Performance Animation
Introduction to Mocap
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Assignment 1- Motion Capture Setup and Retargeting
For Assignment 1, the task was to setup a motion capture with a rig of our choosing or use one online and then retarget. I chose to go with a rig that I found online from Mixamo.com called 'Y Bot'.
Maya HumanIK Quickrig & Retargeting
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Select mirror joint, and select the joints that correspond to each part of the body.
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We will go to the blue icon. Edit character definition
To the left is the 'Y Bot' rig I chose from Mixamo.com
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I began by importing the 'Y Bot' rig into Maya
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Also you can go to: File, import, find our file, select and import. humanIK window by going to window, Animation Editor, HumainIk
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Next I created a character definition. For this I will go to: Create, Character Definition. A window will open with the human body and the joints to be defined.
Export Character Definition
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Next I exported a file, the template of our mixamo rig in a .hikc file. I then created a folder called mixamo. By doing this if I wished to export anything within the project it'll save the template within that folder. I called thr folder 'Mixamo'.
Maya Time Editor
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I then selected .fbx file with the mocap animation I chose from mixamo I wanted to use and dragged it into the time editor.
I then opened up Time Editor. By going to Windows, Animation Editors, Time Editor.
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The timeline will then look like this
I then selected the second animation and placed it in the time line editor. For the second animation I synced it so that it follows on from the previous animation.
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I then played the animation to see if I was satisfied with everything. I set my playback speed in 'real time'. This can be changed by right clicking on the timeline, playback speed, real-time.
HumanIK Quickrig Custom
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I then created a rig using the same model.
Note: To remove the rig we hold down the space key to open the Mata, Skin Unblind Skin bars, erase our skeleton.
Quickrig Tool To Display Menu
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In menu 3. User Adjustment of Guides, I selected the joint and selected the mirror.
In Quick Rig menu, I selected the character, step-by-step 5 menus will be displayed:
1.- Geometry
2.-Guides
3.- Uses Adjustment of Guides
4.- Skeleton and Rig Generation
5.- Skinning
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In Geometry, I selected the plus icon to add the two meshes of our character.
In guides, Embed Method we place: Polygon Soup and select Create / Update
This creates guides for our skeleton.
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Then I readjust the wrist & elbow joints. Pressed the space key to open the various views (Top, Side and Front). With the front and top view, I moved the joint of the wrist and elbow in the correct place.
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In menu 4 Skeleton and rig, Select create / update
In menu 5 Skinning, I selected create / update
The Mixamo model already had a rig and controls ready to animate.
Mocap / Retarget Using Quick Rig
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I imported the rig with animation, The starting position was a T.
In the time editor I selected -1 to go to frame -1 and not interfere with the main animation.
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In the HumanIK menu, I went to Create Character Definition.
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We select all the joints of our rig with animation.
Note: Command Select - hi; allows to select all joints faster.
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I selected Load Skeleton Definition and selected the mixamo template that I created.
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In HumanIK menu, I placed Character: To the character with quickRig and in Source: The animation rig, then played the animation to see the retarget.
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Finally I selected the blue icon to rename character and wrote the new name.
Final Submission
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Assignment 2- Organic Rig
Assignment 2 was to further develop from what we did in assignment 1, we had to demonstrate a variety of techniques which has been taught in the second part of the module; below I've included some of the techniques.
These techniques include:
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Modelling for deformation.
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Skinning and painting weights.
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Blend shapes.
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Mash elements added to a rig / applied to mocap from the Performance Animation Module.
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Sub pivot controls for feet.
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Custom Attributes.
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Ik handles, Rotate plane solver and single chain solvers.
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Squash and Stretch.
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Fur.
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Bifrost Graph.
Breakdown
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To begin I created a lowpoly environment. From a cube, I created the walls of the buildings.
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I then used coloured materials for the walls/windows
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I designed various ceilings and walls for diversity, then duplicating walls to form a building.
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I then created buildings of different sizes, playing with the different options that can be obtained by mixing the walls.
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After creating a scene with buildings I created trees using spheres and cubes. With the highpoly preview (key 3) will shape the tree to the desired look.
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I then duplicated the whole scene to set it
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I then redownloaded the rig I used in assignment 1 from mixamo.com but this time without the skin
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I then imported the animations that I downloaded into the time editor and applied it to the rig.
Speed Edit
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I then imported the model into the scene, and changed the source to 'None' to deactivate the controls.
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Finally I rendered the scene, below is the final rendered clip.