8

Working with the Workbench 857
Freeform Animation
It is left to you to create all the keys in a freeform
animation; Biped Dynamics is not active and does
not recalculate body posit ion. Balance Factor
is active in a freeform animation. A completely
freeform animation contains no footsteps.
To start an entirely freeform animation, simply
create a biped and begin keyframing.
Note: Once you initiate a freeform animation, you
cannot add footsteps to it in Footstep mode. You
can, however, convert y our freeform animation to
a footstep animation using Convert on the Biped
rollout.
You will often want a freeform period in a footstep
sequence; for a walk then fall type of motion for
example. In cases like this, a freeform period
is specified between footsteps in Track View
using the
Footstep Mode dialog (page 2–853) .A
combination of f ootsteps and freeform is often
required when motion capture data is imported.
Afreeformperiodiscreatedusingcontrolsin
the Footstep Mode d ialog a nd display as a yellow
boxes between footsteps in Tr ack View.
Right-clickthefootsteptracktodisplaythe
Footstep Mode dialog; here you specify a freeform
period, select multiple footstep edges, and set
footstep numbering display options.
Usi ng t he Wor kbench
Working with the Work bench
The Workbench is a customized version of Track
View that you use for correcting and improving
biped animation. It extends the functionality
of existing curve editors by giving you different
options for visualizing and manipulating curves,
and provides filters to perform general rotation,
position and other biped-specific operations.
Curves can be analyzed for error conditions and
filters applied to the identified keyframes, or
selected biped tracks can be filtered to generally
improve the motion of a track without errors.
See also
Navigating the Workbench (page 2–858)
Wo rkb ench Workflow
Here are the overall steps you would follow to
use the Workbench to analyze and fix a biped for
problems
1. Create your animation and play it. Visually
note anything that jumps out at you as being
wrong or incorrect.
2. With t he biped selected in the viewport, open
the Workbench by clicking the Workbench
button in the Biped Apps rollout on the Motion
panel.
3. Select the biped body part that seems to have
the problem. You can select it in the viewpor t,
or from the list in the Select panel.
Be aware that some biped objects share tracks.
For example, all the objects in a leg or an arm
share a single track.
4. On the Analyze panel, choose an analyzer from
the d rop-dow n list. Set the analysis conditions,
then click Analyze. Any errors the analyzer
encounters wil l be displayed in a list at the
bottom of the Analyze panel. The Curve view
also indicates the problem area by displaying
averticalbar.
5. On the Fix panel, select the errors you want
to fix. Select the filter for the fix, adjust its
parameters, and then click Fix Selected. You
can select the errors one at a time, or in any
combinat ion. You can sort the errors by t ime