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Alphageekgirl's - modo magic website \ Archive for category ANIMATION

MODO noobs & hobbyists

So, you're an avid part-time MODO user, but you'd still like to be able to keep up-to-date with all the neat tricks and cool ways you can optimize your MODO workflow.

Being a hobbyist sometimes it can be weeks or months before I manage to find some spare time to mess around with MODO, by which time, I've almost forgotten everything. :-/

This site is just as much for me as it is for you. It's a place where all can keep all the tips and tricks I come across, and it's fully indexed, so you should be able to find whatever you're looking for very easily :)

I'm no MODO expert - far from it, but every other month I'd like to be able to present you with a new article that'll become a new string to add to your modo bow.

If you're a longterm 3D artist or professional, then I can't guarantee there'll be much here you don't already know. You can always have a poke around though., or if you are looking for something specific, use the Search menu up the top (and the links with topics, categories and tags underneath) to find exactly what you're after. If you don't have any luck, let me know if there is anything in particular that you're looking for.

- Debi (alphageekgirl)

Recent Posts

ANIMATION

Covers morphs, deformations, rigging and animation
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February 20, 2013 Posted by Debi in All Articles, Animating, Gradient Editor, Neat tips

Setting keys in the Gradient Editor

If I don't use the Gradient Editor for a while, something that I always forget is ... How do I create a new key again? So, assuming I'm not the only one, I thought I'd would share it here.

Key Creation

Keys can be added to the currently selected curve(s) by middle mouse-button (MMB) clicking either on the curve itself or anywhere on the background. Or if you don't have a 3-button mouse, you can Ctrl-Alt left-click.

Deleting Keys

Keys can be deleted from curves in two ways:

  • To delete only the currently selected keys press the 'Delete' key.

  • To delete the currently selected keys and keys at the same Input value on associated curves select 'Delete Key' from the RMB context menu.

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February 16, 2013 Posted by Debi in All Articles, ANIMATION, Deformations, Morphs, Rigging, Step-by-Step

Importing animation MDDs from Maya to modo

David Stripinis, a 3D expert and avid modo user, has worked with James Cameron on Avatar and more recently Double Negative. In 2006 David wrote a script called modomotionApply.py that allowed users to import animations from Maya into modo as a mesh with MDD file. This was a freely available plug-in and unfortunately, after complaints from the community about it not being fully supported. Read more
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Tags: import, maya, MDD, modomotion, moma, Point Oven, Stripinis
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February 8, 2013 Posted by Debi in All Articles, ANIMATION, Binding, Neat tips, Rigging

How to scale your rigged character

Description

As a follow-up to last week's rigging article, I thought I'd share this tip I found in a forum post recently where someone asked;

"Hi guys I rigged a character in one file to have it clean, then I posed it for a test and took him to other scene where he is too big. I tried to scale him but it destroys the whole character (the skeleton resizes at diferent rate than the mesh does). I tried to scale the skeleton, the mesh, both, a group...and nothing works. Any ideas?"
Scale
Solution If you select the root joint of your skeleton, and then scale, everything else should go along for the ride. Make sure you do the scaling outside of Setup mode.
Source (Old Luxology Forums - no longer exists)
 
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Tags: root joint, scale, Setup mode, skeleton
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February 1, 2013 Posted by Debi in All Articles, ANIMATION, Binding, Rigging, Step-by-Step

How to quickly rig a character

Description

With modo 601 came a video called Fireboy where Andy Brown rigs and animates one of Warner McGee's characters. The video is quite detailed, but if you just want to quickly jump in and rig a character, I've broken it down into simple steps below.

Once you are done though, you may find that you might need to use a different Binding type for your particular character, or you might need to adjust the vertex weights to enable your character to deform properly, which I'll try cover in another article later on. But until then you can always refer back to Andy's video - but this should get you on your way.
Step-by-Step
    Preparation
    • Make sure your character is a nice clean mesh without holes or flaws. Just to be sure, run > Geometry > Mesh Cleapup before you start.
    • Separate the components, such as body and eyes into separate layers.
    • Centre your character at X & Z, and zero on Y
     
    Create Skeleton
    • Click on the Setup tab along the top menu
    • Under Commands select > Setup > Skeleton
    • Then click on Tool Properties tab and make sure that Compensation and Intersection are turned on (2:20)
    • In Add-mode, create your skeleton. Be mindful of when to use symmetry, and when to turn it off.
    Align Bones
    • Double-click on the root bone (in the viewport, or from the Item List)
    • Adjust all joint locators so that the red line is pointing along the X-axis by selecting each joint individually, then clicking on the universal transform tool to move it. It's quicker if you have two viewports open side-by-side - one Front, and one Right to make seeing where you're at, easier. (5:55)
    Zero out transforms on all joints (Sets a resting position for deformations)
    • Go into Setup modo. A yellow border will apart around the viewport
    • Double-click on the root bone
    • Go to > Properties > Zero > All
    • Turn off the Setup mode toggle
    • Save
     
    Bind skeleton to Mesh
    • While in Item mode, select Setup mode
    • Double-Click on the root bone in the viewport, and then Shift-select the character mesh
    • Then under  > Commands > Deformers > Bind > Heat  (you can use any of the other options)
Source  Fireboy.mov which comes with modo 601
Author  Andy Brown
   
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Tags: Andy Brown, bind, bones, Fireboy, mesh, skeleton, transforms, Warner McGee, zero-out
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January 25, 2013 Posted by Debi in All Articles, ANIMATION, Deformations, Morph Maps, Morphs, Step-by-Step, VERTEX MAPS

Creating Custom Sliders for Morph maps

Description Once you've created a variety of morphs for your character's facial expressions, creating "sliders" by using the channel haul tool and custom user-channels, will enable you to quickly animate your character's face, by simply transitioning between their various poses.

When I first looked at writing a Step-by-Step for this, I was basing it on Ryan Drue's video back from the 401 days on Lux TV. Naturally, I was expecting this to have changed slightly (as I am writing this during 601 SP5). But halfway through I got stuck because the interface had since changed. So I had to go to the forums for help.

Within an hour or so, I received two responses - one from modo mio, who gave me the answer I wanted, and then Clef took it one step further and gave me the answer I needed by creating an updated video using the newer schematic view. So this article is kind of a hybrid of all three approaches but hopefully the simplest way.
Step-by-Step

Note that this article does not cover the actual creation of your morph maps. It assumes you have already created them or else, you're using a mesh such as the Old Man Head (part of modo's standard Content), which comes with its own set of facial morph maps.

    Create Morph Influence
    • Under > Lists > Morph Maps select the first Morph map, right-click, and choose Add Morph Influence.
    • Right-click and rename the Morph Influence by appending the facial expression description (e.g. Morph Influence - Angry).
    • Rinse, repeat for each of your morph maps.
    Rename Morph Influence
                 
      Create Locator & set how it's displayed
      • Create a Locator in the Item List and rename it 'Face Controls'
      • Drag all of your Morph Influences onto the Locator (just to keep things tidy).
      • Position the Locator in front of the head and a bit to the side (as shown in the top image).
      • With the Face Controls locator still selected, under > Display > 3D Items tab on the right, click on Add Draw Options and fill in fields as shown.
        • Under the Locator Shapes tab below that, fill in fields as per image
        Create User Channels
        • With the Face Controller selected in the Item List, go to > Properties > User Channels > Add User Channel for each of the morphs.
        Link User Channels
        • Go to the Setup tab. The Schematics viewport will be displayed.
        • Go to the Channels tab on the bottom right
        • Scroll down and select all of the morphs channels just created
        • Drag them left into the Schematic viewport
        • From the Items tab, select each of the Morph Influences one-at-a-time and then go to the Channels tab and drag the Strength into the Schematics viewport
        • Wire up each morph influence to its own Strength driver
        Schematics              
        Connect Face Controller to Channel Haul
        • Select the Face Controller from the Item List
        • Go to > Assembly > Settings > Utility > Commandand select  item.channelHaul
        • Click on the Face Controller in the viewport and the Channel Haul will appear.
        • Use the sliders to adjust the character's facial expressions.
        • These can be keyed in the Animation timeline.
      Assembly
      Source

      You can watch the original video by Ryan Drue created for modo 401 (Old Luxology Forums - no longer exists) Later on when 601 came out, there were questions on the forum about how the workflow had since changed where Clef and a modo mio responded

      And this is Clef's video using the schematic view
      Credits  Ryan Drue, a modo mio, Clef
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      Related Images:

      528486_10151005954552087_1358381350_n ryan-at-siggraph-2013-jpg Ryan Drue @ SIGGRAPH 2012 ryan-pacific-rim-jpg
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      Tags: a modo mio, channel haul, Clef, custom sliders, facial expressions, facial rig, Ryan Drue, slider, user channel
      Pages:123