Anime Studio 10 Webinar Follow-Up Questions

[dkwroot]

First off Poser Debut does not have some of the features you are asking about.
Anime Studio Pro 10 does support Poser figures that have been weight mapped. It does support Bullet physics, Cloth simulations, etc..
It does support strand based hair, but does not preview it. So some details of the Poser scene like this do render, but don't preview.
It does not support Poser cameras or lighting.

It does not transfer the motions, it actually hosts the Poser scene in Anime Studio. The Anime Studio Camera works from center of scene, so scenes with rooms and walls can present some navigation problems. Single animated characters work best in my experience. Just keep in mind that Anime Studio Pro is hosting the Poser scene , so if you have a scene that has 3-4 or more figures it can get cumbersome. Also duplicating the Poser layer multiple times in Anime Studio can slow things down too.

When you host the Poser scene, you will see that the style is a shaded style that is similar, but slightly different than the Poser in app preview. It is not of the detail and quality of the Firefly render. Under layer settings for the Poser layer you can edit the style under the 3D tab and adjust shading styles. Also the Styles line width and color will apply to the Poser layer if you want. There is actually quite a bit of varied style you can get, with some editing and tweaking of parameters in either Anime Studio or in Poser. Keep in mind too that the default fps in Poser is 30 and in Anime Studio it is 24.

Happy Animating.

That's really strange, because I don't see where the animation channel is storing movement. For example, I did a walk cycle in poser and then imported my character. I then deleted all animation in my document, but my character was still walking...

Here is another question: Is the GPU accelerated rendering bias to CUDA or does it work with Radeon?

It uses standard OpenGL functionality, so it's not specific to any brand of GPU.

Awesome!!!! You just made NVIDIA shed a tear right there. Seriously, I'm so fed up with the CUDA supremacy and I have to praise every company that goes unbias. You guys really sold me on this product, so I went ahead and bought the Pro Version of Poser.

[Distinct Sun]

That's really strange, because I don't see where the animation channel is storing movement. For example, I did a walk cycle in poser and then imported my character. I then deleted all animation in my document, but my character was still walking...

Awesome!!!! You just made NVIDIA shed a tear right there. Seriously, I'm so fed up with the CUDA supremacy and I have to praise every company that goes unbias. You guys really sold me on this product, so I went ahead and bought the Pro Version of Poser.

Yes, when you import a Poser scene, you will not see any animation keyframes in Anime Studio. They are all in the poser scene. The ones you will see in Anime Studio are based on adjustments you make in AS after importing, like scaling the layer or shifting it in z-depth or opacity, etc.. This kind of goes back the concept of hosting the Poser scene.

Have fun with Poser Pro and Anime Studio Pro

[Distinct Sun]

I noticed while rendering a Poser scene in an Anime Studio file that I was only seeing one processor being used? I usually get all 4. I suppose this might have to do with accessing the Poser file during rendering?

yes unfortunately it is only using 1 thread when rendering an Anime Studio Scene with imported Poser scenes. You might want to use batch render to offload this render as it will take a little bit longer.

[exile]

Thanks for posting the files, some fascinating stuff. In the frame zero rig file with Mr. Bean, I noticed the walk was done without any movement of the bone layer, usually this layer is moved across the screen in tutorials on creating a walk. I take it the character was moved by the leg target bones and plopped into place on each step. Is the old way of programming walks obsolete? If so, a new tutorial on walks would be much appreciated.

Another interesting thing for me was the variable width shape that could be moved by lines - great for squishy characters, but how was the figure constructed and rigged?

Thanks,
Steve

[wizaerd]

Thanks for posting the files, some fascinating stuff. In the frame zero rig file with Mr. Bean, I noticed the walk was done without any movement of the bone layer, usually this layer is moved across the screen in tutorials on creating a walk. I take it the character was moved by the leg target bones and plopped into place on each step. Is the old way of programming walks obsolete? If so, a new tutorial on walks would be much appreciated.

Another interesting thing for me was the variable width shape that could be moved by lines - great for squishy characters, but how was the figure constructed and rigged?

Thanks,
Steve

First, the variable width shaped character, in the webinar video he shows exactly how that character was made. I can't remember the specifics of it, but draw a line for an arm or leg, create a shape out of it, duplicate the line/shape, make it's stroke width a bit bigger and send it to the back Then when you move it towards the body (which was created the exact same way) the yellow forefront merges with the body, and the outline merges with the outline. Animate the points to animate the character. Again, watch the webinar. The presenters actually answer this as a question toward the end, and show it with a bit more detail.

[EDIT]
I went back and watched the webinar, and it's not really a duplicated shape, it's two shapes created from the same line. In the Webinar, adroun 51:56 they start, show it created at 52:57, then again at 1:18:23...


As for the walk cycle... There is no standard way of anything really. There are so many different ways to animate a character, choose the methodology that best works for your current situation. Just because they chose a particular way to do it in these samples does not mean you have to do it this way, nor does it define it as a "standard". If you want to create a cycle action and translate the bone layer, go for it. Again, there is no right or wrong way, or even standard way.

[exile]

Thanks for your patience, wizaerd, and for even giving the times. It's good to watch portions of these things repeatedly. I was able to construct a non-vertebrate sea creature from the instructions in the webinar. A nice thing to have in one's bag of tricks.

What you say about walks is certainly true for advanced users. Nothing can replace experimentation, but I've seen some good tutorials on walk cycles with every new version of AS that help jump-start anyone eager to get to the next level. So if you achieve the ultimate breakthrough let me know.

Steve

[wizaerd]

Thanks for your patience, wizaerd, and for even giving the times. It's good to watch portions of these things repeatedly. I was able to construct a non-vertebrate sea creature from the instructions in the webinar. A nice thing to have in one's bag of tricks.

What you say about walks is certainly true for advanced users. Nothing can replace experimentation, but I've seen some good tutorials on walk cycles with every new version of AS that help jump-start anyone eager to get to the next level. So if you achieve the ultimate breakthrough let me know.

Steve

With the new bone constraints, and the Target bones, I like the walking animation from the webinar sample, Mr. Bean. It depends though, oh how far the walk is going to be, how many times is it going to be re-used. Controlling it simply, as in the Mr Bean example would allow for a greater amount of variance and detail, but I wouldn't use this method if you're character is going to be doing a lot of walking, where a cycle would be more appropriate. Unfortunately the thing about a cycle, even a well done cycle, would eventually look repetitious. But again, it really depends on the scene.

[exile]

With the new bone constraints, and the Target bones, I like the walking animation from the webinar sample, Mr. Bean. It depends though, oh how far the walk is going to be, how many times is it going to be re-used. Controlling it simply, as in the Mr Bean example would allow for a greater amount of variance and detail, but I wouldn't use this method if you're character is going to be doing a lot of walking, where a cycle would be more appropriate. Unfortunately the thing about a cycle, even a well done cycle, would eventually look repetitious. But again, it really depends on the scene.

It's back to the grindstone - in case you're interested, I've just uploaded a 6-second video to Vimeo, it will take a couple of hours to convert: https://vimeo.com/88810466

The idea was to use a cycle, interrupt it and restart it with reasonable credible transitions. It's ok for a goofy character, but I'm looking for ways to improve. I used target bones and independent angles (like in the webinar where only bones were visible). But they weren't as well-positioned as Mr. Bean's, so maybe the next round will be better.

[wizaerd]

With the new bone constraints, and the Target bones, I like the walking animation from the webinar sample, Mr. Bean. It depends though, oh how far the walk is going to be, how many times is it going to be re-used. Controlling it simply, as in the Mr Bean example would allow for a greater amount of variance and detail, but I wouldn't use this method if you're character is going to be doing a lot of walking, where a cycle would be more appropriate. Unfortunately the thing about a cycle, even a well done cycle, would eventually look repetitious. But again, it really depends on the scene.

It's back to the grindstone - in case you're interested, I've just uploaded a 6-second video to Vimeo, it will take a couple of hours to convert: https://vimeo.com/88810466

The idea was to use a cycle, interrupt it and restart it with reasonable credible transitions. It's ok for a goofy character, but I'm looking for ways to improve. I used target bones and independent angles (like in the webinar where only bones were visible). But they weren't as well-positioned as Mr. Bean's, so maybe the next round will be better.

Sorry I didn't get back with you yesterday, things got a bit hectic. Anyways, as to your clip. You said you did this with a cycle? So you used target bones, and combined the methodology of Mr Bean with a cycle? SO in the end, you also use layer translation?

[exile]

Sorry I didn't get back with you yesterday, things got a bit hectic. Anyways, as to your clip. You said you did this with a cycle? So you used target bones, and combined the methodology of Mr Bean with a cycle? SO in the end, you also use layer translation?

I might have to cut your salary if you don't answer faster.

Attempts without layer translation have looked more awkward than with so far. So you could say the target bones and the angle controls on the feet helped stabilize the walk a bit but we're not in a new era yet. The Mr. Bean technique seems to be best for a character who sneaks up on another one.

I tried inserting a cycle walk into a smart bone as Selgin did in one of his videos. The cycling didn't work for some reason, I had to copy frames until I had 8 steps. Selgin could turn the bone around and around, for some reason my action stopped after two steps until I copied more frames. The smart bone affects the speed of the walk, which opens interesting possibilities but makes it harder to control. I tried step by step layer translation using onion skins to get the feet to land on target, but the more little steps I put into motions, the more they balk. Sometimes you can try too hard.

[Droxon]

Did you guys remove some features to the select shape tool? (Q)

In 9.5 i was able to copy the attributes of a shape with shift and i was able to transfer the colors to the selected shape with alt.

[Stefanimator]

Hello I just downloaded AS Pro 10. I am trying out the Preview Animation. When I want to render I get a pop-Up of iFlicks?
Do you need iFlicks to render your animation now? Or can you adjust it in the settings?

[exile]

Hello I just downloaded AS Pro 10. I am trying out the Preview Animation. When I want to render I get a pop-Up of iFlicks?
Do you need iFlicks to render your animation now? Or can you adjust it in the settings?

Hi Stefanimator,
Windows or Mac? With my Win 7 system, the render is displayed in my standard media player, just like the exported animation. The preview is interesting because it shows bones (unless you uncheck the box and hide them) and the area outside the stage.

Could it be that iFlicks registered itself as your standard player for mp4 files?

[Stefanimator]

I am on a Mac. I got another issue and error with another mp4 rendering telling that it was dedicated to After Effects only.
I will see how I can fix it in the settings of iFlicks and After effects.
Thanks for the tip!

[CartoonM!ke]

I am on a Mac. I got another issue and error with another mp4 rendering telling that it was dedicated to After Effects only.
I will see how I can fix it in the settings of iFlicks and After effects.
Thanks for the tip!

Had the same issue, but go to any .mp4 file and right click to get the contextual menu, select Get Info (or command-I). In the info window, near the bottom of the window, there's a section that says "Open with…" -- on the drop-down menu, there's all the apps that can open that particular file. The one at the top is the "default" app, select your MP4 viewer of choice (I like VLC, myself). Then look at the bottom of this section, there's a button that says "change all…" Click that. And confirm that yes, you really want to use this app to open all files with this extension.

I had the AfterEffects dialog, but I was exporting as a m4v file, so I just make sure that my renders are in MP4.