8

Understanding character studio Workflow 699
then adjust the biped keyframes and footsteps
individually.
When using footsteps,
biped dynamics (page
3–1010)
helps you by simulating grav ity and
balance.
• Gravitycanhelpinajumpingmotionto
accelerate a character during the falling period
andtobendthelegsnaturallyonlanding.
• Balance adjusts a character’s position when
the spine is rotated and keyframed to retain a
character’s balance.
• Dynamics can be tur ned off on a per-key basis
or for the entire animation. The animator can
override center of mass keyframes created
usingDynamicscalculationatanytime.Simply
set t he dy nam ic prop e rties of these keys or
choose
Spline Dynamics (page 3–1109) for keys
generated by newly created footsteps.
Conver t B etween A nima ti on Types
Once you are satisfied with a particular footstep
animation and its corresponding dynamic
behavior, you can
convert it (page 2–742) to
a freeform animation consisting of a simple
combination of keyf r ames and IK goals. This
intelligent conversion gives you control of
animation behavior at every frame, for every joint
of the character.
Use Layers to Apply Global Changes
Animation layers (page 3–1004) offer you a
powerful tool for introducing global changes to
an existing character animation. For example, by
adding a layer on top of an existing run motion,
and creating a single keyframe with the biped’s
spine rotated forward, an upright r unning motion
can be turned into a crouched ru n. Layered
changes c an b e stacked up, allowing you to refine
your motion composition and eventual ly collapse
your layers into a standard non-layered key frame
animation.
Use I n P la ce Mode to Cont rol the View
In Place Mode (page 2–785) is a tool that lets
you keep your biped in view during animation
playback. It offers a convenient way of adjusting
and adding keyframes to a character without
constantly changing your view to follow the
character’s motion.
Impor t Motion Capture Files
Motion capture files can be imp or ted from the
BVHorCSMformats,edited,andsavedasBIP
files. These fi les can b e imported with or without
footsteps and dynamics and can be combined in
Motion Flow mode with other animations.
You can use the supplied motion capture samples
as is or adjust them to suit your needs using
Biped’s collection of animation tools. The ability
to import motion capture marker files directly into
character studio using the CSM file elim inates
much of the cost of post-processing optical motion
capture data. You can import motion capture fi les
with an additional prop bone, to define the motion
of an object such as a sword or club.
You c an also import HTR/HTR2 motion
capture files (page 3–624)
,aswellas TRC files
(page 3–626)
.
MotionCapturefilescanbeimportedwithkey
reduction, mak ing for more manageable t racks for
subsequent editing.
UseTrackViewforKeyframeEditing
Track View (p age 2–855) allows you to edit keys
and footsteps relative to the animation time line.
Footstep editing in Track View - Dope Sheet
allows you to move footsteps in t ime. If you need
a character to jump higher between footsteps,
move the landing footsteps further down in t ime;
dynamics automat ically compensate by making
the character jump higher to keep it airborne
longer.