I’ve found a way !!!
A way to copy any crappy bvh or mixamo or daz… armature movement to any other armature ( even the most crappy in the world you just made for your toon ) without any twist, axis, reference or any voodoo problem !
The base asumption is that the 2 armatures must ahve kind of similar rest poses.
I got lots to do to hand rework all my stuff to apply this method.
It’s a really crappy method as it passes bone rotation thru the world coordinates ( with is the most stoopid thing that can be done ) but i didn’t find any other way, as blender seems unable to deal with local<–>local rotations without a mess.
If some are interrested, i’ll try to post a special topic for a how-to, after all my work is done.
The argument you try to place is just a polite translation of ‘shut-up and get lost’.
Nope…
What am upset for is that it seems noone is able to help on such simple things.
Motion Capture has never been a simple thing… never ever was motion capture intended to be a ‘simple’ solution… Motion Capture was intended to be a more life like and acurate solution than hand animation…
i code in very various languanges, from asm to Boo since now 25 years
Should i spend 2-3 months learning python
That’s an interesting statement to me… 2-3 months to learn python? and youv’e been programing for 25 years?.. hummm… okay…
Anyway i’ll go on trying, and yes, if there’s no other way i’ll do anims by hand.
Perhaps you need to study a bit more about how animation is done… I don’t really get the impression that you’ve spent that much time trying to understand it…
A rig is a rig
Nope… that most certainly is ‘not’ true… again… study Rigging and animation you will thank us later for this advise…
You spent bunch of bills in crappy software
People making a tool for user and not money naturally make it efficient and user oriented
not nessisarily… Blender is somewhat unique in that in the field of OpenSource Software it stands out as a competitor to
Commerical Softwares that are used on professional level… (what your calling ‘crappy’ software) All the softwares that I have listed (Including Blender) have and are used in profesional Film Production and Game design settings…
What I was pointing out is… that anyone who has ever been involved with those commercial softwares participated on the forums for those same commercial softwares… knows there is alot of ‘complain about the programmers’ that goes on… and rightly so… people have paid fortunes for them… but blender… on the other hand… cost nothing… And yet it does many many things better than it’s costly commercial counterparts… not everything is better mind you… and sometimes the programmers break it… such that the new version does not work as well as the old version … but geuss what… the old version is still available to be ‘freely’ Used… Unlike commerical softwares… only let you use a version or two back and then stop supporting it…
So again one has to approach Blender from a different perspective than commerical software… with Blender if you don’t like the way it works… your the one who has to change it … That means you either program it yourself or you work with those who are doing the code work to make it better and more like what you want it to be… and part of that 'Helping the Blender Coders… is you don’t get them ticked off at you and decide… " well okay if your going to be that way about it then we will get to that Little Feature some time in the next 10 years then…" I’m not saying the Blender Coders would do that… they are good guys… (they are way nicer than I am…)
Motion capture has never been easy, Yeah you won’t need to artistic knowledge that a hand animator might need…
Now, I’ma huge fan of motion capture, and it increases my working speed a LOT…but consider the downsides…
NO mocap, however cleanly recorded, is immediately usable. you will always end up hand animating to “polish” it.
Once your mocap is recorded, you will have a hard time changing it in more fundamental ways, sure, you can tweak it, rotate it, doctor it, and polish it up, but you wouldnt be able to (for example) make a mocapped character “leap” from its OTHER foot. this would need you to rerecord the mocap or completely rekey by hand.
sure, if you have a mocap studio, use mocap, but are you REALLY gonna find every animation you need online? finding free mocap data for testing is easy, but finding just the right, mocap data for YOUR scene, just aint gonna happen. and compromising your scene so the mocap fits, just isnt an answer.
The only reason I’m a fan of Mocap, is because I can make what I need , when I need it, and because of this, its effectively pre-rigged… I know the mocap I make will match my rigs, pretty much in realtime. Also I am privvy to use of the software to make it work;
Motionbuilder has already been mentioned, (you should get this if you really insist on using mocap data)
Endorphin is another one, (It allows you to make your mocap do things which would usually be a health and safety nightmare)
Maya 'o’12 has other useful mocap features,(layered animation, and IK keyframing allowing you to fine tune your mocap on the fly, in suite)
for editing motion capture, blender really doesn’t cut it against other software. Sure you can use motion capture… but why bother, It will take you longer to learn how to use mocaps than it will to learn how to hand key your animations.
just hand key it
Sorry I haven’t returned to this post to learn if you got a solution. Anyway, while i was away, I was trying to learn how to use the Mocap tool and bvh files. I think i perfected my skills enough that i can help you. I’m too lazy to type right now. I’m tired and sleepy cause i just got home from work but I’ll do my best.
First of all, there is nothing wrong with blender or its Mocap tool. Bengy Cook did a great job and i applaud him for his hard work on this amazing time saving tool. The problem is that very few people know how to use this Mocap tool and those people who do know how to use it, actually know very little or can’t explain correctly how things work. And most often they leave out A LOT!. Even Benjy Cook, the creator of the Mocap tool could not explain properly how to use the tool. If you watched all his videos, you will notice there are many questions unanswered. Like me, you will get stuck and frustrated. I am not Benjy bashing here so please don’t flame me.
You have downloaded the wrong Daz friendly BVH files that’s why you get that messed up twisted pose. You need to go back to the site and download the 2010 version! you have the 2008 version.
HOW TO TELL IF YOU HAVE A BAD BVH FILE…
Tap into Edit mode. If your BVH file is bent to the left from the hip in Blender… then you got a bad BVH file. It’s fixable but i have not had any success so…
BVH hacker allows you to reduce the frame rate from 120 to 30 or what ever you like and to set the rig to a T-pose so you can get it into blender ready to use. BVH hacker lets you center the rig. Find BVHhacker on YouTube to learn more.
Sometimes when you open a file with BVH hacker you will notice the rig is going thru the ground and it looks all whack. If this happens don’t worry, simply close and re-open.
As for the Mocap tool. The Mocap tool is funky but it works well. Actually, before I talk about it, let me say that
I sometimes use the rig from the bvh file just to avoid headaches. This way i know for sure my bones transformation and orientation will match with the incoming bvh file. You can add fingers and toes if you need to. The advantage is huge when you do this. The Mocap tool works even better when your rig is an exact replica of the bvh files you will be using. When you hit guess button to populate the fields, everything will be done for you.
3)Once your fields are populated DON"T HIT THE RE-TARGET BUTTON. instead check and uncheck the advance option. Keep an eye on your rig as you do this, you will notice that your rig will now change its pose to match the bvh rig. If you see this, it means you have successfully re-targeted. IF you HIT the Re-target button, sometimes you will get errors or some funky results. It may even attempt to duplicate your rig in a funny strange way. To make sure all bones were re-targeted properly, go into pose mode and check. Any bone that was not re-targeted properly will remain grey. If this happens, you need to re-target those bones manually. Simply go to the constraints panel and add Rotation and location constraint.
If the Rig is your own that you have made, you can use the Re-target button. First remove the check mark next to the “advance” option and hit re-target and if you get strange results, then turn on the checkmark and retry again. If your getting strange errors and results it means that its working. instead of hitting the retarget button just keep an eye on your rig and keep checking and unchecking advance option. if your rig changes it’s pose to match the BVH rig then it worked! It was re-targeted successfully.
AFTER PARENTING MY RIG STARTED ACTING STRANGE…
If you attempt to play the animation your rig might suddenly disappear and start acting wild. to fix this, you need to go into pose mode and select the hip bone, go to the constraints panel and add “location” constraint. Rotation constraint will already be there.
Now try playing the animation…
BAKING THE BVH ANIMATION TO YOUR RIG…
5) You can now bake the animation to your rig. To bake, hit spacebar search for “bake action” enter start and end frame. check "clear constraints " and “Pose” deselect everything else then hit bake. Sometimes after baking, your rigs animation may not be as good as the bvh rig. if this happens, you will need to bake twice. The more times you bake the more accurate the information or data is copied to your rig. twice is good enough! No more! The second time baking you don’t need to copy location on the hip bone.
You can now delete the BVH rig!
MY MESH IS ALL MESSED-UP…
6) If your mesh appears all twisted, it’s Probably bone orientation issues. Or if you parent the mesh to your rig while it was not in the correct T-Pose position, it can cause the mesh to twist or look messed up. To fix this, just un-parent the mesh from the bone get the rig to the correct T-pose position and go to the pose menu and hit “Apply Pose as Rest pose” . Now parent the mesh to the Rig again.
WHEN SETTING-UP A RIG, NEVER MOVE IT IN EDIT MODE or OBJECT MODE !!!
Yea, I really mean it! Don’t move the rig in edit mode BUT! you are free to extrude extra bones if you need to. For example, if you use the rig from the bvh file to make your own rig, you can extrude extra toes or fingers, that’s OK. IF you move the mesh or the rig, then they won’t be able to find each other when your ready to parent.
TWEAKING YOUR ANIMATION…
Before tweaking your animation, always edit it down to only what you need and delete the rest.
If you want to change the way something looks, like the way the hand is twisted. Make the changes and insert “rotation” keyframe only for the changes you have made, any other may disrupt the animation.
I think I mentioned everything that I can remember. If you need anymore help just email me fockgooggle at gmail.com
PEOPLE I’M sorry if i made errors in this post am very tired.
Sorry I haven’t returned to this post to learn if you got a solution. Anyway, while i was away, I was trying to learn how to use the Mocap tool and bvh files. I think i perfected my skills enough that i can help you. I’m too lazy to type right now. I’m tired and sleepy cause i just got home from work but I’ll do my best.
First of all, there is nothing wrong with blender or its Mocap tool. Bengy Cook did a great job and i applaud him for his hard work on this amazing time saving tool. The problem is that very few people know how to use this Mocap tool and those people who do know how to use it, actually know very little or can’t explain correctly how things work. And most often they leave out A LOT!. Even Benjy Cook, the creator of the Mocap tool could not explain properly how to use the tool. If you watched all his videos, you will notice there are many questions unanswered. Like me, you will get stuck and frustrated. I am not Benjy bashing here so please don’t flame me.
You have downloaded the wrong Daz friendly BVH files that’s why you get that messed up twisted pose. You need to go back to the site and download the 2010 version! you have the 2008 version.
HOW TO TELL IF YOU HAVE A BAD BVH FILE…
Tap into Edit mode. If your BVH file is bent to the left from the hip in Blender… then you got a bad BVH file. It’s fixable but i have not had any success so…
BVH hacker allows you to reduce the frame rate from 120 to 30 or what ever you like and to set the rig to a T-pose so you can get it into blender ready to use. BVH hacker lets you center the rig. Find BVHhacker on YouTube to learn more.
Sometimes when you open a file with BVH hacker you will notice the rig is going thru the ground and it looks all whack. If this happens don’t worry, simply close and re-open.
As for the Mocap tool. The Mocap tool is funky but it works well. Actually, before I talk about it, let me say that
I sometimes use the rig from the bvh file just to avoid headaches. This way i know for sure my bones transformation and orientation will match with the incoming bvh file. You can add fingers and toes if you need to. The advantage is huge when you do this. The Mocap tool works even better when your rig is an exact replica of the bvh files you will be using. When you hit guess button to populate the fields, everything will be done for you.
3)Once your fields are populated DON"T HIT THE RE-TARGET BUTTON. instead check and uncheck the advance option. Keep an eye on your rig as you do this, you will notice that your rig will now change its pose to match the bvh rig. If you see this, it means you have successfully re-targeted. IF you HIT the Re-target button, sometimes you will get errors or some funky results. It may even attempt to duplicate your rig in a funny strange way. To make sure all bones were re-targeted properly, go into pose mode and check. Any bone that was not re-targeted properly will remain grey. If this happens, you need to re-target those bones manually. Simply go to the constraints panel and add Rotation and location constraint.
If the Rig is your own that you have made, you can use the Re-target button. First remove the check mark next to the “advance” option and hit re-target and if you get strange results, then turn on the checkmark and retry again. If your getting strange errors and results it means that its working. instead of hitting the retarget button just keep an eye on your rig and keep checking and unchecking advance option. if your rig changes it’s pose to match the BVH rig then it worked! It was re-targeted successfully.
AFTER PARENTING MY RIG STARTED ACTING STRANGE…
If you attempt to play the animation your rig might suddenly disappear and start acting wild. to fix this, you need to go into pose mode and select the hip bone, go to the constraints panel and add “location” constraint. Rotation constraint will already be there.
Now try playing the animation…
BAKING THE BVH ANIMATION TO YOUR RIG…
5) You can now bake the animation to your rig. To bake, hit spacebar search for “bake action” enter start and end frame. check "clear constraints " and “Pose” deselect everything else then hit bake. Sometimes after baking, your rigs animation may not be as good as the bvh rig. if this happens, you will need to bake twice. The more times you bake the more accurate the information or data is copied to your rig. twice is good enough! No more! The second time baking you don’t need to copy location on the hip bone.
You can now delete the BVH rig!
MY MESH IS ALL MESSED-UP…
6) If your mesh appears all twisted, it’s Probably bone orientation issues. Or if you parent the mesh to your rig while it was not in the correct T-Pose position, it can cause the mesh to twist or look messed up. To fix this, just un-parent the mesh from the bone get the rig to the correct T-pose position and go to the pose menu and hit “Apply Pose as Rest pose” . Now parent the mesh to the Rig again.
WHEN SETTING-UP A RIG, NEVER MOVE IT IN EDIT MODE or OBJECT MODE !!!
Yea, I really mean it! Don’t move the rig in edit mode BUT! you are free to extrude extra bones if you need to. For example, if you use the rig from the bvh file to make your own rig, you can extrude extra toes or fingers, that’s OK. IF you move the mesh or the rig, then they won’t be able to find each other when your ready to parent.
TWEAKING YOUR ANIMATION…
Before tweaking your animation, always edit it down to only what you need and delete the rest.
If you want to change the way something looks, like the way the hand is twisted. Make the changes and insert “rotation” keyframe only for the changes you have made, any other may disrupt the animation.
I think I mentioned everything that I can remember. If you need anymore help just email me fockgooggle at gmail.com
PEOPLE I’M sorry if i made errors in this post am very tired.
Good WRITTEN tutorial BlenderBoy55. I will print it out and save it to a pdf so I can read thru it again and again. I spent the whole of last night trying to get various .bvh files to work based on benjycook’s youtube videos. None of them worked properly even when I used the same exact .bvh file he did in his tutorials from CMU
Blenderboy55. I have been struggling with some imported bvh files for the last two weeks. I got a few from Opensim.com that were made for use in second life, but those had some poses and animations that I really wanted. I also download a few from CMU and have some that are include with the program avimator. I have NEVER gotten past the mid point Benjy Cook’s first video tutorial. I read your last post in this thread and it sound like sound advise. I am going to try it over the next few days and let you know the results. I am still getting a jumbled and wildly displace “end user” armature I will try posting in this thread for advise or sending you a pm Thanks for all your help in advance.
My only solution for BVH & other mo-cap… Is that I have to use the armature the BHV comes with
Some mo-cap software comes with a premade armature. I suggest using that… Because renaming every bone is probably just as time consuming.
I made a bit of progress. I discovered, quite by mistake, that when you press the retarget button after manually adding bones of the enduser rig after you tell the addon to guess hierarchy that the “Advanced Retartget” checkbox right above the retarget button is automatically checked. If this button is checked the addon automatically adds a “stride bone” , gives that bone location fcurves and makes that bone the root of the end user rig. This is why in all other attempts that I made to retarget the enduser rig would disappear into the blender world space but the performer rig would stay put when I animated. Without that checkbox checked the enduser rig would perform the animations from the performer rig for the bones that the addon had guessed. Now I just need to go back and map the proper bones from the performer to the end user. I will let you know my progress. But just this small thing had gotten me father then I have been in weeks. And this is something not mentioned in all the videos that Benjy posted on youtube.
