UMotion - Animation Editor

Hello,

I have recently started using Umotion and have started making progress with animation.

The only issue I am having is that Spine 1 and 2 are locked and I can not find a way to unlock them, It is really important that I can include spine movement in the animation.

I am using a standard adobe fuse humanoid skeleton.

"It says Animating bones that have humanoid bones as a child is not supported"

I am also not able to animate the neck.. what is going on here?

 

Hi @FirstTimeCreator ,
thanks for reaching out. It sounds like you are animating a humanoid character, but haven't defined the Spine 1 and 2 (and the neck) as humanoid bones in the humanoid avatar definition. Open the "Rig" tab in the Inspector of your character (when not assigned to UMotion) and click on "Configure..." to configure the humanoid avatar. It might be necessary to create a new UMotion project for the changes to take effect.

If you have any further questions, please open a support ticket on the official support forum (no login required). This ensures to keep things organized per topic.

 

Is this asset still worth it in 2020 and the most recent Unity versions? just wondering.

 

Hi @t1000,
thanks for your interest in UMotion. UMotion is still regularly served with updates (improvements, new features, bug fixes,...) and I'm going to continue so in 2020 (and the following years).

Don't hesitate to contact me if you any questions. For technical questions, feel free to post on the official support forum (no login required).

 

Has anyone meet the error? When I restarted my unity or open my unity first time in 2019. 2. 16f~

 

@verteom: This type of errors is a false alert generated by Unity. In newer Unity versions you can turn them off by selecting the UMotion dlls and disable the "Validate References" checkbox. Then click "Apply".

The UMotion *.dlls can be found at:
"Assets/UMotionEditor/Plugins/Application"
"Assets/UMotionEditor/Plugins/Editor"

 

Ťhanks ~ It helps

 

Hi, everything is fine, I'm an experienced user, just asking for a request if it's possible, sometimes I need to animate the ON and OFF button from a game object ( from game inspector, this is for enabling or disable or better to appear and disappear some game object or mesh render, etc ) unity allows that with the integrated animation window but from Umotion controller it cant be done, just asking for that feature. thanks

 

You can animate the GameObject's active flag (or the Renderer.enable flag) in UMotion using a "Custom Property" constraint (in "Component Property" mode). Please check out the manual at "Pose Editor/Constraints/Custom Property". If you have any follow-up questions, don't hesitate to open a dedicated support ticket at the official support forum (no login required): https://support.soxware.com. This makes it easier to keep things organized.

 

@SoxwareInteractive
Hey, so I'm trying to edit some existing asset store animations (particularly kubold mocap animation), but I'm having issues with the root motion rig.

The skeleton for this animation includes a parent 'root' that driven the root motion position and rotation.

The problem is that when using a humanoid umotion project, the root gets dropped and the hips become used as root, this produces subtle but important differences in the position and rotation of the character. The only solution I've found is to use a generic umotion project, export it as a packaged fbx, then reimport it as humanoid in the unity import settings (this maintains the root object, and is a close enough duplicate).

Is there a better solution than this? Is there a way to keep that root transform even in human project rig?

Also, I am having some issues with IK. Working with overriding foot position in mocap animation, I used IK to pin the foot position, deleted various keyframes from the foot etc. In the umotion animation timeline, the feet are perfectly stable, but in export - the foot position shifts, sometimes greatly.

I need to use mecanim ik to ensure foot stability, but this is undesirable. Are there issues where umotion preview should not match the result (noticeably different)? If so, do you have any pointers for achieving exact results (these changes were made in umotion generic project, exported to fbx, reimported as humanoid).

 

Hi, I've moved your question into the official support forum and answered there (to keep things organized): https://support.soxware.com/communities/1/topics/316-questions-regarding-humanoid-root-motion
Please comment there if you have any follow-up questions (no login required).

 

@SoxwareInteractive
Step 1: Import animation
Step 2: Increase FPS (from 30->60 for example)
Result: Stuttery animation

Problem: The original animation curve tangents are maintained. This means that the animation itself is not properly smoothed out.

Current solution: go through original curves and right click (Both Tangents->Clamped Auto).

This is not the case for umotion generated curves (for example IK curves, which are clamped auto by default).

 

Hi, I am having some real fun with your cool asset!
Would it be ok to ask a few questions:

See screenshot:


I have converted the FK to IK, there are two colours of bones, light and darker grey. The light gey I can select but only have the option for rotation, the dark grey I cannot select at all, is there a way to select any bone?

What I am hoping to do to is position the spine bones (and the rest of the body moves with it) slightly down so it goes into a slight crouch pose while e.g. walking.
Should the rig layer be set to FK only (looks like I can then select any bone and position), but then the mesh does not move with it..?
Thanks in advance.

 

Thanks for reporting, I moved your bug report into the support forum: https://support.soxware.com/communities/1/topics/320-tangents-are-not-scaled-when-increasing-fps
You can trace progress there, if you have any questions please comment there (no login required).

Moved your question into the support forum and answered there: https://support.soxware.com/communities/1/topics/321-questions-regarding-fkik-rig-layer

Please comment there if you have any follow up questions (no login required).

 

@SoxwareInteractive
How exactly does the reference pose, bind pose and humanoid avatar interact (humanoid project)?

I definitely get different types of output depending on - for example - when I export 'update fbx' with an existing skeleton avatar and bindpose that matches the reference pose.

 

Hi, for support requests, please use the official support forum (no login required) in the future. It's easier for others to search for answers and makes everything a bit more organized then the "one thread for all questions" approach of this unity forum thread. I've moved your question and answered it on the forum: https://support.soxware.com/communities/1/topics/325-reference-pose-bind-pose-and-humanoid-avatar

 

Hello, I'm actually thinking of purchasing UMotion Pro in the foreseeable future. I'm actually using Unity3D as an animation station rather than a game engine and I feel that the IK support is going to be helpful for me. I do have a question though.

Is the IK support in UMotion Pro compatible with Timeline?
Even if it is, can use IK while not being play mode

 

So, what is the best way to make an object appear halfway through an animation? For example, I want my player to grab an object about half way through the animation so I don't the object that I have attached to his hand bone in my game to appear until then. I know how to add it to the uMotion list to rotate, scale and transform and the best I have come up with is to start the object with scale 0,0,0 and then in one frame change the scale back to 1,1,1. Is there a better way to show/hide this in my animation timeline?

 

The UMotion internal IK is available while animating (i.e. during edit time or when Play Mode is paused). The affect of the IK constraint is then baked into the exported animation. You can also extend UMotion with other IK assets (or a custom written IK script) via UMotion's Callback System. UMotion Pro (and all its features including IK) can be used in conjunction with Unity Timeline via the sync button (this video shows it in action).

Assign a "Custom Property Constriant" to the Game Object (in Config Mode). When the "Custom Property Constraint" is configured as "Component Property" you can use it to animate the visibility via the GameObject.active or the Renderer.enable property. The manual provides further useful information (in the UMotion UI click on the black "info" button next to the "Custom Property Constraint" to quick jump to the related manual page).

 

Brilliant! Custom property works flawlessly! Thanks for letting me know... Good stuff in that manual! ;-)

 

Thank you! I'm definitely buying once I get some stuff out of the way.

 

Hi,

Is it possible to change existing walk animation to a modified walk where the character has lost a foot. This would be an awesome solution to a current project I am working on.

 

Characters defined as humanoid must have 2 feet, so you need to use "generic" instead. You can convert a humanoid animation to generic (create a umotion project with your 2 legged character configured as humanoid, import the animation and export it to *.FBX; configure the exported *.FBX as generic). Then cut the second leg from your character in a 3D modeling application. Create a new generic umotion project for that character and import the animation *.FBX previously created. You can then modify the animation for a more sophisticated look.

PS: If the walking animation was created for your character, you can just change it to generic in the inspector (no need to export to *.FBX).
PS 2: Let me know if you don't have a 2 legged version of your character, in that case you would need a different (more manual) approach.

If you have further questions, please post to the official support forum (no login required).

 

Hello, i have Umotion Pro on Unity 2019.3 and i have a few problems with exported animations
.anim files work, but they are waaaaay too heavy, some simple animations end up with 30+ mb each
.fbx exported files are very small, but do not work, my game will have many animations so the game size gets huge due to the many .anim files, how can i reduce these?

 

Hi,
please note that the real size of an *.anim file is shown in the Inspector. The file size shown in the File Explorer can be much larger (due to Unity editor only curves being added to the *.anim which are stripped on builds).

Here is a similar support request:
https://support.soxware.com/communi...multiplies-x9-my-animation-size-what-can-i-do

Export to *.FBX can further reduce the file size (because you get access to animation compression). The most common issue that users have with the *.FBX export (when the animation is of type humanoid) is that they export into a new separate *.FBX and thus Unity doesn't automatically generate a correct humanoid avatar for it.
Please try the following: In UMotion's export settings set "Write Mode" to "Update Existing File" and export into the *.FBX of your character. That ensures that Unity uses the correct humanoid avatar for importing your animation.

Please open a dedicated support ticket on the support forum (no login required) if you need further assistant.

 

Is it possible with UMotion that I can use the Unity IK system on top of the UMotion animations?

 

Sure, UMotion generates a regular *.anim or *.fbx that is compatible with all the Unity/Mecanim IK features.

 

I'm debating on either using Maya for my character animation or UMotion Pro. I've never done any character animating before, and I'm fairly certain keyframing/adjusting curves will be fairly similar. Does anyone have any suggestions on which direction I should go, aside form using Maya since those skills can translate to other jobs (vfx, etc.) All my efforts will be Unity focused.

Thanks.

 

Hi adamz,
this doesn't necessarily have to be a "either or" decision. Due to *.FBX support in Unity (import) and UMotion (export) you can e.g. create a base animation in Maya and then fine-tune in Unity with UMotion (or the other way around). Having multiple tools in your tool-belt is always a good decision. I would say try both and use them in your preferred way

 

UMotion V1.21 was just released on the Asset Store

ATTENTION: When updating from versions below V1.20, delete the "Editor Default Resources" folder with the "UMotionEditor" folder in it before performing the update. The update is going to fail if you're not doing this!

Update now: UMotion Pro V1.21 | UMotion Community V1.21

Playback "Stop" behavior is now adjustable
A new button was added to the playback navigation area that let's you choose between two functionalities of the "Stop" button:

1. Button enabled (default): Stopping playback returns the frame cursor to the position it had when playback started.
2. Button disabled: Stopping playback keeps the frame cursor at it's current position.

Changing frame rate doesn't automatically scale existing keys anymore
In previous versions (below V1.21), adjusting the framerate of an animation clip (in the clip settings, see screenshot) automatically scaled the key frames in order to maintain the animation playback length (in seconds). It has not been possible to modify the framerate without scaling the key frames.



In UMotion V1.21, adjusting the frame rate is not automatically modifying the key frames anymore. If you want your animation clip to maintain the same length, you need to manually scale the key frames. You can do this by selecting all keys (CTRL + A in the Clip Editor) and then use the blue bar next to the selection to scale the keys accordingly.
I think that this manual approach provides you with more choices and is the better way then the previous fully automated version.


Animation layers now accessible via the UMotion scripting API
New methods have been added to the UMotion scripting API that expose access to the animation layers. This allows reading/writing the following animation layer attributes:

• layer name
• mute/unmute
• layer blend weight

It is now possible to use the UMotion scripting API to write a short script that for example exports the same animation clip several times with different names and different animation layers being active. Here is a quick example (place this script in a folder named "Editor"):

Code (CSharp):

1. using System.Collections;
2. using System.Collections.Generic;
3. using UnityEngine;
4. using UnityEditor;
5. using UMotionEditor.API;
6.  
7. public class UMotionAPIExample
8. {
9.     [MenuItem("Window/My UMotion API Example")]
10.     public static void ExecuteMenuCommand()
11.     {
12.        // Precondition:
13.        // UMotion windows have to be opened, the corresponding UMotion project loaded and a character assigned to the pose editor!
14.  
15.        string originalClipName = "Clip1"; // Insert the animation clip name you want to export
16.        ClipEditor.SelectClip(originalClipName);
17.  
18.         bool mute;
19.         float blendWeight;
20.         ClipEditor.GetClipLayerBlendProperties("Layer 1", out mute, out blendWeight);
21.         mute = true;
22.         ClipEditor.SetClipLayerBlendProperties("Layer 1", mute, blendWeight);
23.         ClipEditor.SetClipName(originalClipName, "Clip1_WithoutLayer1"); // Temporary rename the clip for export
24.         ClipEditor.ExportCurrentClip();
25.        
26.         mute = false;
27.         ClipEditor.SetClipLayerBlendProperties("Layer 1", mute, blendWeight);
28.         ClipEditor.SetClipName("Clip1_WithoutLayer1", "Clip1_WithLayer1");
29.         ClipEditor.ExportCurrentClip();
30.  
31.         ClipEditor.SetClipName("Clip1_WithLayer1", originalClipName); // restore the original clip name
32.     }
33. }
34.  

For the complete documentation of the scripting API, check out the manual chapter "UMotion API".

Default shortcut of "Focus Camera" is now [F] (like in Unity)
If you've already had UMotion installed, it is not going to use the new default shortcuts. If you want to use the new defaults, go to "Preferences" and click on "Use Defaults" (ATTENTION: this is going to overwrite all your custom shortcut bindings!).


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: UMotion V1.21

UMotion V1.21
New or Changed Features

• Changing the framerate of an animation clip doesn't automatically scale the keys/events anymore (this gives the user more flexibility/choices). Keys/events can be manually scaled using the box tool in the dopesheet view.
• When creating a new layer, the layer name text field is now automatically selected.
• A new button was added to the playback navigation that allows toggling the playback stop behavior (i.e. return frame cursor to start or keep current position).
• Changed default shortcut of "Focus Camera" to F (same is in Unity).
• When no UMotion project is loaded, an info message is now shown that indicates that a project can be opened via the "File" menu.
• The animation layers are now accessible via the UMotion API. This makes it easy to write a custom script that exports the same animation clip several times with different animation layers being active.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed that the shortcuts of the playback settings add their changes to the undo stack while pressing the corresponding UI button don't.
• Fixed that *.FBX export only works correctly when the base layer is selected.
• Fixed that assigning a GameObject to the Pose Editor while in prefab mode is not prevented.

Manual Changes

• Updated the "Clip Editor/Main Navigation/Clip Settings" chapter related to the changed framerate editing behavior.
• Updated the "Clip Editor/Playback Navigation" chapter based on the new button that has been added to the playback navigation area.
• Updated the "UMotion API" chapter based on the added functionalities.

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

 

Quick question. How can I get the rotations to go beyond 360? I need my character to spin in place at the hips over several frames. However It seems to be locked at 0-1 or 0-360 degrees. I tried looking if this question was asked but couldn't find anything.

 

I replied on the official support forum: https://support.soxware.com/communities/1/topics/445-cannot-spin-character-past-360-degrees
Please comment there if you have any further questions.

 

Code (CSharp):

1. Error: Could not load signature of ΊΊΉΉΉΊΉΊΉΊΉΊΉΊΊΊΉΉΊΊΉΊΊΉΉΉΉΊΊΉΊΉΉΉΉΊΉΉΊΉΉΊΉΉΉΊΉ:ΊΉΊΊΉΉΊΊΊΉΉΉΉΊΊΊΊΉΊΉΊΊΉΊΊΉΊΊΊΉΊΉΉΊΉΉΊΊΉΉΊΉΊΉΉΊΉ due to: Could not load file or assembly 'UMotionSourceApplication, Version=1.0.7376.28171, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null' or one of its dependencies. assembly:UMotionSourceApplication, Version=1.0.7376.28171, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null type:<unknown type> member:(null) signature:<none>
2.  

Any suggestions? I'm on 2020.1 but not tried earlier.

 

I get that error quite often, I think it's something to do with an internal 3rd party library for handling FBX files. I haven't noticed any actual issues that arise from this issue, only that it tends to appear when I first load up a project. I suspect that the library has been obfuscated.

 

Can you start UMotion? If not, check if you have a compile error in any of your script files. The error message means that the UMotion dll can't refer to the script files that are shipped as source code. If you just updated your UMotion version, I recommend performing a clean install (remove the UMotion folders and re-install the package from the asset store again).

Unity also often generates false alerts if it tries to load the dll but compiling is not yet finished (seems to be a timing issue or something like that) but as @craigjwhitmore already mentioned it does not have any functional impact.

 

Does UMotion support Unity's new 2D rig & animation package?

 

As long as the 2D bones are just regular Unity transforms you should be able to animate them using a UMotion project of type "generic". If you want to animate properties of the rigging scripts/components you can use a "Custom Property Constraint" in "Component Property" mode (see Manual at "Pose Editor / Constraint System / Custom Property").

I would love to here how that works for you.

 

Hi, I’m sure this a pretty beginner-type quest
So I have a horse from Horse Animset PRO, where it has all kinds of animations. However it’s currently not doing any sort of blinking animations with its eyes but it can be fixed with a slider in its Skinned Mesh Renderer on the body. But as UMotion locks the inspector I can’t animate it, is there any solution to this or does anyone know how to animate a SK. Mesh Renderer blend slider?

 

Hi @Certa11n ,
you can animate any component property (including all properties of the SkinnedMeshRenderer) using a "Custom Property" constraint in "Component Property" mode. Please check out the manual at "Pose Editor / Constraint System / Custom Property".

What you are trying to animate is the weight/influence of a "Blend Shape". When you assign the horse to UMotion's Pose Editor for the first time, UMotion asks you if it should automatically create "Custom Property" constraints for your blend shapes and to which bone it should add it (to the head joint or to a newly created transform).

 

Thanks!

 

UMotion V1.22 was just released on the Asset Store

ATTENTION: When updating from versions below V1.20, delete the "Editor Default Resources" folder with the "UMotionEditor" folder in it before performing the update. The update is going to fail if you're not doing this!

Update now: UMotion Pro V1.22 | UMotion Community V1.22

Improved Constraint Setup
This update is focused on the constraint setup panel in the Config Mode. Several improvements have been made to make it easier to handle bigger numbers of constraints like a big number of blend shape (custom properties).

The name of a custom property constraint is now displayed in its title. The custom properties are now folded by default (to have a better overview and to improve performance when a huge number of custom properties is shown).



By holding ALT while clicking on the foldout arrows, you can now fold/unfold all constraints at once.

With a [right click] on Windows or [control + click] on Mac it is now possible to mass apply properties of a custom property constraint (i.e. applies the current value to all custom properties of the selected bones/transforms).



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 V1.22

UMotion V1.22
New or Changed Features

• Holding ALT while clicking on a constraint's foldout arrow (in Config Mode) now folds/unfolds all constraints.
• The name of a "Custom Property Constraint" is now used as its title in the Config Mode constraint panel. This makes it easier to seek for custom properties even when they are folded.
• It is now possible to assign the value of a setting of a "Custom Property Constraint" to all currently selected custom properties (in Config Mode).
• "Custom Properties" are now automatically folded in the Config Mode constraint panel. This increases performance when huge number of custom properties are used.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed that the "Custom Property" constraint setup isn't displayed correctly in the Pose Editor when the Pose Editor's vertical scroll bar is visible.

Manual Changes

• Added a hint to the "Config Mod / Configuration" chapter describing how to fold/unfold all constraints at once.
• Added a hint to the "Custom Property" chapter regarding mass apply of settings.

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

 

It doesn't work with my character. I need to use some final ik targets under my character's biped but I always get an error that says Multiple transforms named "Bip001 R Finger0" found! Is that possible to solve this somehow? Because I can't remove those ik targets from my characters.

Those ik targets are child of an empty object under my character's biped so there should be a way to skip those bones that are child a game object.

 

You can rename the bones inside Unity's Hierarchy window to give them a unique naming. This should work fine with Final IK (as Final IK doesn't reference bones by their names).

Btw. UMotion supports previewing Final IK from within UMotion (and it's even possible to bake the result into the animation). For further information check out the manual at "Pose Editor / Options" --> "Extending UMotion" headline.

 

Hello there, I am trying to correct mixamo animations using Umotion Pro, I can't figure out how to transform/move bones, I only can rotate them for some reason, the move tool is greyed out whenever I select the dot between bones

 

In a real-life human body bones only rotate (translation would mean that bones move out of their joints). I think what you are looking for is inverse kinematics. IK is an algorithm that calculates bone rotations based on a target position. This allows you to drag e.g. a hand IK target to a desired position and the algorithm automatically figures out how to rotate the arm bones for you. Simply use the IK Setup Wizard to setup IK.

The following video explains the details:

 

Thanks for the reply and for your hard work.

One question, I am trying to fix a mixamo animation where the character plays guitar, I've made a guitar a child of spine of the character so it preserves the movement and rotation of the body. But the left hand need fixing to feel like he is holding a guitar, what would be the best solution to fix it?
Child constraint or IK?

Can I somehow snap the left hand to the guitar while guitar is glued as a child to spine using child constraint?

Also I am not sure how apply modification

 

Open "Config Mode" and select the IK target of the hand you want to parent to the guitar. In the constraints tab, disable the "IK Pinning Mode" of the Child-Of constraint. Back in "Pose Mode" you are now able to parent the IK target of the hand to the guitar and the IK constraint is then going to calculate the correct arm bone rotation for you.

 

Hi there,
is there a way to export the .fbx with the mesh?

 

Yes. In the settings set "Write Mode" to "Update Existing File". Then select either your character's *.fbx as destination file or a copy of it.

 

Hey @SoxwareInteractive, have a simple questions. Recently got your asset, and it's absolutely amazing!
I've created a running animation, and am happy with it. However when increasing the playback I realise it definitely look better at 1.5x speed. How can I shorten the clip I have right now of one second, so that it matches the speed that can be seen in playback?

Edit: nevermind, found the answer on your support forums