9

Converting Between Footstep and Freeform Animations 885
Conver t ing B et ween Foots tep and
Fr e efo rm A n i mat ion s
There might be times when you wan t to convert
a footstep animation to a freeform animation, or
vice versa. This can occur when someone gives
you an animation file that’s animated in one mode,
while you prefer to work in t h e other.
Animators tend to develop a preference for either
freeform or footstep animation. The ability to
convert between the two means you can work in
either format without concern for compatibility
with other artists.
Using the Convert tool on the Motion panel
> Biped rollout (page 2–936), you can convert
between footstep and freeform ani mation.
There are no special considerations when
converting from footsteps to freeform; this
procedure works for all footstep sequences.
However , to convert successfully from freeform
to footstep animation, you must observe certain
rules in order for footsteps to be generated.
Conver t ing f r om Freef or m to Foots teps
When converting from freeform to footsteps,
footsteps are generated for a foot only during
periods betwe en two planted keys. In other words,
the conversion process looks for times when a
foot has two consecutive, ident ical keys with an IK
Blend setting of 1 and Object space selected. In this
case, a footstep icon is placed at the foot’s location,
w ith the duration of the footstep set by the time
between the two identical keys. This is the only
condition under which foosteps are generated.
If converting freeform animation to footsteps
does not create the expected result, your freeform
animation might need adjustment prior to
conv ersion. See U sing IK Keyframe P arameters
(page 2–900) for information on setting freeform
planted keys.
If your freeform motion hasn’t been prepared
w ith planted keys for convert i ng to footsteps,
youcanconvertittofootstepsbyloadingitasa
motion capture file and specify ing footsteps as
the extraction method. This technique uses a
different method to determine footstep location
and duration, and so can sometimes successfully
convert to footsteps where the Conver t command
cannot. See Importing Motion-Capture Data (page
2–1061).
Procedure
To conver t between footsteps a nd f r eefor m
animation:
1.
On the Motion panel > Biped rollout,
click Con vert.
Depending on which is the current animation
method, either the Convert to Freeform dialog
(page 2–999) or the Convert to Footsteps dialog
(page 2–999) appears.
2. Change settings in the dialog as necessary, and
click OK.
If you’re convert ing to f reeform animation,
the footstep patterns a re remove d from the
viewport, gravit y and dynamics are removed,
and footstep mode is disabled. You are now
working with a purely freeform animation.
If you’re converting to footsteps, and the
operation is successful, footsteps appear in
the viewport, biped dynamics (page 3–916) is
turned on, and Footstep mode is enabled.