No.012 Poser Tutorial - Change FPS

Most suitable frame rate and explanation to compress frame.

- fps 10 to 14, irregular motion, dance and use motion capture.
- fps 08 to 12, smoothly motion, correct position and movement are not need.
- fps 03 to 06, stop hand or foot position precisely and move it.
- fps 01 to 02, posing animation and linear movement that changing.

frame rate means fps in BVH side. not graphics rendering fps, upload data in second life are time. high fps refers to time and creates frame, animation fps is same as screen fps. CPU make bone from BVH, and transforming avatar mesh. this means animation/skinning. hardware skinning transforms avatar mesh/vertex in GPU side. note-PC graphic processing is slow and when viewer dose not use hardware skinning, system may speed up. this is old item, turn on usually.

much movement animation is smooth when raise fps. but little movement has wobble. raise fps when make dance and irregular movement. there is a case more than limits(data size), when uploaded animation 12fps x 30seconds with irregular movement. you can change frame rate later. however, you should use some fixed fps to keep quality.

Compress frame with resample and retime function. refer to No.011, if there is much frames, animation is wobble. When you want to animation same as original BVH, compress frame before upload file. little wobbles when compressed frame, but roundness is lost.

if total frame is 200, change to 203, Frame: [0] of [203], top frame [Animation] Retime Animation, and move key frame. Source frames: [3] to [203], Destination frames: [3] to [103], if you make key frame to frame-150, frame space becomes half. change fps to half. animation palette, Frame : [half], original key frame is not lost, but key frame cant move to correct position. use this function if you don't want to move key frame one by one.

refer to No.010, rebuild key frame at equal distance with resample function. + compress frame with retime function.

No.011 Poser Tutorial - Bad Optimization

Second life, optimize BVH file to precomputed data with asset server.

1, precomputed data size less than 60Kbyte.
2, optimization is joint unit, and original file is lost.
3, convert　BVH frame to time. create key frame from BVH.

if total frame 360 and 12fps, animation is 30 seconds. if total frame 300 and 10fps, animation is 30 seconds. get smooth if increase total　frames, but second life animation optimize it. same animation and eaven if different fps, converted same data on secondlife.

- when increase total frames, movement every frame becomes small.
- frame that movement is slight, that part optimize.
- many frames and slight move, compressibility rises.
- little frames and greatly move, compressibility deteriorates.
- even if different total frame, uploaded data is most same size.

4, first(mean Frame-2) and end frame not optimized. loop is possible.
loop from middle frame is not done, because original frame is lost.
6, if there are many frames, exact movement is shaky.

optimization processing is bad.　hand and foot position is joint rotation to connect with it. this is important and lost in optimization. synchronization is lost so that there are many frames.

No.010 Poser Tutorial - Resample Animation

Simple resampling function can rebuild key frame. computed frame which near to key frame is unnatural, and get smooth if use this function. you should try this before exporting BVH file. original key frame is lost, you don't overwrite working file that applied this function.

top menu [Animation] Resample Key Frames, open dialog
(1) Make key frame every [4] frames
(2) Frame Range : [3] to [end frame] and click button [OK]

(1), smooth so that value is high. (2), frame range to apply. this function has bug, not refresh animation palette. refresh it, select frame-1 all joints and push button (Spline Section).

No.009 Poser Tutorial - Make Animation

Animation is sequence a lot of poses, important that make good pose.

1, Frame-1 first frame is removed in second life. but count as total.
2, Frame-1 means zero. BVH dose not have problem even if edit this.
3, if all frames are same as first frame, that joint data remove.
4, data are removed even if make key frame on poser. check zero with first frame.
5, cant remove data partially, even if make frame same as first frame.
6, when joint data are removed, other animation are applied to joint.

Edit T-pose that made to frame-2 and make first pose.

7, if editing frame is completed, make perfect key.
select Hip to RightFoot + push button (Spline Section)
8, copy frame-2 to frame-3, select joints Hip to RightFoot (Ctrl+C), (Ctrl+V)
9, select joints in frame-2 and click button (Linear Section)

Frame-1 does not edit, Frame-2 is same as frame-3, frame-2(Linear), frame-3(Spline). make next pose to after frame-3.

you can move key frame later, make key with equal distance is good. there is computed frame between key frames. when edit joint and make key, key frame become spline section. can make animation such as Hummingbird when use Constant Section. when want to stop movement suddenly, use Linear Section. curved Spline Section. you should know how to make hand position. when you edit only one joint and cut corners, animation between key frame becomes unnatural.

No.008 Poser Tutorial - Make Pose

How to make posing animation and use IK(Inverse Kinematics). head and both hand, both foot, distance that can move does not increase from Hip. you think about five points and make human posing.

3D software, rotation shoulder-arm and move hand position. when you move hand in real life, your brain move only hand position. don't think about rotation arm. therefore, QAvimator(free soft for animation) work is difficult.. and pose has it.

Make pose same as this avatar.

1, edit each joint with parameter dial.
2, edit Hip first. because, Hand and Foot position move when edit Hip.
3, edit Abdomen, edit Chest.
4, edit Collar-Shoulder-Forearm and move Hand position.
5, edit Thigh-Shin and move Foot position. not need to perfect.

Hand and Foot position are important. joint rotation has limit, when use limit function, top menu [Figure] Use Limits. move joints is easy to understand, but human joints stretch and contract.. cant make perfect pose with only rotation. if you understand limit, turn off (Use Limits).

6, when foot is float from ground, take down Hip position. (Ctrl+D)
7, Left Hand turn on IK, top menu [Figure] Use Inverse Kinematics
8, tuen on IK and select Left Hand, add position to parameter dials.
9, Hand position can move XYZ-axis. move to correct position.
10, turn on IK, Right Hand/Left Foot/Right Foot, and same editing.

IK edites joint to connect with Hand automatically, if move only Hand position. however, it is not correct. expensive 3D software has better IK..

when you want to foot adhere to ground, turn on IK and parameter dials yTran/xRotate/zRotate value change to Zero. foot　distance is not enough, take down position with Hip and keep distance.

when apply joint limit to pose, top menu [Figure] Use Limit, revised automatically. cant back value (Ctrl+Z) changed by this function. you can confirm where is bad when turn on all IK + turn on Use Limit. restore, close file without saving and open same file again.

No.007 Poser Tutorial - Upload BVH

Need upload test, because avatar size　is different comparison with poser figure.

1, there is beta grid, you have 5,000L$ for test. need old account created before 2009. beta grid is not updated after 2009.. start viewer secondlife and show item to change grid (Ctrl+Shift+G). change grid Agni(main) to Aditi(beta) and login.

2, Emerald Viewer, can test animation free. animation applied to your avatar with preview window. 10L$ is need to open upload window, don't push upload.

3, upload window explanation
- Name & Description, can change this after upload.
- Priority, when start animation at same time.
- Loop, loop animation LoopIn(%) to LoopOut(%).
- Hand Pose & Expression, can choose one.
- Preview while, dose not have meaning.
- Ease In/Out (sec), blend time when changing animation.

4, upload setting for posing animation. default Hand Pose/Expression/Preview while, Priority : 4, checked Loop, LoopIn : 0%, LoopOut : 100%, EaseIn : 1.0sec, EaseOut : 1.0sec

How to use LoopIn/LoopOut. well, make running animation in 100 frames. and make run accelerates frame-2 to 20, running frame-20 to 80, running sudden stop frame-80 to 100. LoopIn 20%, LoopOut 80%, when start this animation.. avatar begins to run slowly frame-2 to 20, and running to frame-80, go to frame-20 repeated and you see avatar running. when stop animation, look to frame-80 and you see animation frame-80 to 100 and animation stops.

EaseIn/Out (sec), this is composition time for animation. when start(In) new animation, replace smoothly so that time is long. EaseOut means stop animation.

No.006 Poser Tutorial - Export BVH

How to make posing and export BVH file. use poser file which wrote in No.004

1, first frame is remove, when upload BVH file. but count as one frame.
2, you can edit first frame but make key frame after first frame. frame-2
3, if joint value does not change except first frame, join data is remove.

example: typing animation moves only arm, delete all key frames except arm. even if make key frame, no value changes comparison with first frame.

4, you made T-pose in frame-2. Neck and Head is not edited, same as first frame.
5, you must edit Neck and Head a little to make perfect pose.
6, posing animation is make one key frame. total frame change to 10 and fps 10

posing animation need only two frames, first frame + one key frame. however, 10frames(10fps) and make one second animation in this tutorial. animation is compressed on server(second life) and 10 frames are smart for work space.

7, make pose/key frame on frame-5, if fail editing, can back to first pose. when you delete editing key. dial work is reliable.. turn dial and make pose.
8, if you click figure joint on preview window, you can easily choose joint which you want to edit.
9, when making pose is done, move edited frame to frame-2. choose frame-5 and Hip to Right Foot, push button (Spline Section) and make perfect key frame. drag selected range and move to frame-2. if there is key frame after frame-2, select it and push delete key.
10, do export file.. top menu [File] Export->BVH motion. this function has bug, created key frame to choose frame, sometime. do export after saving file.

No.005 Poser Tutorial - Window Interface

Animation Palette and how to make key frame. making pose to each frame and when play frame, you see animation. make pose to frame which there is change, computed pose created between frames. key frame means this.

Animation Palette, has item and frames. figure(joint), camera, light, other.. when select item in frame, show value on Parameter Dials. turn dial and make pose/key frame. when you selected Hip and edited only X, key frame is not created to other value. push button (Spline Section) to make all key.

key frame possible copy & paste (Ctrl+C),(Ctrl+V), open other file and can paste copy data. when turn on IK(Inverse Kinematics) that key frame has position data, perform copy & paste on same IK structure. move key frame, select range and drag it and move to right or left frame. remove key frame, select range and push delete key.

Preview Window, drag figure on preview window and can make key frame. Editing Tools, turn on Translate or Rotate and drag figure. if you don't have sense for editing joint, you can use limit function. top menu [Figure] Use Limits.

Camera Controls, can control camera work. change cameras, drag picture(figure) and move mouse right or left. this tutorial does not explain camera work, always choose picture to sit down. key frame is not created even if you edit this camera. if edited position or rotation with another camera, key frame is created on animation palette. delete it and back to default camera type.

No.004 Poser Tutorial - Make File

1, make poser default file. open this file and start poser.
2, top menu [Figure] Use Inverse Kinematics, turn off "LeftLeg" and "RightLeg".
3, change total frame. Animation Palette, Rate : [10], Frame : [xxx] of [100]
4, make T-pose. animation palette, select frame-2 and choose joint Hip.
5, look Parameter Dials, and change value to Zero. xyzRotate, xyzTran
6, Hip to Right Foot all joints/rotate change value to Zero. click value type 0
7, select Hip to Right Foot on frame-2, click Hip and Shift+click Right Foot.
8, selected joints and push button (Spline Section). create perfect key frame.
9, save file, top menu [File] Save As... open it and start work.

lower body is blue.. can change joint color by Editing Tools (Color). Editing Tools window, select color tool and click figure part.

No.003 Poser Tutorial - Setup Figure

1, use secondlife avatar in poser. download is here (Second Life Avatar Mesh)
2, make new folder on desktop, open it and make new folder "Runtime".
3, start Poser, and remove first figure. top menu [Figure] Delete Figure.
4, show library window. top menu [Window] Libraries.
5, push button [+] "Add Library" choose folder which you made to desktop.
6, new folder added to poser libraries.
7, "Second Life Avatar Mesh" uncompressed file put in character folder.
desktop->new folder->Runtime->libraries->character
8, poser libraries window, select added folder and push (Refresh) button.
9, refresh folder and you see "SL Avatar" choose figure "Male" or "Female".

No.002 Poser Tutorial - Setup Poser

Start Poser and change window layout. this pics that I recommend. top menu [Window] show dock/sub window, turn on Animation Palette, Camera Controls, Editing Tools, Parameter Dials, Animation Controls, and turn off other windows.

drag dock(plain) and drop to main window. push square button in dock(top right), turn on "Docked" and "Drag-Docking Enabled". if you can integrate all docks with main window, turn off "Drag-Docking Enabled" and layout is fixed.

No.001 Poser Tutorial - Second Life

Make animation with Poser software. Poser (Smith Micro Software)
Second Life (Linden Lab)

file format : BVH (Position, 19 Joint x Rotation)
limit : 30 second, compress file on server and less than 60kbyte
fps : frame rate recommend 12 frame per second, total 360 frame