Hi 3Dwizzard

I'm fairly new to the 3D animation stuff but I'm having a blast figuring it out.

I'm a retired graphic designer and illustrator.

To answer you question, no you don't have to start at frame on, but if your animation is't too long you can just move the whole thing over a few frames in the animation palete.  I've don't this so that all of the characters aren't exactly in sync.

I've done single animations up to 4,500 frames whith lip syncing.

I output them in segments though i.e. 1 to 750 and then 751 to 1500 etc.

I'm finding that there is almost nothing that you can't do between Poser and Adobe Premiere Elemnts, which is what I use to put it all back together again.

Mike

Hi

I have done this a number of times and the easiest way I have found to do it, is the way that SamTherapy suggested.

Get you original animation the way that you want it.

Save it as a pose.

Import a new figure at frame 1.

Use Body parameters to move it to where you want it.

Apply the Pose and they will dance in perfect unison.

After you have created several dancing characters you can generate a same size AVI file with the characters away from the camera and to one side.

Import the AVI as a background then repositioned the characters in front of it and closer to the camera, and then repeated the process until you have dozens of characters dancing in unison.  Without the strain on your computer of having to process all of the characters.

You can generate an animation with hundreds of characters dancing in unison like a scene from Lord of the Rings, with a vast army of dancers if you want to.

Mike

Hi Again.

Ok I think I have it working.

It all had to do with what options I clicked when I exported it from Blacksmith.

I was selecting an option that has a notation that said "for Morph Targets".  This sounded logical.

When I didn't do that it worked.

I got the morph into Poser, the dial works and it all fits.

I will go through the whole process once more and write it down so that I don't forget what I did (I'm 73, so that can be a factor, LOL).

I think that I will E-Mail the Blacksmith site and tell them that they should add some information on exporting the morphs out of Blacksmith once you have done it.

I searched everyplace I could think of and didn't fine anything that described what happens after you finish doing the morph.

Thanks again for the help.

Mike 

Hi

Thanks for the reply.

I'm working on it and have had some success.

It worked once.

But most of the time when I go through the whole process and create the morph target, I can import the morph target into Poser as a separate piece but...

When I load the morph target to the figure, the morph dial appears in the parameter dials menu, but the figure still doesn't change.

If I move the morph dial the part fractures into a zillion pieces.

Anyone have any idea what I'm doing wrong, there are several options when exporting the morph from Blacksmith and since I didn't keep notes I'm no sure what I did to the one that worked.

I'm going to start he whole process over from scratch and try again.  This time I will keep track of what selections I make.

I really want to get this figured out.

Thanks again for the help.

Mike

Hi 

If I add it to the Poser Figures Menu, that creats a CR2 file for the new Deerhound figure.

Am I right about that?

That's what I'm trying to do right now.

Mike

Hi

I'm working on it.

I imported the Deerhound Obj into Poser, and selected it.

Opened Group Editor, took me 15 minutes to fine that.  I kept looking at the top of the screen for it.

Then I clicked "Spawn Props".

Then I went to file, Export Wavefront Objects.

Unclicked Universe and clicked head.

It will let me unselect the default options Weld Body Parts at Seams and Include Figure Names in Polygon Groups but it won't let me select Include Existing Groups in Polygon Groups.  It won't let me select anything that isn't already selected.

So I saved it anyway.

I completed the process and the Deerhound Head option appeared on the Parameter Dial.

I think it worked.

Now a question.

A lot of what I need to do can be done in Poser.

Can I do the changes in Proportion i.e., make the legs and body longer, the tail thinner, the head smaller, etc. Then Save it as Poser Deerhound in Poser Figures.

Then export that as a Wavefront Obj. and open it in Blacksmith.  So that what I'm Working on there is allready close to what I need?

then make the changes I need to there, i.e. change the shape of the body to a more Greyhound like shape and move the tail position a little etc. and then bring it back into poser.

Open my Deerhound Figure, that I added to the Poser Figures Menu and then apply the morphs?

This would be easier then trying to reshape the body and then change the other stuff afterwards. The Main thing I can't do in Poser is change the shape of the body.

Thanks again for the help.

I think I'm getting the idea at least.

Mike

I will go throung the 2nd process you outlined next time.

Hi

To TrekiGrrrl

1 I do have the complete version of Blacksmith 3D, I had used the Paint part for a long time, and I got an e-mail offering the complete package at a really, really low one time price so I bought it.

That's kind of why I know how paint works but not the Morph part. I'm just getting started with that.

To: Lesbentley

Tomorrow I will sit down with side by side Windows of you post Poser and Blacksmith and go through the whole thing step by step.

As I said I've used Poser for a long time and do a lot of animations with it.

I've never gotten into the morphing stuff, so I know kind of what you are talking about, but I will have to do it one step at a time.

If I can get the shape right I'll take close up photos of my Deerhounds coat and use it to paint the model. He will then become Lucy's dog in the videos.

I'll come back after I've gone through it all both ways.

Thanks for the help.

Mike

Ps: Just to be clear, I'm using Poser 6.

 Hi 

That worked in a way.

It imported the dog object into Poser but now it's a ridged figure and I need to end up with something that I can animate, since this is to go in one of my Lucy movies.

I'm afraid I didn't understand most of what you posted so I'll have to research all that stuff.

I remember using morphs that I downloaded back in Poser 4 to change character proportions.

Maybe that's what I have to do, but I’m not sure how to change the parts and save them individually so that they can be applied in Poser.

I’d like to be able to just create a new .CR2 file for the whole character in one piece and them import it into Poser as a new figure.

I’ll work on this some more tomorrow.

Thanks for the help.

Mike

Ok

Exporting as a .obj file is an available option.

I'll give that a try.

Mike

Hi Trekkiegrrrl

The Problem is that when I click on Export, the option to export a CR2 File and MDR Injection file are greyed out. All the others are active. 

I have no idea what a MDR file is, but I do understand about CR2 files.

I must be skipping something; I did save the project as a .blacksmith3D file after that I'm stuck.

There must be something I have to do to make CR2 an option but I don't know what.

Mike

Don't know how I messed up the type like this but I can't seem to get it back to normal.

Attached Link: http://s1238.photobucket.com/albums/ff491/nohjekim/?action=view&current=LucysStoryaboutDoris.mp4

Hi

Thanks for the comment.

Yes the picture wiht the bridge in in Yorkshire.

Eventually I will put the other videos online as well.

This whole thing grew out of the Lucy voice from Acapela Software used with TextAloud.

I have about every graphic arts and video program ever made since this was my business my whole life.

I’m retired now.

A friend of mine told me the grandfather story so I animated it and sent it to him, and a bunch of my other friends.

Everyone thought it was funny, so I started doing others and making them more complex as I learn how to use the software.

Lucy is the best voice I've found for text to speech software, she supplies all the sounds for my computer, i.e. when I empty the recycle bin she says "Enough of this trash!" etc.

Since she is British I started setting the videos in Britton (I've been there a number of times and raise Scottish Deerhounds but I live in Michigan) and the rest just went from there.

I'm working on the 4th one now and my goal is to complete 12 of them, but I want to keep advancing, which prompted the original post.

Thanks again for the help, it opens up all kinds of possibilities.

Mike

Attached Link: http://s1238.photobucket.com/albums/ff491/nohjekim/?action=view&current=LucysStoryAboutGrandfather.mp4

Yes, I just created the video in preview mode.

I went to Import / Avi Footage and imported the video.

It asked if I wanted to resize the window, (in this case I said no) and then it placed the file in the background.  

You must have enough frames already available, it doesn't ask you if you want to add frames to fit the video, as it does when you add a pose animation.

I will have to pre format the AVI files in Première to the correct size, (I usually use 1200 by 900) so that the background will fit my scene.

In this case the video did not fit my format.

I cropped the video to remove the black band above and below the image in Première after I made the file in Poser.

It did it very quickly since it apparently doesn't have to re-render the background .AVI just as it doesn't have to re-render a still image when it's used as a background.

I'm assuming that if you applied the video file to an object then it would have to render every frame of the video again, so this is much faster.

This opens up all kind of possibilities.

The opportunity to use all kinds of moving images as a background combined with foreground objects will make lots of effects possible.

Now I’m looking for suitable video that I can use.

Mike

Ps. Here is a link to my first and shortest Lucy video, these have grown in complexity since I did this one with Lucy now walking through more involving environments and telling longer stories.

Attached Link: http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/ff491/nohjekim/th_TwoLucysTest.jpg

Virtualdub fixed the problem with it rejecting the .AVI files.

When I opened Poser up and tried to import the .AVI file it appeared as a background just as I wanted it to.

What I want to do is insert a video for the background instead of a static picture for example trees blowing in the wind, moving crowds or passing cars etc.

Here is a little test file I did with two of my Lucy characters just to see if it all worked.

Mike

Ps. How did BionicRooster place his animation in the post.

I tried using the image code i.e.

[IMG]http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/ff491/nohjekim/th_TwoLucysTest.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

And as you can see that didn't work, so just click on the link.

Hi

Thanks for the responses.

I just assumed that you import it like a background picture.

I'll get virtual dub and give it another try using a panel to apply it to and see what happens.

Mike