Cineversity

Hi folks,
I have rigged a character using the advanced biped template tool and during my clean up stage I want to get rid of subtle “pops” in the arm and legs ( knees). I am an Animation Mentor and Ianimate alumni and in their rigs, there where controllers to stretch out the legs and arms to carefully smooth out the pops in my animation.
I know that Cactus Dan’s CA plugin, I was able to select the joint and scale it up slightly and that seemed to help, but for the life of me I’m not able to actually pin point the actual joint and scale it up if my character has been rigged with C4D r17 native advanced biped template tool…even after I make the whole rig editable ( sorry if I sound like a noob).
I am not a rigger and I find C4D’s advanced biped template a God send and would love to hear if anyone has an answer for me.
Thanks
Rodrigo

HI Rodrigo,

I have answered in the tutorial suggestion thread just a few minutes ago. Was this a question and/or a tutorial request?

The main suggestion would be to find out why it “pops”. I don’t think the given scale is the reason, but that is just a wild guess, It would require a scene-file.

Perhaps, send file to the support, if that seems to be an application problem:

http://www.maxon.net/support/support-questions.html

All the best

Thank you Dr. Sassi,
The “pop” always occurs during animation. For example when a character is walking, there maybe a frame or two when the knee will slightly move too much because the leg in frame 1 maybe fully extended and frame 2 the knee baby bent but a bit too much causing it to visually pop ( it has nothing to do with the rig). In the final stages of animation polishing, and animator will ( should ) look at all of the limbs, knees, elbows, nose , hips, etc. and track the arcs that the body makes and frame by frame smooth them out. This is what a professional animation studio requires of its animators, and is on of the 12 principles of animation…proper arcs. In most profession rigs, there usually is a controller in the feet ( legs) and hands ( arms) that enable you to scale out the limb so that from frame to frame you can smooth out the transition, this i usually in the VERY last polishing stages.

Rodrigo,

Perhaps “pop” is one of these un-defined terms, which leaves a lot of interpretation open.
Pop, as I understood it in your questions, appears like a “switch” in position, as in Euler Angle problems.
MaxonC4D has discussed walk cycles here [i guess this is the effect you are after 1:08:00]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8lkNz_gBJk&list=PLC57D98597A0B7DD0&index=2
I guess you exclude here the work on curves as tool. Which leaves me with this:

One of the instructors here was at Animation Mentors many years ago, and is now since long at Disney. As he was a leading part in the development of this Character Rig, he might be able to advice you of how to work with it on a Top Studio Level. First Hand Information. I have nothing but admiration and respect about his expertise. I have send him an PM and hope he can share some of his excellent knowledge here, thanks for your patience until the reply.

My best wishes

I’d reckon using the bendy leg controls to lengthen the legs as needed to fix the popping. If you didn’t use the bendy leg version, then it may not be possible, I’m afraid. You’d have to do it by lowering the hips or raising the leg.

Thank you very much, Bret! :o)

It is great to know, and I love your first hand information.

My best wishes.

Thank Mr Bays and Dr Sassi. using the bendy arms and legs make sense. I will have to re- rig the character and test it out. I am a fan of yours and I am excited for the completion of The Ottoman. say hi to Dimos ( he was my mentor for class 3 ).
thank you very much.
Rodrigo

Dr Sassi, I viewed the video link you provided at 1 hr 8min and that was exactly what I was talking about. This maybe too ask for, but is there a way ( tutorial) in adding a squash/ stretch control on the advanced biped template leg?

Thank you very much for the feedback, Rodrigo.

Since both, Bret and Kai, have created a huge collection of Character Animation material, I never dived so deeply into it. Hence why I asked Bret to stop by, and I’m grateful he did. Kai as well as Bret had obviously a great time at Animation Mentors, something that is sadly not in my budget currently. I wish I had all the fine details as well, that this course delivers.

Yes, the link is very detailed. Since my faux-pas with the term Pop (I looked up your website, and I assumed that you as an Art Director would have used the term more casual. Sorry, about… We have such a wide variety of members here, that I often check first, to understand the question more in depth, doesn’t work always obviously)

Anyway, to answer your question, Bret has created a very detailed series of how to set up your own template:
http://www.cineversity.com/vidplaytut/creating_a_custom_template_part_01

The beauty of doing it on your own, you really own it, in terms of what you can change and how. Even I wrote Ph.D. about Computer animation, I found the huge amount of parts in these templates overwhelming. My idea is, that doing your own takes that feeling out of the equation.

Please feel free to suggest any tutorial you think is useful. If it is perhaps too special, a 1on1 trainings session might be more effective.

I hope I could help at least a little bit.

My best wishes

Thank you for all of your quick answers and feedback Dr Sassi.
I apologize for not being clear on the term “pop” and in the future I’ll try to be more clear.
As for the Animation Mentor and Ianimate coarse, I do understand about how expensive and time consuming it is. As for animation answers, I have gathered a large library of tutorials ( video and print ) that I can share with you, and I would be glad to answer questions on the subject ( I am tutoring a handful of eager hard working students at the time ), and I’m sure Bret Bays would answer any questions as well.
I have been listening to you for quite sometime now and it feels that I am chatting with a celebrity so forgive me if I sound like a fan-boy.
Cheers
Rodrigo

Hi Rodrigo,

You are very kind. Thanks for all the offerings. Tutorials and print, I’m certainly interested. Do you have a link or anything that will help me to get an overview about your educational work/material? I did not see anything on your companies website, or do I was too fast?

I love learning, and even after my six degrees I never stopped. Currently I do a course “Directing Actors” which I thought is my weakest point, so I learn more. I hope it will pays off on set—not only time wise. Learning is kind of an addiction to me, I watched roughly 6,000 tutorials in the past decade (not counting my own 1,200 of course.) I love to fill the gaps that I have. Since I focus on the feature film pipeline [from analog in the late ‘80 to digital now], there are even after over two+ decades working in this field certainly plenty gaps. But I’m getting better ;o)
Since you have worked for many features [impressive titles, BTW], you certainly know that feeling: having a huge load of education, but there is always something new.

I do not feel like a celebrity, far from that, the older I get the more I know who I’m and what really counts ;o)

Please let me know what I can do, never hesitate to ask anything, a question not asked is a black hole, it has side effects.

Have a wonderful weekend and thanks again! :o)

I can send you my CV and I can HighTail most of the animation tutorials I have. Perhaps private message me your contact email so i can send you the link to the HighTail dropbox after the weekend.
Once again, THANK YOU very much Dr. Sassi in making Cinema4D’s community one of the strongest in the industry.
Rodrigo

I have to say, thank you, Rodrigo!

The PM is on its way.

I look forward to your material-overview.
Please let me know how much the material is,
as I can’t accept anything for free.

Have a great weekend!