Mechanim IK Problem

Thank you!

Hi.

We also saw the comments you left on Twitter. :)

(1) Of course, it can be made by combining FK and IK.

It entirely depends on your working style.

If you want to apply IK only to the legs, you only need to apply the IK Controller function to the leg bones.

(2) The following links are our manuals.

These contain most of the explanations you need.

- Getting Started: https://rainyrizzle.github.io/en/GettingStarted.html

- Manual: https://rainyrizzle.github.io/en/AdManual.html

- Script: https://rainyrizzle.github.io/en/Script.html

It also supports search function.

For IK, check out the links to the documentation that we gave you in the previous article. We think that explanation is sufficient.

(3) Resizing the location of keyframes is not supported.

We've never thought about this feature, but it looks pretty good.

But for now, you have to move the keyframes one by one.

We'll write this idea down in a work note and check it out.

Whether to apply until the next update will have to be decided in consideration of other issues and our schedule.

Thanks for the new idea.

Hello,

So 1.2.7 version is going to awesome! I checked your Twitter link and it looks awesome. I'm happy to listen my suggestions and develop AnyPortrait further. (Yeah, you guys deserve a vacation after this update xD)

And sorry for my wrong spelling, you're right, my animation is FK. I have checked a video on YouTube and it recommends to have IK on legs, have FK to arms. Is this possible to make on AnyPortrait? (He shows on 3Ds Max)

I would like to get IK documentation link for AnyPortrait. And I want all guide list link if possible.

Since I already did my animations FK, let it be like this. But I'm going to use IK on my next characters.

Here's the result with lots of keyframes:

It's not the efficient way...

I selected linear curve to remove shakiness. Other curves are shaky.

And I realized something. What happens if I want to extend or reduce animation time with keyframes?

I'm selecting every frame but I cannot drag them all to extend or reduce.

Let me show you what I'm talking about in After Effects.

If you select all keyframes and hold ALT button, you can extend or reduce keyframes to desired time/frame which is awesome.

Maybe you guys bring this feature in next update? :)

Thank you,

Gökdeniz Çetin

Hello, Gökdeniz Çetin.

Thanks for the detailed suggestions, including good attachments.

This feedback is very helpful for us to update the tool.

We're constantly checking for the Pin Tool you suggested, and we're seeing if there's a way to make it work with high performance in games.

And we also need to consider compatibility with AnyPortrait's system.

Anyway, unfortunately, this feature will be missing in the next update, but it may be added if it is determined that it does not affect performance significantly when added to the game.

(After Effect functions do not need to be played in runtime, but AnyPortrait must be able to be played in-game, so not all After Effect functions can be applied.)

Before answering the question, we would like to explain why the next update is being delayed.

Since the update to version 1.2.6 at the end of last year, we have received a lot of feedback from many users, including you, in a short period of time.

And those feedbacks were so important that it was difficult to prioritize.

So we decided to apply most of that lot of feedback to this update!!

For that reason, we have been working hard to develop a new version for several months.

(It's hard to work non-stop even on weekends. :-0)

Currently, development is nearing completion.

As of today, only 3 issues remain.

Over 50 issues with improvements and bug fixes will be available in the next update.

In particular, we gave a little hint through our Twitter account, and the "Automatic Mesh Generation" feature you mentioned is dramatically improved in the next version!

https://twitter.com/RainyRizzle/status/1346800284316487680

In addition, many improvements will be included, such as "Customizing shortcut keys", "Modifier Lock renewal", "Rotoscoping", "Editor UI renewal", and "In-game performance improvement".

In developing and preparing all of this, we are working on the longest restless work ever.

As early as March, at the latest in April, the new version will be updated.

(After this is done, our team may need to take a break.)

Now let's get back to your question.

Hmm... you used the FK method - as opposed to the IK method -, and we think that your animation is good!

With the IK Controller, you can attach the character's foot and legs to the ground, but then all other animations have to be modified as well.

Conversely, if you don't use IK, the only solution would be to refine the current animation a bit more elaborately.

It is recommended that you modify the interpolated pose of the animation by "adding more keyframes" to the leg and foot bones.

If not, let's use both methods above.

You can also apply the IK Controller only to the Death animation.

You can connect the "Control Parameter" to "IK Controller Weight".

For other animations, set the value of the Control Parameter corresponding to this weight to 0.

Set the IK Controller's Weight to 1 only during the Death animation. Then you will get the results you want.

How to connect the Control Parameter to the IK Controller is in the webpage that was previously announced.

https://rainyrizzle.github.io/en/AdvancedManual/AD_BoneIKController.html

Applying IK to create animations is not an easy task.

It may take some trial and error, but we hope to produce the results you want.

Thank you.

Hello,

Firstly sorry for my late response :c

I tried to use Onion Skin, however still it's not a exact tool I'm looking for. As you can see below, his legs shaking. I had to set multiple keyframes to fix his arm, yet it's still shaking. This method is not right imo because it's same thing as do it manually.

What should I do to make a proper animation in current 1.2.6 version?

Btw, we haven't see a new update for months. Is there any problem?

---

I know, I give my all examples on After Effects. I pretty much do everything with only 2 tools. Let me explain again, you may think to develop further AnyPortrait and bring these functions.

There's a tool called puppet tool. And here's subtools. I mostly use Puppet Position Pin Tool and Puppet Bend Pin Tool in my animations. I rarely use that Puppet Starch Pin Tool, but it's also required in some situations. I didn't use others, however you guys still check these.

Let me explain a bit.

1) Puppet Position Pin Tool (Yellow):

It creates automatic mesh vertex on the image. And you can adjust these with Expansion and Density.

Let's tick the Show button.

As you can see, there's verticles. No need do it manually. Super easy!

But as far as I've seen, expansion 147 is a bit too much. Let's reduce value to 55.

And let's see.

It's better now. Looks clean, but there are still lots of verticles. Since it's a simple character, we don't need much. And also to gain performance, let's reduce Density a bit.

Let's see how it looks.

Yeah, 2 is a bit too low, head mesh gone wrong. Something around 4-5 will be fine.

Why did I show you this?

- Let's be honest, AnyPortrait automatic vertex creation sucks. It only creates 4 edge and done. Done? No. We have to create all the verticles one by one manually. And it sucks our time a lot.

Did you see this method? It's super easy to make an animation in After Effects. I would like to bring this feature to AnyPortrait, so I can make my animations directly in AnyPortrait in a short time. But in current version, I spend lots of time, even in a non-detailed character which makes me sad. I like the AnyPortrait but I want it to be more enhanced, that's why I'm giving feedbacks.

Yellow pins (Position tool), it's kinda elasticy and looks smooth.

** secret ** This tool works very well on woman body, haha!

2) Puppet Bend Pin Tool (Brown color)

This tool only makes rotation.

3) Puppet Starch Pin Tool

It adds rigidity.

--

These pins are fixed if you don't move. I added pins to whole body included legs. But since I want it to be fixed legs, I'm not going to move leg pins but others. So his arms, body, head will move but legs won't. That's easy again.

I know rigging and IK etc. different than pins. But since this method is soo easy, you guys maybe think a more advanced feature that combines these features with bones or something. I don't know, I just make a suggestion.

Before, I was just telling these with text explations but I think this time it would better with image and video explanations.

---

Back to my questions, how should I fix these legs? I used IK in my animations. You also said weight but since this is not only death animations but also run, walk, jump etc.. doesn't it affect these animations too? This is why I didn't touch weight and tried to it with onion skin reference.

Thank you,

Gökdeniz Çetin

Hi!

Glad the previous answer was helpful.

You asked us a question about how to fix the position of the bone, and there are two ways of making it.

1. As a first way, to implement this functionally, try using "IK Controller".

The IK Controller is the "direct bone to an external location" feature we mentioned in the previous answer.

This feature is also often used when aiming the gun outward, but it is also used to lock the position of the foot on the ground.

A description of this feature can be found on the page below.

https://rainyrizzle.github.io/en/AdvancedManual/AD_BoneIKController.html

It will be helpful to use additional functions such as adjusting the weight of IK with the Control Parameter.

It's very complicated to use. We recommend that you read the manual page carefully.

2. The second way, you create a little more keyframes to create elaborate animations.

This may seem like a simple answer, but if you've already completed animations that don't use IK Controller, you can get the results you want by simply adding a little more keyframes to the existing animation rather than adding a new IK. .

In this case, the problem is simplified as you only need to know the "default position of the foot".

The feature we recommend here is "Onion Skin".

This function is to display the appearance at a specific keyframe on the screen.

You can use the Onion Skin to create a pose while viewing the basic position of the foot.

For a detailed explanation, please refer to the page below.

https://rainyrizzle.github.io/en/AdvancedManual/AD_Onion.html

(In your case, it would be better to use "Single Keyframe" type Onion Skin.)

Take a look at the answers and manuals above and choose the method that suits you to try.

In our opinion, method 2 is a little more recommended, but you can choose it to suit your working style.

If this doesn't solve the problem, please leave a comment.

Thank you.

Hello,

Thanks for your detailed explanations! I fixed the elbow problem (most of it xD), there's just a little bit left on right side, it's not big problem for me, since it's running animation it's hard to see in the game. Main issue solved with the Rigging, thanks to you.

But I want to ask something... I don't know how to fixed pin some bones. It's required for the dead animation. Not only that, I needed this one for a lot of time ago but since I don't know how, I had to do it manually unfortunately.

Death animation in my mind: The character will first fall on his knees, then his body will fall to the ground.

However, while the animation is being made, the position of the foot pins must remain fixed, only rotation will be. Here is how can I keep the original position for those foot bones? I couldn't see a button on AnyPotrait UI.

When you do it manually, it is not exactly right, it is different from its original place, so a tool is a must.

(Purple and Red bone on foot positions should stay same while rotation should possible)

Thank you,

Gökdeniz Çetin

Hi.

Thanks for the additional information.

There are several questions you have given us, so we will answer them one by one.

1. Animation issues in the in-game have not been confirmed by us yet.

When we check the images you have attached, it seems that there are Sub Mesh Groups, and there are also some "unconnected Arm bones".

Sub Mesh Groups can cause some problems when scaled, which we'll think about later in this case.

The problem we're thinking is, we don't know exactly what "Bone Arm1A, Bone Arm2_A, Bone Arm2_B, and Bone Arm1B" are, but these are not parent-child relationships.

If these bones are what makes up the arms, first of all, you must first connect the arm bones to each other in a parent-child relationship.

Let's continue to observe this problem after it's done first.

2. The second answer is about the "Elbow Problem" and "IK" you were talking about.

This is also related to our first answer, if you connect Arm Bones in a parent-child relationship, you don't need to use IK for "elbow" problems.

IK is recommended to be used, for example, to aim a gun at an external location.

The elbow problem seems to be related to "Rigging", not IK.

Currently, it seems that you have connected one bone to each of the meshes.

If you do that, you will have awkward results in the joints (like the elbows).

So, in the joint, you need to add weights for the other bones that are connected as well.

Our Rigging documentation will help.

Please check the documents below.

https://rainyrizzle.github.io/en/GettingStarted/GS_2_5.html

https://rainyrizzle.github.io/en/AdvancedManual/AD_Rigging.html

Also, if you are concerned about rigging parts that overlap with other meshes, the "Copy rigging weights to overlapped meshes" section introduced in the following document may be helpful.

https://rainyrizzle.github.io/en/AdvancedManual/AD_VariousRigging.html

As a result, let's reconsider this issue after you (1) connect the bones normally, and (2) set the rigging weights appropriately.

Since we have responded based on the images you have attached, we may not be able to pinpoint the cause of the problem.

Please check our answers once and leave a comment if the problem is not resolved.

Thank you.

Hello again,

I can't solve the problem so I activated parent bone again. This is what I mentioned in the first post. Since it's IK, it doesn't let me to move the arms a little bit down. Do you have any idea what should have to do in this situation?

My character animations are simple and it doesn't have a problem like this except Run animation. 90 degree rotate made the other arm piece visible.

Thank you,

Gökdeniz Çetin

Hello,

I disabled "Use Mechanim" and go into AnyPortrait, enabled AutoPlay. Problem still occurs. So it means it doesn't related to Mechanim but AnyPortrait?

These are my animations for this character.

AnyPortrait animation works fine, bake has no error. But ingame animation still weird. (only arms)

Hierarchy:

Why do you think the problem is caused?

I am waiting for your help! :)

Thank you,

Gökdeniz Çetin

Hi.

After reading your post, we tested IK and Mecanim similarly to yours.

Unfortunately, in our tests, even after IK was turned off, the animations played normally and we were unable to reproduce the problem you were experiencing.

We think this problem is likely not affected by IK, but by animation settings, Mecanim, or something else.

Since it worked fine within the AnyPortrait editor, this could have been a problem during the Bake process, or something wrong with Mecanim and Scene settings.

Please check the following cases and let us know if the problem is not resolved.

(1) Did an error occur during Bake? If an error occurs, you can check it in the Console tab.

(2) Are multiple animations nested in Mecanim, Animator? If you do not observe a few precautions when blending multiple layers, the animation may not work properly.

As a test, try playing the animation in a way that doesn't use Mecanim. Turn off the "Use Mecanim" item of apPortrait in the Inspector, turn off the "Animator component" and run the game. If the problem doesn't occur then this is Mecanim's problem.

Since the animation worked properly in the AnyPortrait editor, we are considering external factors first, but this may be a bug we haven't found, or it may be due to an unexpected cause.

If you give us additional information, we will be able to pinpoint this issue and fix it.

Thank you.