Cineversity

I am a newbie using the motion system for the first time. Relevant files at this link:

https://shared-assets.adobe.com/link/28c93576-6267-489d-53a5-67343d535355

Motion System Figure_1
This is the original source file in which I assembled several Mixamo motion captures into a walk/stop/point sequence. It’s clunky but works for my purpose.

I tried bringing this file into my composition and placing it like I would any other figure but discovered that the motion clips appear to retain their pivot origins. The first clip plays fine in the new position, but the others slide back to their original origin points. A big surprise. To deal with this I went back to this source file, merged the motion clips into a single source and then baked it (that version is not included). This I could move around, and it behaved as expected. Progress!

Motion System Figure_2
This is the same figure as above (minus the pointing gesture) in which I merged the motion clips into a single motion source, and then baked it - the exact same process (so far as I can tell) that I used on Figure_1. But this file has the jitters. I repeated the process several times and it always jitters. I can move it around, which is good. But it’s unusable.

Since the files started out identical in all respects (only the pointing gesture was cut out), I can’t locate the thing I did different. Can you spot the secret checkbox I’m missing. You usually can

Hi fordmar,

Thanks for the files; certainly super helpful in understanding your problem.

When you check out the keyframes of file two, e.g., TSO walking_mixamorig:Hips> Position.X, then you will see that there are kind of two animations sitting on top of each other. (See images).

This can happen when merging files and having perhaps 60fps for a 30fps file while snapping on. No idea. What happens here, but it is clear that two different movements are working here.

This can be fixed (in this case) with the Timeline> Function> Delete every nth Frame… (here every second.) If that is the right one, I’m not sure. If not, delete the first one manually, then use the delete 2nd.

There are in the leg keys are 360º jumps. I would select the lower part and type in the Attribute Manager> Key Value: x+360 [press return]; it should be fixed.

All the best

Sorry, it doesn’t work for me - I must not be understanding the solution :(

To clarify, I’ve uploaded another test case to review.

https://shared-assets.adobe.com/link/8bfccc3b-9ce0-4a54-4895-077710144d02

Motion_System_Figure_3A_Compound_Clip
This is the animation assembled from multiple Mixamo captures into a merged compound clip. It works exactly as desired in this file. But when I import it into the scene, the pivots are still active and the figure won’t hold its position during the action.

Motion_System_Figure_3B_Keyframed
This is the same file as above, only difference being I converted the compound clip into keyframes using the Motion System menu option provided. This one holds its position when imported into the master project, but now twitches. So the twitchy frames were created in the conversion (visible in F-curve mode).

Is there a different step I should be using to “bake” this? I used the actual “Bake” option on the first round, and it generated the same duplicate frames.

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I’m sure I must be doing something wrong in the way I set up the master motion clip. Steve Teeple’s tutorial doesn’t mention anything about the dangers of drifting pivots, duplicate keyframes and other such artifacts. According to him, it’s pretty straightforward. So it’s got to be and operator headspace error.

Hi fordmar,

When the setup works before you get in trouble, what is your target for changing a working system?

There is a “Convert Motion Clips to Motion Source” function when you right-mouse click on that single Layer that holds the clips you have added to that Layer and uses a blend between them.

I haven’t heard anyone suggesting using a bake function here.

Try this; it works here just fine, and I don’t get the double-key entries with different values here.

This new clip is supposed to replace all the clips while not referring to any Pivot anymore.

All the best