A new version of Cineversity has been launched. This legacy site and its tutorials will remain accessible for a limited transition period

Visit the New Cineversity
   
 
Mixamo to Cinema 4D Character Workflow: Mix Motion Capture with Motion Clips
Posted: 13 March 2019 04:59 AM   [ Ignore ]  
Total Posts:  10
Joined  2017-08-25

Hello,

I’ve been following the “Mixamo to Cinema 4D Character Workflow” tutorial series by Steve Teeple (really great tutorials, btw), but I’ve run into a snag.

I have:
1) Downloaded a stock character and a couple animations from Mixamo as FBX files.
2) Imported these into C4D and baked the animations into motion source files.
3) Added a pivot object for each clip at 0,0,0.

Everything works fine when I put the motion clips end to end with the relocated Pivot for the second clip’s start (for example the first animation ends at fr 42, and the second started at fr 43), BUT things go crazy if I overlap the sequences by a couple frames to try and smooth out the transition from clip to clip. What happens is the skin jumps completely off of the rig to a different location during the overlap, then snaps back to the proper location as soon as the overlap is finished.

Does anyone have any idea what might be causing this? I’m an experienced (read: grizzled and jaded) C4D animator, but new to Motion Mode / Motion Clips, so I may well be making a very obvious noob mistake.

I’m in R20 with the latest update, running on a Mac running OS 12.6.

Thanks very much,
- Greg Reynard

PS: I tried to upload a stripped down zipped (2.4Mb after zipping) version of the scene to illustrate the issue, but I keep getting the error message “The file you are attempting to upload has invalid content for its MIME type.”

Profile
 
 
Posted: 13 March 2019 05:09 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 1 ]  
Administrator
Avatar
Total Posts:  12043
Joined  2011-03-04

Hi Greg Reynard,

I have sent you an upload link to the Cineversity Private Message Inbox.

I will have a look at your file.

Talk to you soon.

Cheers

 Signature 

Dr. Sassi V. Sassmannshausen Ph.D.
Cinema 4D Mentor since 2004
Maxon Master Trainer, VES, DCS

Photography For C4D Artists: 200 Free Tutorials.
https://www.youtube.com/user/DrSassiLA/playlists

NEW:

NEW: Cineversity [CV4]

Profile
 
 
Posted: 13 March 2019 05:27 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 2 ]  
Total Posts:  10
Joined  2017-08-25

Thank you, Dr. Sassi! Just uploaded the file.

Cheers,
- Greg

Profile
 
 
Posted: 13 March 2019 06:03 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 3 ]  
Administrator
Avatar
Total Posts:  12043
Joined  2011-03-04

Thank you very much for the file, Greg, I have sent you a link with a scene file.

Please have a look at the screen capture.
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/ezAeyk9v97poaMJzRAXObYcvMQHXi35gerMKgPLWwKR

Please note that I have cut the clips closely where I think that a proper motion match could happen (body orientation and leg constellation). The Cut/Connect is available with a right mouse click on the clip in question. Cut and do not forget to shut the Cut/Connect off. It is only roughly cut with an overlap in mind.
The transition is by default Ease-Ease, but you can finetune that of course.
The main idea is to see the Clip-Ghost in the editor view and use the Pivot to adjust accordingly.

I know that there are suggestions to do it without a Cut, but you might try both ways. Whatever suits your workflow.

The third clip in the Timeline could have the timing adjusted, from slow to fast, with the (clip active) Attribute manager> Advanced>Timing.
Example-Screen-Shot
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/ctWLIvxWyUSIGBFn9ffCfRd2UZqCXwC3cma05IRMIq5

Let me know if that solves your problem.

Cheers

 Signature 

Dr. Sassi V. Sassmannshausen Ph.D.
Cinema 4D Mentor since 2004
Maxon Master Trainer, VES, DCS

Photography For C4D Artists: 200 Free Tutorials.
https://www.youtube.com/user/DrSassiLA/playlists

NEW:

NEW: Cineversity [CV4]

Profile
 
 
Posted: 13 March 2019 12:59 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 4 ]  
Total Posts:  10
Joined  2017-08-25

Thanks so much for taking the time to look into the issue I was having. Your work and thoughtful consideration is, as always, much appreciated.

The tweaks in timing you have made definitely made the transition between clips much smoother. Your advice re. tweaking the timing and looking for compatible limb configurations and trimming the clips to the best advantage also makes a lot of sense. Furthermore, the file you sent back to me made me realize the mistake I’d made that caused the skin to rip away from the rig completely at during the blend frames: I had each motion clip on a different layer! For some reason, I thought that’s how it was meant to work. When I saw that you’d placed them all on the same layer, the lightbulb went off and I understood my error. I went back to my original and cut and pasted the clips onto the same layer, the overlap no longer completely left the rig during the transition.

Thanks again!

Cheers,
- Greg

Profile
 
 
Posted: 13 March 2019 01:18 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 5 ]  
Administrator
Avatar
Total Posts:  12043
Joined  2011-03-04

Thank you very much for your kind feedback, Greg, really appreciated.

Yes, I found the little prep-time pays off, as the transition is faster to ‘match’.

Please let me know if there is anything else, I’m happy to look into it. If it is not related to tutorials, please use the Q&A forum.

My best wishes for your project.

 Signature 

Dr. Sassi V. Sassmannshausen Ph.D.
Cinema 4D Mentor since 2004
Maxon Master Trainer, VES, DCS

Photography For C4D Artists: 200 Free Tutorials.
https://www.youtube.com/user/DrSassiLA/playlists

NEW:

NEW: Cineversity [CV4]

Profile
 
 
Posted: 08 April 2021 01:25 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 6 ]  
Total Posts:  14
Joined  2021-02-20

Hi,

I’m on R23 and having an issue creating the pivot via the Animate menu. The pivot is created ok but I can’t drag it into the motion clips advanced pivot field. As soon as I try and drag it anywhere the mouse cursor changes to a no entry icon.
It works fine if I create the pivot using the button from the Motion Clips Advanced tab but then the pivot is aligned to the rig. My work around was setting the axis to world but I want to know if something has changed in R23 to mean this doesn’t work now or if not, what am I doing wrong

Profile
 
 
Posted: 08 April 2021 02:43 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 7 ]  
Administrator
Avatar
Total Posts:  12043
Joined  2011-03-04

Hi charlesbatho,

Without a file, it is difficult to say with certainty.

The most likely scenery is that you are in a Take that is not the Main Take.

I assume you have imported a joint rig, and that had Takes on it.

Is this solving the problem for you?

Cheers

 Signature 

Dr. Sassi V. Sassmannshausen Ph.D.
Cinema 4D Mentor since 2004
Maxon Master Trainer, VES, DCS

Photography For C4D Artists: 200 Free Tutorials.
https://www.youtube.com/user/DrSassiLA/playlists

NEW:

NEW: Cineversity [CV4]

Profile
 
 
Posted: 08 April 2021 02:58 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 8 ]  
Total Posts:  14
Joined  2021-02-20

No that didn’t help. I looked at Takes and there’s something in there but I’ve not created anything there. I’ve never used the Take system so don’t understand that at all. Here is the C4D file. I tried to save it with assets but it caused all the textures to drop out even though I see them in the materials. https://www.dropbox.com/s/frmxhpkizmbbtk2/mixamo test.c4d?dl=0

Profile
 
 
Posted: 08 April 2021 03:22 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 9 ]  
Administrator
Avatar
Total Posts:  12043
Joined  2011-03-04

Thanks for the file, charlesbatho.

Thanks for the file and for using Dropbox! Very much appreciated.

When I go to Takes and click on the little + sign to un-twirl the Takes, I can see that Takes is set to mixamo.com and not to Main.

In the Timeline, I had to enable View> Automatic Mode to see the Motion Clips.

Here is a little screen capture (60sec)
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/BKkszZGXxqf7iZSRaigpVizAgPJLgsR2EyQCFhwhRJu

All the best

 Signature 

Dr. Sassi V. Sassmannshausen Ph.D.
Cinema 4D Mentor since 2004
Maxon Master Trainer, VES, DCS

Photography For C4D Artists: 200 Free Tutorials.
https://www.youtube.com/user/DrSassiLA/playlists

NEW:

NEW: Cineversity [CV4]

Profile
 
 
Posted: 09 April 2021 11:55 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 10 ]  
Total Posts:  14
Joined  2021-02-20

Wow! Thanks so much for such a quick response and to take the trouble to do a screencapture. It works now. I didn’t think to active the main take by clicking on the same icon you get for cameras which seems really obvious now!

I clearly need to look up some tutorials on the Take system.

Question: Is this forum staffed by people like yourself who are paid to respond to questions? I just assumed it was a standard forum where there’d be a small chance someone would reply and an outside chance someone could solve the problem. I guess it proves the old adage that you get what you pay for. Really impressed!

I thought this set of Mixamo videos were great btw.

Profile
 
 
Posted: 09 April 2021 04:12 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 11 ]  
Administrator
Avatar
Total Posts:  12043
Joined  2011-03-04

You’re very welcome, charlesbatho. Thanks for taking the time.

Yes, like in the Render Settings, the little icon on the left is for activating, and the name of the “item” is for editing its content.
I guess we all have had such an encounter at one point, seeing the name highlighted in orange and assumed that this is active as well now. I’m not sure if writing a report will change that, as a change might confuse seasoned users then.

When you ask here a question, I’m typically interested that you can either get a solution, a workaround or, if needed, ask you to check with the tech support. If I encounter a problem that requires a fix from the developers, I will write a report. My doing here is to explain how something should or could work if the tutorials don’t address it. Besides that, I love to find creative solutions. Typically I ask to provide a scene file or a sketch of what is needed and wanted. My background is somewhat more extensive, so I answered in the past 17 years all questions I got in fora, and since 15 years here in Cineversity.

If the question is more about Python, then the developer forum needs to be visited; other parts or Maxon-One, have their own forum (RedGiant or RedShift 3D or Forger). Which is sometimes difficult to separate, I try my best to answer.

Have a great weekend

 Signature 

Dr. Sassi V. Sassmannshausen Ph.D.
Cinema 4D Mentor since 2004
Maxon Master Trainer, VES, DCS

Photography For C4D Artists: 200 Free Tutorials.
https://www.youtube.com/user/DrSassiLA/playlists

NEW:

NEW: Cineversity [CV4]

Profile