2008 rig actions files

[mtpeak2]

I've been looking into converting BVH files into actions. It's really not that difficult, so I'm hoping I'll be able to build up quite the collection. I've been using BVHacker to to modify the the BVH files for cycles. Then baking the action with the motion capture sequence and deleting all unnecessary bones from it. Once I have a handful of actions, I'll start posting them here on the forum.

 

Here's a test of a run action.

run_cycle.mov

[mtpeak2]

Here's a sneak cycle I'm working on. This is just the BVH at the moment, but it will look the same. Once I convert it to an action, I'll have a little cleanup on the action and it will be ready to go.

sneak.mov

[NancyGormezano]

I find it curious that his toes tend to flex downward, rather than up before the foot "plants" (happens in both actions)...I wonder if there is a reverse rotation going on with rig and bvh action in the toe bones?

[mtpeak2]

No it's not reversed, just bad BVH files. Most BVH files I've found don't even have the toe. Once converted to actions, you can adjust or delete the channels.

[Shelton]

This is excellent stuff Mark. I will be rigging again soon and want to get into the bvh files. I look forward to more on this from you. Thanks

 

Steve

[mtpeak2]

Here's a converted and cleaned up sneak cycle. This action is repeated twice in the chor.

sneak.mov

[steve392]

Thats a real good one Mark ,do you just save as action

[mtpeak2]

There's alot more to it than that Steve, but eventually I just save it as an action.

[steve392]

Thought there might be lol .I need to mail you to ask something Mark

[mtpeak2]

Sent you a reply Steve.

[steve392]

Thank's a lot Mark

[mtpeak2]

Experimented with blending actions, which I never done before, it's actually pretty easy.

blend.mov

[steve392]

That works well I allways have problems with that even without BVH

[mtpeak2]

These are just AM actions, no BVH files involved, I never tried blending with BVH files.

[steve392]

Do you do an inbetween action to go from one to the other or is that 2 actions

[mtpeak2]

2 actions. The run action is repeated the full length of the animation, the sneak action repeats for a certain amount in the middle of the animation, using a blend method of blend. Then I just keyframed the blend ratio (using zeo slope as the interpolation) to transition between the 2 actions.

[steve392]

Hell ,sounds easy ,not .Im gonna give that a go soon as this renders done ,cheers Mark

[mtpeak2]

Here's a zombie walk cycle, still needs cleanup on the animation. I have a problem though, the legs are animated in FK, which works well with different sized models, except for the toes. They tend to rotate on the Z axis randomly, depending on the model. I can convert the FK leg animation to IK legs, but when using IK, the size of the model becomes an issue (stride length), but there is no toe issue.

 

On another note, BVHacker is awesome. It allows you to modify the file to your needs. For example, walk BVH files are usually movement from one point to another. In BVHacker you can clamp down on the forward movement to have the motion stay in one spot. Then you can crop the cycle for the start and finish of the cycle and "knit" it together to make it loop.

 

For those who are interested, here's the cycle repeated 4 times in the chor.

zombie_walk.mov

[Animus]

Great idea!

All those actions work good.

 

Michel

[mtpeak2]

I thought so too, but I'm guessing that there isn't much interest in it though.

[itsjustme]

I think it's a great idea, Mark!

[Rodney]

Whoa! I'm reading this topic now... trying to catch up.

That is extremely smooth action blending in Post#12. Nice!

 

I downloaded the various BVH programs, installed/made sure they worked, but I've yet to have the chance to play with them.

Yet another thing added to the Todo list.

 

Not a fan of the zombie walk... reminds me too much of my animation! hehe.

[Shelton]

Keep going Mark

 

I just got to get something rigged so I can play as well

 

Steve

[steve392]

Been trying that blending but can't get anywhere neer that One seems to mess the other up

[mtpeak2]

Are you try to blend the actions with the BVH? This is going to be difficult because the second BVH needs to start where the first one left off.

[steve392]

No not got that comlicated yet ,I have a walk made in the action and added to the chor repeat 10 times from 0 to 320 then I want to add or blend another action say from frame 60 to 230 .I tryd to put it in with blend on but it seems to runn and then the walk after it just goese wonky and don't carry on

[mtpeak2]

Send me a project and I'll take a look to see what's up.

[steve392]

Sent ,Cheers Mark

[steve392]

Thank's Mark that explains a lot and makes it usable ,even for me

[ernesttx]

Hey Mark, just ran across this topic. Very nice work. I was wanting to go down this path myself and have experimented with a few methods, but never found a workflow that was easy. I am trying to create small reusable ACT files from BVH, kind of like snippets of motion.

 

Would you mind sharing your steps for converting BVH to ACT file? You mention at the first that you "Then baking the action with the motion capture sequence and deleting all unnecessary bones from it." I'm unfamiliar with the "baking" process and how that goes.

 

Thanks for any help you can provide and look forward to seeing more.

[mtpeak2]

Sorry for the late reply Ernest.

 

I modify the BVH in BVHacker, cropping the motion and/or looping it as needed. I then setup an action (constrain rig to BVH, I have a pose setup for this) and capture the sequence for the BVH. Then on the main menu I select "action>bake". This creates a new action file with the constraints removed. You'll have to delete all the bones that were keyframed that are not necessary for the animation (delete all bones that were not constrained to the BVH). Then it's just a matter of cleaning up the keyframes.

[ernesttx]

hey thanks mtpeak2, I walked through what you are stating. However, when I go to the Main Menu (the one at the top of the screen?), I'm only getting the first frame in a new Action (Baked) file. Not sure what I would need to highlight (if anything) in the PWS. Would you be able to shed any light with more steps?

 

Thanks again.

 

*** Addition: I think the step I'm missing is when you state "...and capture the sequence for the BVH."

 

These are the steps I'm doing:

1. Import model

2. Create new Action

3. Import BVH sequence

4. Constrain to rig

5. Highlight Action 1 (the New Action) in the PWS

6. In Main Menu (at the top of the screen/window), select Bake Action (remove constraints)

7. New Action is created

 

**** Second Addition: I'm not sure this is how it works for you. But, after constraining the rig, I have to Save the Action. Then, after saving, I can choose Action>Bake and all the keyframes come into a new Action File.

Thanks as always.

[mtpeak2]

Oops, force a keyframe on the whole model (not sure if the whole model is necessary), on the last frame, before baking the action. I forget to do this all the time.

[ernesttx]

Started working on this workflow last night and everything is working great. Thanks again for your help mtpeak2. I'll try to have something posted up tonight. I have to work with the BVH files to have cyclical actions work a little better; ie. walk cycles and such. For the other actions types, it should be fine.

 

I had to relearn blending actions; as I hadn't used that much in my production of Subject 99. But, blending worked well, too.

 

The hard part will be breaking up the BVH files into smaller snippets and then seeing if blending will work there. I don't forsee any problems, just have to tweak the BVH files. I really like your zombie video. Hmmm I have zombies in another movie I am working on.

[mtpeak2]

The BVHacker has some good features to it. For cycles you can "knit" the action, which makes the first and last frame the same for looping actions and set the start and stop of the action. You can also lock down the X,Y or Z rotation or translation of any of the bones.