Hi folks, I'm trying to animate a sequence using V3, and so far all is dandy. I've done this a hundred times and never had a problem, although I've never added a blink to the animation before either. So here's the problem. 60 frame animation. at frame 40, blink (left and right) set to zero, at 45 set to .9 and at 50 set to 0 again. This part works FINE. The REST of the animation, frames 0-40, however are all messed up. She negatively blinks, widening her eyes so far it looks like her eyes are going to pop out of her head! The only way I've been able to stop it is to make the blink morphs have a key frame on every single frame where it's set to zero. Suboptimal. Any suggestions, or knowledge as to why this is happening? Thanks! (I would've cross posted to the animation forum but it would seem I can't. Ah well.)

Oh yes! I (and others to follow) know what the problem is! You have inadvertantly engaged spline interpolation after the blink. When I am inserting a blink, i ususally do this: key at 40 value zero key at 41 value zero key at 44 value .9 or 1 or so key at 47 value zero key at 48 value zero and then make SURE 41-47 are linear interpolation. The extra keys outside the blink are like firewalls to keep the extreme slope of the blink from setting off spline craziness. Do you use the graph? it's realy easy to spot in graph mode. ::::: Opera :::::

There's an easier way. Set the very first frame to "constant' interpolation. The keyframe should be white and the value = 0 After that, every new key frame should default to white until you change it deliberately.. What I do then is set a keyframe at 41 (value stays at 0) and another one at frame 44 (value still stays at 0). Then I set a keyframe at 42 with a value of 1.0 and spline interpolation (green keyframe). Then I select keyframes 41 through 44, copy them, and I past them along the timeline as desired. I can easily look at the timeline and see where the blinks are on the first eye and use that to set up the blinks on the second eye. By doing it this way I only have to make worry about the interpolation once at frame 0 and then once when the blink is fully down. The "constant' (white) keyframe at 41 and 44 act as the 'firewall" between that blink and any others. I apparantly set faster blinks than ya'll do, but that's just a matter of personal preference. My experimentation showed me that the initial down movement of my eyelid is faster than it's return to the up position.

Bobasaur, let's just say you have 'another' way. WIth the suggestion I posted, you can do cut and paste and prpogation to the other eye after setting up one set. Also, if constant for the eyes throughout the animation is not correct (there might be a reason blankpixel has splines set on the eyes) and especially if you are placing blinks into an animation that already has lots of eyelid movement (using the Blink morph dial for expression, for instance) you system won't work. The important thing, blankpixel, is to firewall off your blink from 'going spline' in frames near by. ::::: Opera ::::

Good point about the integration of other 'blink' movements. I use them so rarely that I find it just as easy to go back in on a case by case basis and insert them. When I do I simply make the post blink keyframe a spline or linear rather than constant. But that's just me. I really wish Poser had Bezier curves (with handles) in its graph editor. Then you wouldn't have to anchor (or 'firewall') the blink via extra keyframes (your technique) or constant keyframes (my technique). ;-)

I saw a demo of graph editing of animation curves in Character Studio and was droooling over curves with tangental lines and handles. I think it's there in Motion Builder also. ::::: envy ::::: I like your method, and since I personally no longer use the BlinkLeft or BlinkRight morph for anything except blinking, it will be testing it out. Thanks.

I would convert all the motion to linear interpolation and use 3 key frames per blink (opened-closed-opened). This would save keyframes and ensure that the eyeslids stayed at a constant state when not blinking. How much fluidity do you need in an eyelid motion anyway?

Wow, you guys all rock. I sort of gave up on getting any useful help when Daz tech support replied with basically "it's a bug, deal with it." and yet here you are providing graphs and everything! Thanks so much. I'm about to start work, and I'll check back in a couple of hours to ask more questions and/or tell you what I did and maybe even show off an animation. :) Thanks!

please show off animation!

Countach, Your method is essentially the same as mine. I just don't like having the brown colored squares going across the timeline between keyframes. I often set keyframes on specific attributes that I'm not animating in the timeline simply to use as markers. This is especially true when I'm animating to music, or when I set up several different shots on the same timeline. For that reason, I don't want anything on the timeline that doesn't have to be there. It's just a personal preference. ;-)