Getting my Mixamo FBX Downloads

01) In Daz Studio, load in Genesis 2 Female

02) I reduced mine to Base Resolution

03) Export to FBX in a folder organized specifically for working with Mixamo downloads - this file is for Uploading, so it's in a folder within my Mixamo folder titled "G2F FBX Upload", and I named the file itself "G2FMixamo"

04) In Mixamo, upload G2FMixamo. In a short while I see her in an idle animation, seeing that she's been properly retargeted. I've never seen a targeting issue when using Genesis 2 Female - it just works

05) Go through the bazillion animations, picking out what I want and working with any additional possibilities they offer for tweaking parts of the motion

06) When they offer various changes, I'll often download the base motion that comes up without any changes, then make some changes that I like and save several of those as variants, using naming conventions like "Breathing A" Breathing B", that sort of thing. I enjoy having a lot of variants to choose from when they offer these in the Mixamo panel

07) When I'm done downloading for the session, I go to the folders that i saved my animations into. I make many folders to catalog what the poses are about, like "Sword Two Handed", "Weapon Pistol", that sort of thing.

08) The first time I go to work with them, I right-click on one of the files (the first one I want to work with in DS) and choose "Open With > " and select Daz Studio

09) Now I can simply double-click the files and they open an animated G2F FBX rig into Daz Studio

10) Run the motion to make sure it's good. If not, delete it and move the file to a different folder called "Failed" so that I can try again in Mixamo next time

11) I haven't had one fail yet, but the next step was Not done to my current files because i didn't have the tool when I did these, so I perform this step after I Bone Minion them to Genesis 8 Female

12) Select the G2F FBX character in the scene pane > Scripts > 3DU Body2Hip (from Daz Studio Animation Tools Set 1) and run the script

13) This is an essential step to get working aniBlocks so we can work with them with other aniBlocks and aniMate tools - it moves the Translation data from the Body to the Hip, which is what Daz Studio prefers

14) With the character still selected File > Save As Pose Preset > Set to All Frames and save them to an organized folder structure under People > Genesis 2 Female > Poses > Mixamo Animations

I purchased the Genesis 2 Pose bone Minion Bundle so that I can easily translate my Mixamo FBX downloads to Any of my Daz 3d Figure generations from M4 and V4 through Genesis 8.1

Special Note of Interest:

The aniMate Parent Constraints do NOT require us to be in aniMate mode or to be using an aniBlock for it to work.

It can be used whether or not aniMate was involved in the animation at all, which I've found to be very useful.

Now that we've discussed Bone Minion, Body2Hip and LimbStick

I'd like to mention why I prefer to Create aniBlocks from Studio's Timeline rather than simply using Bone Minion and calling it a day

aniMate 2 is a very good solution for being able to aniMate in Daz Studio. Having converted or otherwise edited animations stored as aniBlocks to our libraries help us in So Many Ways.

It also allows us to immediately use those results on figures of the same generation without having to redo the conversion or editing.

Having these results stored as aniBlocks in a place where we can access them allows us to

* Set the Starting point of the motion

* Reverse the motion

* Manipulate the motion path of the various limbs and/or hip while in aniBlock form

* Change the speed and/or duration of the motion

* Mirror the animation

* Change the direction of the motion

* Apply Partial aniBlocks to the motion

* Add or Remove High Heels to or from the motion

* Combine this motion with others or even repeat this one again without the need of graph editing

* Preview the motion using the target figure of choice

And that's only the main reasons off the top of my head. Having a really good selection of aniBlocks available in the library makes the whole process So Much Easier and More Fluid - making it all That Much More Fun!

Early OctaneRender Experimental render

...and speaking of great videos

Sometimes it just pays to watch through demonstration videos by the creating artist. You never know what you may have forgotten until you're reminded once again! ;)

Here's the Amazing Riversoft Art on the Many Uses of Bone Minion

https://youtu.be/XnDF6Hfr764

Speaking of 3D Universe

LimbStick is a Great Way to get even more custom, believable edits to your aniMations!

There are So Many possibilities that such action results can provide.

Even using an object or objects to help drive the limbs that will later become invisible or even deleted after they do their job on the motion can be an Amazing way to direct the behavior of any of the various limbs, depending on what our imagination and story dictates.

LimbStick just makes it all so easy (and redoable!) with instant results - saving Gobs of time trying to pull it off any other way.

Teaser Video

https://youtu.be/vUzPXoLQ1qY

Awesome useage examples video

This is a Very Good Video regarding the use of LimbStick. Many lessons to be learned and it helps to demonstrate how we can correct our scene for better results and simply run LimbStick again. 

3D Universe, this is an Amazing Product!!!

https://youtu.be/hD79hy1BFu4

Special Note:

If using Mixamo animation FBX

3D Universe's Daz Studio Animation Tools Set 1 includes a tool called Body2Hip

Run this on the FBX result Before saving the animated pose, and you'll enjoy Massive Improvements!!!

Use is simple: Select figure (I just select the imported FBX figure) then run Body2Hip

Free Alternative to Bone Minion

Using zaz777's amazing animated pose conversion script along with the necessary rsg's "Updated: Daz Studio Posing Scripts (now for G3F)" available on sharecg.com has brought great results for me over the couple years I've been working in Daz Studio for animation.

So zaz777, Thank You So Much!!! Fantastic!!!

However, if we Really want a more True conversion that includes the new rig joints for rotation and all, Bone Minion does a much more accurate job.

This was never an issue for me - the dials I demonstrate making in my course, make this pretty much unnecessary. However, I must say that since I started using Bone Minion for my conversions to be saved as new aniBlocks, the outcome aniBlocks are much better, making them easier to work with.

If you don't want to, or cannot spend the money on the Bone Minion you need, however, do go and download both zaz777's script and the pose conversion package it requires. It's free and it's an excellent solution for getting those excellent aniBlocks and animated poses from earlier generations forward.

One thing, however, is that I didn't have a means to use zaz777's script for Genesis 8. The required product, rsg's "Updated: Daz Studio Posing Scripts (now for G3F)", does have instrauction on how to create the retargeting files for the script. If it is able to convert to G3F, I have a feeling that we could make the necessary file for G8 as well.

Keep in mind that this script doesn't work going from, say V4 to Genesis 3F, it only works going from V4 to V7, for example. They have to be Victoria or Michael figures, not the base figure. But it does include conversion scripts for A3, V3, H3 and M3 and 4 version for all of those. Check zaz777's thread for better explanations of how this all works - but it's easy for the figures already supported - just click the older generation figure that the poses were made for, then Ctrl+click the target figure, and run Zaz's script and it starts plugging through the animation. 

I have the full workflow along with things to watch out for in my course, but you can get this!

Last night I spent some time with Bone Minion converting and saving a bunch of my Reisormocap files to Genesis 8 aniBlocks. When I'm tired and really need a break, this is a fun excercise that gives me time to just sit back and wait for conversions, create new aniBlock and move on to the next, etc., while I enjoy a nice cup of coffee or a glass of scotch... whatever. 

Just this morning I loaded up some of my new aniBlocks and it's just as if they were made for my character. Very freaking cool!

So I took a little time with my morning coffee making a few partials that I need for what I'm working on now. When I finish making the partial that I know I need right now, I often go through and keep making more that might come in handy. I really like having and working with partial aniBlocks. It allows me to use actual motion capture data made by professional motion capture studios on the bulk of the changes I want to apply to the original aniBlock.

The use of partials to get closer to what I want can almost always allow me to leave the entire range of motion capture intact on the timeline, and just alter certain joint rotations using my dials to perfect it - making for a much better result in my honest opinion.

The differences between working with 'straight-to-the-timeline' animated data and Non-Linear Animation Blocks that can be edited and joined, mixed and reshaped before ever hitting the timeline are immense!

I'll be doing a Webinar at Digital Art Live - a two part session: Sunday, December 3rd (part 1) and 10th (part 2) at 19:00 GMT (1PM CST) on all of this, where I'll demonstrate this. Reading and writing a bunch of words is one thing, but seeing this all in action - we can truly see the Massive Benefits of working through aniMate 2

I'd also like to point out that this all Really makes animating Fun in Daz Studio! This coming from a Carrara artist says a Lot!

Riversoft Art is right, however. He says that, with Bone Minion we don't have to make all of these conversions but just use Bone Minion on the fly, which is a very good point.

I like having a bazillion aniBlocks to choose from, so I like just converting and be done with it. Plus I like having aniBlocks for all of the wonderful benefits that aniMate 2 provides with all of the tools, features and functions that initiated this thread in the first place!

I like the job that Bone Minion does so much that I'm collecting all of them

Translating Animation Data into New aniBlocks for Different Generations

I am looking for an aniBlock, but... oh... that's right. I have that for Genesis 3, but not 8.

Well, it was a good rendering day. I can take a break.

I load in Genesis 8 and apply a Genesis 3 Bone Minion to it and convert the entire collection in one sitting. It takes a while if they're long aniBlocks like these, but in the end the worth is Incredible. Like getting a whole new pack of aniBlocks for this figure.

It can be easy to mess up, so I'll go through the whole process here. We'll use Genesis 8 Female for this example, and we'll call her G8F and Genesis 3 Female we'll call G3F.

01) In either timeline, turn looping off, so Play will stop when the animation is finished

02) Load in G8F

03) Go to Scripts > Riversoft Art > Bone Minion and, with G8F selected, double-click the G3F Bone Minion*

04) Select the Bone Minion (might have to open G8F's hierarchy)

05) In Parameters, click the "Bone Minion" parameter heading and change the top value "Automatic Pose Transfer" from On (default) to Off so it does try to write as we preview and apply aniBlocks

06) With Bone Minion still selected, load the first aniBlock

07) Scrub the timeline (DS or aniMate - doesn't matter) back and fourth once to get Bone Minion off that last pose from the last frame - even though it's sitting on frame 0

08) Head to the Daz Studio Timeline - Make sure it is set to "Show All Frames" in its parameter settings dialog

09) With the scrubber set at frame 0 - the very beginning of the timeline, Turn Bone Minion's Automatic Pose Transfer On

10) Hit the forward one frame button (wait a second) and hit the back one frame button to get back to frame 0 (locks in the pose at frame 0)

11) Hit Play and don't pass your mouse over anything that will preview a pose or animation, or we'll have to start over

12) It'll take a little while for the transfer to complete - good time to get a cup of coffee

13) Upon completion, since we're in the DS Timeline, we'll be on the last frame of the animation

14) Hit the rewind button to go back to frame 0

15) Turn Off Bone Minion's Automatic Pose Transfer**

16) In the scene pane, select G8F

17) Go back into aniMate 2 and right-click an empty part of aniMate 2 > Create aniBlock from Daz Studio's Timeline

18) Play it through in aniMate 2 to verify the everything is right.

19) Right-click the new aniBlock > Save as New > give your aniBlock a name and navigate to or create the folder to keep them in. aniMate defaults to the aniBlocks folder in your library, so the new folder can be put right there if you like

20) Select the newly saved aniBlock and click the garbage can icon above it to delete it from the scene

21) Select the aniBlock applied to Bone Minion and delete that one as well - in the timeline you'll notice that there are still some residual key frames on Bone Minion

22) In the scene pane, select the Bone Minion

23) Right-click the Timeline tab that you would use to open the Timeline pane > Clear Animation > Clear Figure Pose

24) Repeat the process for the new aniBlock.

It all goes very smoothly. Easier to do than to type.

* Only available if you've purchased a Bone Minion.

Bone Minion folder - if you have more than one Bone Minion for Genesis 3 Poses, there will still only be the one Genesis 3 Female Bone Minion. If you own the correct one, it will work on the figure you've applied it to.

When I work on these projects, I prefer to use (in this example) G8F Base Figure, rather than a character, just to make sure that the data is made for and taken from the main, base figure. It might not make a difference - so if I just want to do one conversion while my character is open, I'll go ahead and make the conversion (it's just joint rotation data after all) and also save the resulting aniBlock to potentially (definitely in my case) save time down the road.

** Automatic Pose Transfer On/Off is, unfortunately animatable. Meaning that, if it's already On and we turn it Off on the last frame, it's still On on the first frame.

When Automatic Pose Transfer is active (On), it will constantly send pose-change information to the target. You don't want that to happen any time except when actually transferring. Get into the habit of keeping this turned off except during the transfer, and Always at frame 0!

To Help Illustrate the Points Mentioned Above

I just used one of the Zombie Walks (Walk In Place - no forward movement) from my new pack, and made a "Rough Ride" on a motorcylce animation out of it.

01) Removed all key frames for the arms, head/neck, and legs

02) Loaded my new Cyberpunk Motorcycle by Charlie

03) Removed all key frames from Rosie > Properties (before the hip, the overall figure translation, which didn't contain any useful data as it's all in the hip)

04) Repositioned Rosie to the seat of the motorcycle

05) Posed the arms, legs hands, neck and head

06) Parent the motorcycle to Rosie's hip

07) Scroll along the Timeline and re-orient Rosie (watching the motorcycle) to counter the hip motions in order to keep the motorcycle traveling in the correct direction

08) With the hands firmly on the handlebars, Ctrl+Select each hand, then the motorcycle and ran LimbStick

09) Selected Rosie (motorcycle parented to her hip) and Created a New Group, parenting her inside of it

10) Moved the group and set the wheel-spin to the appropriate speed to get the proper motion through 3D space

11) Simulated the hair

12) Loaded my new M.O.A.B Missile Silo, positioned it to fit the animation

13) Create Camera > Set DoF throughout the animation

14) Save (third time by this point)

Watching this animation both through the render camera and from a distance through Perspective view, it looks Fantastic!!!

It's seem at the beginning of this little tutorial I did:

https://youtu.be/t2qqqxD6QrA

I'm all fired up because I just got the Zombie pack that I really wanted by Mocap Online. 

Rosie wanted me to buy something small to test out a new credit card - make sure it works before we need it tomorrow. 

When not on sale, this pack is over $40 and worth every penny. But with the Wishlist sale, I got a Massive discount! 

I couldn't take it anymore. I paused the animation I was rendering, cleared the scene and built a really cool animation. It's nothing like the actual motion anymore but it looks Fantastic so far. Simulating the hair as I type this. 

Seriously, after reading through the above post, check out the SketchFab preview of this pack. While you're in 3D mode watching these motions, try thinking outside the box. Imagine that it's not a Zombie, but one of your favorite characters. Now what could you do differently to the motion (if anything at all) to make it work on that character? Thinking along these lines... you'll start to see something. The more you start putting these techniques to use, the more your mind will open up as you look at motions. 

You'll start seeing partials in the motions that could really benefit you - so you'll take a break from what you were doing, save your work, load in a base figure and start applying the aniBlocks, Bake to the Timeline, select all of the keys for the partial you want to make and copy them. Clear the figure - Paste. Go back to aniMate 2 and Create New aniBlock from Timeline. Get rid of the original aniBlock, re-enable the aniMate timeline, right-click > Save As New, and put it in your Partials folder! Harder to type and/or read than it is to do!

You don't have to be working on a superhero movie to find good use from a superhero pack. Just saying! ;)

I like to make time for "Partial Creation Sessions", where I browse through my aniBlock collection looking for things like:

* Interesting arm movements that would look good in other situations - always keeping an eye out for arm movements to add to walks, for example. But adding them to idles and nearly any other type of full motion is equally beneficial.

* Hip, Leg and Foot motions that might go with other animations. It's more rare, but sometimes I like being able to override the hip legs and feet, rather than just using that whole motion and overriding the arms, neck and head. Like I said, it's rare, but when I see one I grab it.

* Full Torso with arms, hands, neck and head included. Basically the opposite of the above search and is much more common for me to grab these than the other.

* Head and neck movements.

When I'm on these creation sessions, I categorize the partials into folders that match which limbs are used, like Head_Neck, Arms_Only, Arms_Head_Neck... that sort of thing - all within a single folder that I call "Partials".

I capture the entire motion capture for these partials, even when my initial intent might only be to use part of it. 

So when I have a bunch of these, the fact that I have them sticks in my head, much like they way my purchased aniBlock packs do. This makes it easy for me to quickly decide to do a particular action for the story. My first thought is always the main motion that the character has to partake in. Is the character moving to or away from something? Backward, Forward, to one side or the other? Jumping, standing still... etc.,

As soon as I know that, I almost always know the rest. And I almost always think of several base motions that would get me there, which in turn tells me exactly what sort of Partials I want to try.

To get this job done, I collect as many aniBlock packs as I can get my hands on - whatever the subject matter of the pack. For example, I am entirely tired of seeing freaking zombies everywhere. I mean... I don't mind them, but the last thing I want to render... yeah... Zombies.

So for the longest time I didn't collect any of the many various Zombie packs. But I did have some packs that had Zombie motions. When I tried them out, huh... I can use these!!! And not for Zombies, but for my characters when they're injured or trying to pass through a force field, or...

As I started collecting the Zombie packs I was previously ignoring, I started to realize how valuable the motions are for characters that are nothing similar to a Zombie. Even regular people can benifit from these motions in part or even in whole. Our Control Dials can do wonders for changing up and entire motion's behavior and effect - story wise...  as can Partials!!!

I'm also not really wanting to make a presentation on dancing. But dance moves of all types are really handy to have. Sometimes a bit of dancing is exactly what the scene needs. Other times just a bit of dance motion combined with an entirely different torso, arm, head and neck partial won't turn out to be dancing at all, but a really cool action that has some real attitude about it - something that's also quite unique and looks really good.

Office actions are captured office moves. Plain and simple. But they don't have to end up as the character being in the office. Sometimes a typewriter motion on the arms, head and neck can work really great for something entirely different, like playing a guitar (using dials to rotate the arm sections around correctly according to the instrument model) or standing at star ship controls. 

The point I'm trying to convey here is that we shouldn't think about the action that aniBlocks are captured from, but rather, what motion they 're making and what else we can do with it.

One aniBlock I have is for chugging down a drink, cocking the head back.

I made a partial of just the arms through the fingers. So this patial has one hand by the side, moving but only enough to look "alive" and the other hand just goes up to the face. Into it actually.

This is one of my main partials for tucking the hair back behind the ear - one of them.

This was taken using GoFigure's "Calling a Pet" for V4/M4. After the hands get to the knees, I delete all the rest of the key frames for both collars when they're collapsed, which also deletes the keys for the entire limb and all fingers. Keeping that set of key frames when the hands reach the knees, I delete all the rest of those collasped collar keys between that and the first frame of animation. 

Then I go to the point in time where I kept the keys - the point where her hands touch her knees, and I adjust the various joints to place the closed fists aggressively on the table. While on that frame, I Crtl+Select each hand and then the table top and run LimbStick - setting it to run from that frame to the point where she stands back up. Worked perfectly the third try.

Finally I work out the final resting place for the limbs and work out the beginning and end transitions to and from the LimbStick work. 

The whole process didn't take long at all.

A fun little behind-the-scenes look at GoFigure recording the motion capture for Martial Arts packs

https://youtu.be/pqM33SNBsN0