Unsatisfactory playback within Daz

paul_carder_74313dfe2f

Hi all,

I've just imported in a bvh from Motionbuilder, and applied it to a Gensis model I created, and the playback is only about 3 frames a second (at best).

I need it to playback every frame and I simply can't animate like this.

My graphics card is a ATI Radeon HD 5770, and my tech spec is:

Model Name: Mac Pro
Model Identifier: MacPro3,1
Processor Name: Quad-Core Intel Xeon
Processor Speed: 2.8 GHz
Number Of Processors: 2
Total Number Of Cores: 8
L2 Cache (per processor): 12 MB
Memory: 8 GB

My machine runs other applications fine, it's not like it's got no juice. I've looked in the Daz preferences and put the slide to 'performance' and also am viewing as wireframe in the viewer, but nothing's helping. I would really appreciate anyone's help.

Many thanks! :)

Herald of Fire

I'm unsure what you mean by 'Playback'. Are you referring to the animation itself viewed via the timeline's play function, or are you referring to the final rendered output? It would also help to know whether there are duplicate frames and what your FPS is set to for the animation, as both of these can lead to jerky animation.

I've had no significant issues with importing BVH files aside from the foot angle with Genesis (which can be corrected with scripts) so the more detail you can provide the easier it will be to offer guidance.

paul_carder_74313dfe2f

Hi HeraldOfFire, sorry I wasn't too clear. I'll try and explain again.

What I meant was when I play the moving figure in the middle window (I would call it a stage, but I don't know what Daz calls it)...the movement is jittery, and manages to give me about 2-3 frames a second at best.

I'm not using Daz to render, I'm using it simply to apply hand gestures and animate that with kayMate.

I'm hoping to then export out an FBX of this character straight back into Motionbuilder, so I can tweak it again, and get it ready for Cinema 4D to render the final output.

Daz is the only part of my pipeline that's giving me a headache! ARGH!

I've tried Decimator to simplify the mesh - but that keeps crashing Daz or messing up the clothing, so I've abandoned that idea.

I've tried to import the model as a Daz FBX of itself, but even with the limts turned off, it makes the character look like roadkill.

I don't know what to do, I really don't :(

Herald of Fire

Sadly, I can't help much with the FBX import. I've always had terrible results when importing and exporting FBX files in Daz Studio, so I've resorted to piping everything through 3D Studio Max instead.

As for the frame slowdown, it's hard to understand what's causing it. I assume that the figure is the only thing in the scene, so there shouldn't be any reason for significant slowdown. One thing to note is that Daz Studio uses your graphics card to output the viewport, so it could be an issue with your drivers or possibly graphics memory.

If the figure isn't the only thing in the scene, another thing to check would be mesh smoothing. Some outfits and the like have a smoothing modifier applied to them, and others still have an 'interactive update' setting flagged which means every time the figure moves, it recalculates the clothing. I'm not sure whether it does this during animation and I haven't tested it since I rarely do animation, but if it's there disable it and see if it helps any.

paul_carder_74313dfe2f

I did get that calculating smoother bar at the bottom right of my screen. So I tried the usual Edit>Object>Geometry>Remove smoothing modifier......but my playback's still a bit jerky.

However.....I HAVE found that if I play it back using the aniMate window it's a lot faster, and if I try and play it back using the keyMate window, then it's terrible.

Ahh, I love Daz and f***in HATE it at the same time. What it can achieve is unbelievable....but the person who designed the interface needs a big slap! :)

Thanks HeraldOfFire, I think I can manage from here. Onto the next hurdle I'm sure! Many thanks :)