I found the same problem with DAZStudio, but here it is for PoserPro2010:

I've been saving some ballet animations. When a character turns and moves, the character slips below the ground level. I've tried scrubbing through the animation slowly and adding keyframes every time I see the dip below ground level occurring. But, this results in a animation where the character bobs up and down in a jerky fashion. Is there a way to keep the character at floor level? 

In a similiar vein, if I rotate a character, she/he may slip off balance. Trying to correct with keyframes results in a jerky, gyroscope-like, motion. Is there a way to set the character so that she stays centered over her hip or axis line?

 

If these fixes aren't possible, is there an animation program in which I might use characters like V4 and M4 and create animations for them?

Can you give us some more information?

Is the animation being applied from an animated pose, or a BVH?

What method did you use to construct the animation, and in particular how did you implement the yTranslations of the figure, in the hip, or BODY?

When you created the animation, if the BODY had  none zero yTranslations in any frames, or any none zero x or z rotations, that could be the cause of your problem. Usually when you create an animation, the translations and rotations of the BODY actor should be zero throughout. This does not really matter that much if you are only saving as pz3, but when saving as a pose or BVH it does matter.

In PP2010 ?
Did you try the script => utility=> dropFigToFloorAllFrames?

I was just doing the moving myself. I moved parts of the character's body, but not the figure from one spot to another. In the animation, however, the figure moved, and I'm not sure why. I used the universal manipulation tool, mostly, and I was tugging at body parts. So, I didn't pay attention to x, y, or z transitions or rotations.

About the script question: I kept using Command-D (Macintosh) to set the figure on the ground.

Try the script, it is build inside PP2010
Upper menu => Scripts
uitlity => dropFigToFloorAllFrames, 3rd script from the bottom up

No Need for Ctrl+D any more. This does it automatic for ALL frames

OK, I think I'm getting this part of it. Now, I have a short animation of 115 frames, but it plays through too fast, even when I make it into a quicktime movie (Macintosh) and set the Frames per Second Rate way down at 3. 

What I'd like to know is if I can add frames, such as double the frames to 230, and have the animation stretch out to now be 230 frames. I know that frames can be added on at the end, but can the animation be stretched out to cover more frames?

I saved the animation as a .bvh file. What if I import the .bvh file into a new scene, and set the animation counter to something like 230 frames, or even 460 frames: would the .bvh animation stretch out to cover the entire range?

You will have to add frames to your timeline first and use the "retime animation"feature.

 

 

Cheers

Thank you very much. The tip about adding frames and using the "retime animation" feature is especially helpful.

dropFigToFloorAllFrames is good until you have an animation with leaps, which I would assume a ballet dancer would be performing some times.

Right. I do have leaps and so forth. So, I'm not using the drop to floor all frames. Otherwise, it's a good idea.

Attached Link: http://www.sharecg.com/v/28669/gallery/11/Poser/03-05-Carnegie-Mellon-BVH-Library-for-Poser

one might also mention there are certain ballet bvh files available from the carnegie mellon collection, e.g.:

05_02    dance - expressive arms, pirouette
05_03    dance - sideways arabesque, turn step, folding arms
05_04    dance - sideways arabesque, folding arms, bending back
05_05    dance - quasi-cou-de-pied, raised leg above hip-height, jete en tourant
05_06    dance - cartwheel-like start, pirouettes, jete
05_07    dance - small jetes, attitude/arabesque, shifted-axis pirouette, turn
05_08    dance - rond de jambe in the air, jete, turn
05_09    dance - glissade devant, glissade derriere, attitude/arabesque
05_10    dance - glissade devant, glissade derriere, attitude/arabesque
05_11    dance - sideways steps, pirouette
05_12    dance - arms held high, pointe tendue a terre, upper body rotation
05_13    dance - small jetes, pirouette
05_14    dance - retire derriere, attitude/arabesque
05_15    dance - retire derriere, attitude/arabesque
05_16    dance - coupe dessous, jete en tourant
05_17    dance - coupe dessous, grand jete en tourant
05_18    dance - attitude/arabesque, jete en tourant, bending back
05_19    dance - attitude/arabesque, jete en tourant, bending back
05_20    dance - attitude/arabesque, jete en tourant, bending back

YMMV.

Thanks very much, Miss Nancy, for the link to ballet bvh files. I didn't know these were available. I've just downloaded them. Got to Try them!

they can be a bit tricky, but philc has got a bvh helper that may be of use.  error messages will occur, due to poser's habit of breaking up groups into small pieces inside the obj file.

A bvh helper? Where is that?

I'm still in the very early stages of learning animation. It's funny but correcting something in one part of the animation may cause new errors either before that part or later, even in a very short animation. Sigh! Well, I'm learning how to make some corrections: For example, check each new bit. If there's an error, correct it. Then, recheck the entire work. If correcting the error has caused new errors, DELETE the new bit. Is my thinking OK? Is there a better way to handle this?

It's hard (or maybe impossible) to delete frames in the middle of an animation. Only at the end does it seem that I can delete frames. Is this true? Or, have I missed something?

Attached Link: http://www.philc.net/BVH_helper.php

see att lnk.  I can't comment on yer thinking there, as I haven't seen the animation.  it is possible to delete frames, but it's much easier in video editor IMVHO.  unfortunately in poser it may be necessary to select-n-drag.  I won't tell ya to keyframe every frame, as it tends to cause them to go berserk and rant, even tho they haven't seen yer animation either.  hence if there's a keyframe every 15 frames, save those poses, delete all but frame 1, then add back the correct number of frames and apply the poses at the new keyframe locations, and use linear interp. at first. otherwise they're gonna tell ya to drag frames around.  the advantage we've found to new workers is that they are able to delete their work and start over from ground zero if necessary.

whoa! - this thread was down at the bottom of page 2 by the time I got back.  anyway, ye'll find these bvh files are a quick way to do these things.  there may be a glitch or two, here and there, but they do work.