if this question is already asked but does UMotion reconizes the bone structure made with Puppet3D?

And if it doesnt, what unity asset(s) should I use to rig & skin my models so UMotion does reconize the bones?

 

I've never been able to get a Puppet3d rig to work with Umotion, although I am no expert. I have no problems getting a Mixamo rig into Umotion and I have a 3DS Max biped rig working with it too. For some reason I can't get P3D and Umotion to work together.

 

With UMotion you can basically animate anything. It can animate (and display) any transform/bone it finds in the hierarchy of the model. You can use Custom Property Constraints to animate the properties of all the Puppet3D components too. This is a short step by step guide:

Spoiler: Step By Step

I just gave it a go. For me it works this way but it's not as smooth as using a regular model, because Puppet3D heavily relies on it's "non-standard" chraracter setup. I recommend setting your Puppet3D character up without a modrig (just skin it). You can setup IK in UMotion (Pro). You can also use the Puppet3D modrig in UMotion but that further complicates things.

1) Create a new UMotion project of type generic (humanoid is not supported by Puppet3D)
2) Drag & drop the puppetman character to the UMotion Pose Editor
3) You will see some huge joints, just hide them by pressing "B" (or set "Bones" to "Off" in the Display section of the Pose Editor).
4) You can hide all transforms that you don't need for animating or change their size/appearence. You can do this in the Config mode (see UMotion - Config Mode and the related chapter in the manual).

Optional (when using the Puppet 3D modrig):
5) To animate properties of Puppet 3D components like the FK/IK blend you need to use a Custom Property Constraint (see UMotion Manual: "Pose Editor / Constraint System / Custom Property").

You can try this in the free UMotion Community edition, in case you want to give it a try before purchasing UMotion Pro. Please let me know if you have any follow-up questions by posting a support request on the official support forum: https://support.soxware.com

But you would probably have a much smoother experience just using Mixamo (as mentioned by @Willbkool_FPCS). It's a free service by Autodesk that automatically skins your character. The generated character doesn't rely on any scripts and is fully compatible with Unity's humanoid animation system (this means you can use all the mocap animations from the asset store). Characters rigged with Mixamo can of course also be animated with UMotion.

 

Oke thank you for the clear explanation. Ive bought UMotion and cant wait to begin .

 

Hi guys, i wanted to know what is the difference between UMotion pro and FinalIK, because i already have FinalIK but i am interested about this plugin

 

Hi @hugopok,
thank you very much for your interest in UMotion Pro. Please refer to this answer I gave to a similar question.

Let me know if you have any follow-up questions.

 

[EDIT]
OK never mind . I found the option I was looking for - you can easily scale the curves to speed up / slow down whole animation. Man, this tool is awesome!

----- PREVIOUS POST:

Hi! This is truly a great tool. I'm actually using it for motion capture inside Unity (based on HTC VIVE rig). Will record a tutorial about it soon.

I also have a question / polite request . Is it possible to scale the keyframes in the dopesheet editor (similar to what's possible in Blender for instance). I would like to increase / decrease the speed of the whole animation clip (not the clip editor playback, but actual keyframes). We have the playback speed - maybe it would be possible to, say "apply the playback speed to keyframes" somehow?

I am aware of the possibility to scale the speed of an animation in the Animator Controller, but I would like to be able to edit it in the Clip Editor - to store the information in the keyframes. Say you capture your motion and would like to speed it up twice and then edit it some more. You cannot do it easily at the moment, if I'm not mistaken.

Once again - the tool is great .

 

It will be really interesting how to use something like Vive or maybe Leap Motion for capturing animations with UMotion!