Need help creating body-specific animations to use as Aniblocks or animation exports

LeslieSOsborne

I'm working on a flying animation for the mosquito. My initial idea was to create a 30-frame stand-alone flapping wings animation that I can add, via Aniblocks (2) to the mosquito and then animate the direction the mosquito is flying in. I've created a 'flapping wings' animation that works well. However, I am running into issues using it.

Issue One: When I add my flapping wings Aniblock to the mosquito it only works if the mosquito is stationary. If I add keyframes to the timeline giving the mosquito movement from point A to point B I get the following results:

Mosquito moves to whatever keyframe I set last without any movement between keyframes. To be more clear, if I want the mosquito to fly between Z coordinate "0" to Z coordinate "100" and set keyframes to do so the "flapping wings" animation works but the mosquito remains stationary. It will assume the position of whatever keyframe (Z, 0 or Z, 100) I enter last. It will not move from 0 - 100 unless I remove the "flapping wings" Aniblock.

Issue Two: When I use the flapping wings Aniblock I can get it to move forward by adding the "Walk Forward" aniblock for Genesis. This works very well with the horrible exception that, when rendered, the mosquito does not FLY forward but jumps forward almost as if the video is edited as a 'jump cut'.

Issue Three: I have created a flapping wings animation preset (not an aniblock) that appears to work fine. I can add the "Flapping Wings" preset to the mosquito AND keyframe the mosquito for movement (flight) between points A/B. However, I have to add this preset every 30 keyframes to create a continuous flapping motion. It's not an ideal situation for working with more complicated animation scenes.

Does anyone have ideas for how I can be successful in creating this animation? I have been revisiting the Go Figure videos and haven't found a resolution just yet. Right now I am rendering a 'test'. I may upload a couple video samples as a visual aide once the render is done.

Thank you, in advance, for your help.

Mosquito Daz 3D Model Link: http://www.daz3d.com/mosquito-2

a-sennov

When you're using animate2 it also handles the motion of your figure's root bone. It is done so to stitch aniblocks that move your figure, like the 'walk' one. So you are able to set only one 'initial' position of this bone. If you want to add movement on top of animate2 then simply parent your mosquito to some null and animate that null.

Another option is to add one more track with long aniblock and animate the flying motion as 'hips' motion there.

Or alternatively you can create aniblock with embedded movement. For that leave the root bone at zero and animate the motion of 'hips' bone along one of the axis (be careful with rotations - it has to be at the same orientation as in the beginning or animate will 'round' the rotation to 45 degrees).

If using pose presets then you have apply them manually along the timeline or write a script to do it for you (never did it myself :) )

LeslieSOsborne

Thank you for your reply it provides excellent options and information!

At about the time you posted I had "discovered" the null object option and animated a flying path using that. I am rendering it right now and will post the test result soon. What I did:

[] create a null object
[] parent the animated (wings flapping) mosquito to the null object
[] animate, on the animation timeline (which simply reads timeline) the null object for a flight path
[] adjust, on the Animate 2 timeline, the length of the 'wings flapping' aniblock to match the length of the mosquito's flight path.

I'll experiment with both your other listed options. I am looking for an animation option that:

[] will create acceptable final results
[] is easy and efficient to use for a long term project and in scenes of various complications
[] give me the ability to pass on the DIY aniblocks to others

Your suggestions to:

[] add one more track with long aniblock and animate the flying motion as 'hips' motion there
[] create aniblock with embedded movement. For that leave the root bone at zero and animate the motion of 'hips' bone along one of the axis

Seem like they will help me achieve my goals. Thank you.

LeslieSOsborne

Here is a link to the animation. This is a mosquito flying test for 'The Monkey'. This test was created with:

Daz Studio 4.7 / Animate2

I animated the mosquito wings using a Flapping Wings Aniblock (DIY). To create the aniblock I:

[] Created 30 frames of animated left-wing and right-wing flapping keyframes.
[] Did a "Save As >> Pose Preset"
[] On the Aniblock timeline I did a "Right-click" >> Add Empty Block
[] Dragged the created Pose Preset into the empty block.
[] Adjusted the flapping wings aniblock to match the length of flight.

This process also works by creating the the 30 seconds of wings flapping keyframes and then: "Right-click" >> Create aniblock from Studio Keyframes.

The mosquito is parented to an animated null object to create the flight path. Additionally I used Adobe Audition to create a loop of mosquito wings flapping. Then I used Adobe Premiere Pro CC for the final edit and render.

The Monkey: Mosquito Flying Test 001
http://youtu.be/vxtD07wL8mg

a-sennov

Not bad :)

Try to render with motion blur so wing flapping will be smoother. Also, mosquitos (even mechanical ones :) ) have more stochastic motion, so keep the camera movement smooth but add randomness to mosquito's path, use it's legs to emphasize changes in movement direction.

LeslieSOsborne

Your feedback is appreciated.

This mosquito animation is a test of one element, a flying mosquito, in a more complicated scene. The goal was to establish that I could effectively animate the mosquito's wings and establish an animated flight path. That expressed...I was disappointed that I didn't do the following during the test:

[] Add motion blur
[] Add a camera depth-of-field
[] tilt the camera further to the left at the end of the shot for a more exaggerated canted angle at the end

The animation renders fast with Daz Studio's standard lights. However, once I add the dozens of lights to the Core (the scene that the mosquito flies through) the render slows down considerably. I didn't want to restart the render when I remembered the motion blur, DOF issue around rendered frame 350. << Sometimes the cost of rendering on a tired brain.</p>

Your comment about animating the legs; another great catch. The shot especially calls for it because of the camera angle. I might do another test render without the full lights just to get a better idea of how motion blur effects the animation.

HOWEVER NOW I will add the mosquito(s) to the full scene and begin rendering those shots. I'll add a link to that result to the forum. Thank you for viewing the video and offering such helpful feedback.

a-sennov

To speedup rendering with multiple lights turn them on only when they (or their highlights or shadows) are really visible to your camera (and then off when they move out of view). Use 'visible in render' property to do it, it can be animated. Also select wisely between depth maps and raytraced shadows, use the method that is faster for your scene (make tests before main rendering). If using ambient occlusion or GI use lower quality settings (or turn it off completely) for surfaces that will be blurred by DOF.