Hi, I need HELP!

I have created a bi-ped animal character in Poser which I am trying to get to walk.

Of course, since I based it on a four legged animal, the Walk designer is totally useless! So I have to animate it by hand.

Well, I can move all the body parts, but the thing SLIDES! And I can't get it to stop doing that.

Here's what I am doing. The character has to walk across a still background.

I start with the character standing, facing so we see it from its left side. Both legs are on the ground, parallel in a standard standing pose.

I move the animation slider forward 5 key frames.

I lift the hip up and forward (as it would be in nature), and lift the left foot. The right foot bends properly up on its toes, and the first part of the stride looks good as a pose.

I move the slider forward 5 frames.

I move the hip forward and down, put the left foot on the ground and lift the right foot off the ground, because the weight is now all on the left foot and the right is getting ready to swing forward. The character should stay in the same lateral position, the down foot should not slide around.

So far, so good. If I run this, the character moves fine, the right foot stays in position (as it would in nature).

Here's where the problem starts.

I move the slider forward 5 frames.

I lift the hip up and forward again as before, and this time move the right foot forward.

I move the slider forward 5 frames.

I lower the hip and move it forward, and pull the right foot down so the weight is now on the right foot. Just like in walking.

When I play the animation now, the whole figure slides on its feet, so the foot that is resting on the ground no longer stays in place, it slides backwards or forwards, which loooks awful!

I have done tests in the walk desiner with a human character to see what happens there, and I don't detect the sliding motion.

What is going on here? Any clues? I have tried all sort of settings. I always keep the IK chains on for the feet and legs so I can move them by moving the feet.

Can anyone help me out here? I have spent HOURS trying to get this to work! I am so frustrated!

It seems to me that logically, Poser should know NOT to slide a character, but there is no way to lock a foot into position that I can find. It is as if the software is rewriting physics and doing what IT wants, not what I want.

Thanks for any tips. I am so frustrated at this point, I just don't know what to do! I even tried a walk path, but of course, that needs the Walk designer, which destroys my character.

Thanks!

Probably the easiest solution is to change the parent of the feet from the figure body to the ground plane. Select foot, Object > Change Parent... Select ground plane, [OK]. Repeat for other foot. This will keep the foot from reacting to movements of the models body. You can use the graph tool to eliminate all movement in the foot during ground contact. ([ctl]+[shift]+G) Also dont forget to add keys to all elements at every key frame or strange things may happen. Also as you animate your sequence be sure to look backward periodocially to make sure no strange ness is happening.

Thanks for the tip! Changing the parent to Ground did work, but I wound up having to key frame and adjust in each frame anyway because of the other problems that kept occuring (the hip started moving on its own!). I guess the idea of "tweening" in Poser is something that either they need to explain a lot better, or needs better implementation. For example, I had the "creature" standing still, and simply wanted to make it blink by closing and opeing the right eye. It is hard to fathom why Poser decided that an eye movement should cause the body to move along the X and Y axis, and add further movemnt to the hip! I had to go into the graph and eliminate these movements. Maybe there is something wrong with my model. It must have something to do with the complex relationship of all the IK chains. My feeling is becoming that Poser was designed as a bare bones program, with the idea that one would purchase models and movements from other sources where these things have been developed, and that being able to do it on your own is possible, but a difficult experience. Perhaps I am too disappointed, or expect too much from the program? Anyway, I have done the animation, and that's the point. The fact that it took three days is idiotic, that's all. Anyway, thanks for your tip and suggestions!