Re-using Relationships

[DCLeadboot]

Earlier today, I completed the lip syncs for a character model that I have been working on - actually, it's a self-portrait of me!

 

Snag is, having created the relationships for the 'Preston Set' lip poses, I realised that I needed these for some other human characters that I have been working on - among them, a character model of me in butler costume with ill-fitting skin wig.

 

What I am finding now is that I cannot just copy the relationships straight to it like in any decent windows explorer.

I click and drag the relevant folder to the place I want, but it only returns the negative sound.

I drag the whole relationships folder onto the other model and it copies. However, when told to save, Animation:Master drops out (i.e. abrupt crash without the curtesy of a message box). The save is not even carried out!!

 

Does anyone know if relationships can be re-used in any way? It wouldn't half save time in production!

[ZachBG]

Well, if you're getting a repeatable crash, be sure to write up a bug report at www.hash.com/reports and include your data.

 

As far as copying poses and relationships goes, there's a section on it in TAoA:M--the "Show Some Backbone" tutorial I believe. Just make sure you're doing it exactly as the tute says. (I don't remember the exact procedure off the top of my head, but that's where I found it. Also, make sure you look at the latest version of the manual, because the procedure has changed over time.)

 

Bear in mind, though, that if your phonemes are created with muscle mode, the copying probably won't work anyway, since muscle mode works via CP numbers, which are different for each model. (I could be wrong about this; if so, someone please correct me.)

[DCLeadboot]

OK. I have sent this issue to the Bug Report for their lab-boys to take a look at.

 

I looked at the section from the book mentioned. The only difference with that tutorial and the one that I was dealing with here is that the model to which I was copying the relationships folder already had its own relationships folder. I expected it to copy the new contents to it without a fuss.

 

I'm not sure what A:M does, but I wouldn't have expected the CP numbers to be greatly different, because the character models are all built from a 'GenericMan' model. All I do with him is alter the clothes, correct the height and shape his (or her) face and proportions.

 

After that, all that remains is to set up Smart Skins and other little individualities.

[sbk]

I believe that's correct, bone relationships copy, but then you have to tweak and scale the bone rig to fit.

But, someone else might know an arcane secret about muscle poses I don't, but I think they're model-specific.

PS. Dave Simmons has a really good face rig (bones-based) you might try (Software tutorials).

Seana

[entity]

Have you tried copying the actual poses at the keyframes (for muscle motion) and then pasting in the same keyframes of new poses in the other character? It sounds tedious, but it beats trying other ways that "might" work.

 

If it sounds like too much work-- maybe you could copy and paste the head into the character and reshape that head... because the relationships would also be copied. (If I'm wrong, sue me... my lawyer's email is ******@*******.net)

[seven]

I believe you have to do the poses yourself for the new model!

You cannot just copy and paste them... Or the new model having the same bones in the mouth... namned the same?

 

On lipsync I have made some tutorials perhaps you can get some help from them?

http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=15989

[amarillospider]

Here's yet another suggestion. I think you'll have to remake the poses in the new model, but I think you can cheat and do it quickly. Get the original pose open (edit it probably) in a window, get the new model open in an new pose window. In muscle mode, select all of the cp's that have moved in the original model at slider at 100%. In the new pose new model window put the slider at 100% and paste. Maybe that will work.

 

-Alonso

[DCLeadboot]

Thanks for the helpful suggestions.

Perhaps copying the muscle keyframes sounds like my best bet.

It may sound tedious, but in this sort of business you cannot always cut corners.

 

I'm also waiting on what the Bug Reporters have to say about the persistant crash resulting from how I was trying to do it before.

 

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Update: This method has worked!!

Here is the procedure:

1. I went into the target characters' relationship folder and added the folder Lip Sync to his Face folder. I then set up Percentage sliders for each of the Preston Set poses.

2. I right-clicked the first Percentage property (A I) and created a New Relationship.

3. I opened the completed relationship for 'A I' in the source character model. For viewing ease, I tiled the two windows side by side and zoomed in close to the heads.

4. In bone mode, I selected Copy in the source model window and Paste in the target model window.

5. In muscle mode, I selected Copy again and pasted the new CP positions to the target.

6. The Relationship in the target model would now be complete as it stood. However, there were one or two mistakes that needed fixing (the teeth CPs stuck through the cheeks or something )

7. Just repeated these steps for the other lip poses.

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Off topic: BTW, I was looking at uploading a snapshot image of a line-up of some characters I have done, but I am new at this sort of thing.

To anyone who has uploaded an image to the Hash archive, what are the procedures and what sort of copyright do you use?

Is my personal logo (bearing my alias name) adequete?