Animation export and motion transfer

Revision as of 22:38, 11 March 2011

Use “File->Export Animation” menu item to export all animation frames from within Region of Interest.

To export animation for specific take, right-click on take and select “Export Animation” item from pop-up menu.

Default iPi Character Rig

The default skeleton in iPi Studio is optimized for markerless motion capture. It may or may not be suitable as a skeleton for your character. Default iPi skeleton in T-pose has non-zero rotations for all joints. Please note that default iPi skeleton with zero rotations does not represent a meaningful pose and looks like a random pile of bones.

Default rig

Bone names

By default iPi Studio exports a T-pose (or a reasonable default pose for custom rig after motion transfer) in the first frame of animation. In case when it is not desired switch off "Export T-pose in first frame" checkbox.

Motion Transfer and Custom Rigs

iPi Studio has integrated motion transfer technology. You can import your character into iPi Studio via “File->Import Target Character” menu item and your motion will be transferred to your character. You may need to assign bone mappings on the “Export” tab for motion transfer to work correctly. You can save your motion transfer profile to XML file for future use. iPi Studio has pre-configured motion transfer profiles for many popular rigs (see below).

MotionBuilder

Use the “Export Animation for MotionBuilder” menu item to export your motion in MotionBuilder-friendly BVH format. MotionBuilder-friendly skeleton in T-pose has zero rotations for all joints, with bone names consistent with MotionBuilder conventions. This format may also be convenient for use with other apps like Blender.

3D MAX Biped

Use the “Export Animation for 3D MAX” menu item to export your motion in 3D MAX-friendly BVH format.

Create a Biped character in 3D MAX (“Create->Systems->Biped”). Go to “Motion” tab. Click “Motion Capture” button and import your BVH file.

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Our user Cra0kalo created an example Valve Biped rig for use with 3D MAX. It may be useful if you work with Valve Source Engine characters.

Maya

Latest versions of Maya (starting with Maya 2011) have a powerful biped animation subsystem called "HumanIK". Animations exported from iPiStudio in MotionBuilder-friendly format should work fine with HumanIK. For older versions of Maya please see the #Motion Transfer and Custom Rigs section.

COLLADA

iPi Studio supports COLLADA format for import/export of animations and characters. Current version of iPi Studio exports COLLADA animations as matrices. In case if you encounter incompatibilities with other applications' implementation of COLLADA format, we recommend using Autodesk's free FBX Converter to convert your data between FBX and COLLADA formats. FBX is known to be more universally supported in many 3D graphics packages.

FBX

Current version of iPi Studio does not support FBX format, but you can use Autodesk's free FBX Converter to convert your data between FBX and COLLADA format. COLLADA is fully supported in iPi Studio and many other 3D graphics applications. COLLADA has similar features to FBX.

LightWave

Recommended format for importing target characters from LightWave to iPi Studio is COLLADA. Recommended format for bringing animations from iPi Studio to LightWave is BVH. In case if you encounter incompatibilities during import/export we recommend using Autodesk's free FBX Converter to convert your data between FBX and COLLADA formats.

Poser

Export your poser character in T-pose in BVH format (File->Export). Import your Poser character skeleton into iPi Studio (File->Import Target Character). Your animation will be transferred to your Poser character. Now you can use File->Export Animation to export your animation in BVH format for Poser.

Poser 8 has a bug with incorrect wrists animation import. The bug can be reproduced as follows: export Poser 8 character in T-pose in BVH format; import your character back into Poser 8; note how wrists are twisted unnaturally as the result.

A workaround for wrists bug is to chop off wrists from your Poser 8 skeleton (for instance using BVHacker) before importing Poser 8 target character into iPi Studio. Missing wrists should not cause any problems during motion transfer in iPi Studio if your BVH file is edited correctly. Poser will ignore missing wrists when importing resulting motion so the resulting motion will look right in Poser (wrists in default pose as expected).

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DAZ 3D

The workflow for DAZ 3D is very similar to Poser. Import your DAZ 3D character skeleton into iPi Studio (File->Import Target Character). Your animation will be transferred to your DAZ 3D character. Now you can use File->Export Animation to export your animation in BVH format for DAZ 3D.

You can improve accuracy of motion transfer by doing some additional preparation of your DAZ 3D skeleton in BVH format. For DAZ 3D Michael 4.0 and similar characters, you may need to clamp thigh joint rotation to zero to avoid unnatural leg bending. For DAZ 3D Victoria 4.0, you may need to adjust foot joint rotation to change the default “high heels“ foot pose to a more natural foot pose.

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iClone

Current version of iPi Studio can only export animation in iClone-compatible BVH format. The iMotion format is not supported as of yet. That means you will need iClone PRO to be able to import the motion into iClone. Standard and EX versions of iClone do not have BVH Converter and therefore cannot import BVH files.

Workflow for iClone is straightforward. Export your animation using “Export Animation for iClone” menu item. Go to Animation tab in iClone and launch BVH Converter. Import your BVH file with Default profile, click “Convert” and save the resulting animation in iMotion format. Now your animation can be applied to iClone characters.

iClone expects an animation sampled at 15 frames per seconds. For other frame rates, you may need to create a custom BVH Converter profile by copying Default profile and editing “Frame Rate” setting.

BVH Converted in iClone 4 has a bug that causes distortion of legs animation. iPi Studio exports an iClone-optimized BVH correctly as can be verified by reviewing exported BVH motion in BVHacker or MotionBuilder or other third-party application. No workaround is known. We recommend that you contact iClone developers about this bug as it is out of control of iPi Soft.

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Animeeple

When importing motions into Animeeple, you may need to do the following adjustments:

• Click “Set first frame” on the “TPose” tab in import dialog.
• Assign bone mappings on the “Bones” tab:

• Set the scale to 0.01 on the “Size” tab (by default, iPi Studio exports translations in centimeters for BVH files, while Animeeple expects translations in meters).
• Set “Root position: Y:” to a correct value on the “TPose” tab, or click “Drop to floor”.

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Valve Source Engine SMD

Import .smd file for your Valve Source Engine character into iPi Studio via “File->Import Target Character” menu item. Your animation will be transferred to your character. Now you can use File->Export Animation to export your animation in Valve Source Engine SMD format.

Our user Cra0kalo created an example Valve Biped rig for use with 3D MAX. It may be useful if you wish to apply more then one capture through MotionBuilder or edit the custom keyframes in MAX.

Blender

Our user radiac published a tutorial about bringing animations to Blender:

Tutorial - iPi Export bvh-file in Blender

Evolver

iPi Studio supports importing of skinned Evolver characters in COLLADA format. Import your Evolver character skeleton into iPi Studio (File->Import Target Character). Your animation will be retargeted to your Evolver character. Now you can use File->Export Animation to export your animation.

Evolver offers several different skeletons for Evolver characters. Here is an example motion transfer profile for Evolver "Gaming" skeleton: evolver_game.profile.xml