Hi

I started doing animation in Poser about a year ago in Poser 6.

I tend to just do stuff without really understanding what I'm doing, I just kind of go at it.

Now I'm Working in Poser 9 and for the first time I noticed Animation Layers.

How do you use animation layers, I don't even get the concept, can someone explain how they are used or point me to a link that explains the whole thing in simple terms?

I'm really into the animation thing now, so I guess it's time to actually learn something about what I'm doing. LOL

Mike

Quote - How do you use animation layers, I don't even get the concept, can someone explain how they are used or point me to a link that explains the whole thing in simple terms?

Start off by looking at the "Layers Tab" section in the manual. The key concept is "Non-Linear Animation".

Hi

Ok I get that, can someone give my an example of how I can use this.

This sounds like something that might be good with hair movement.

Hair movement gives me a lot of problems, always going off in the wrong direction etc.

So how would I apply it in a real world sense step by step?

I.e. how do I create a layer just for hair, if it stops it being affected by everything else and lets me work with it alone that might help.

Do I have the correct idea about what a layer does or not?

I'm trying to get my animations to look more realistic and less stiff.

Mike

Animation layers are very similar to layers in Photoshop...

Let's say you made an animation of Victoria 4 walking... you've got everything setup, and it looks good but then you notice that her feet are going through the floor.

Well most of the time going through and fixing it and adding new key frames to an already existing layer will mess up the animation, make her do wacky stuff like kick her feet too far in the air or something.

This is where layers come in handy. What you do is go to "Window > Animation Palette" and select the Layers tab, then click "New," be sure to click "Composite Method: Add," this will not overwrite the current animation, it will just add to it.

Then what you'd do is select the feet and then select "Window > Graph" and begin to modify the bend, twist and side-side parameters of the feet and toes. Remember to add and delete key frames on the feet, so there are no strange bends or movements... then when you're done the feet should be moving correctly, but none of the other body parts will be affected. :)

Animation layers are also good for adding expressions to the animation without changing the body movements, this way if the expression was to mess the animation up you could just delete the layer and start over.

I hope this helps... Here's a tutorial if you need more help:

http://poser.smithmicro.com/tutorials/animation_layers.html

Let me know if you have any more questions :)

HI

This is what I was looking for.

Thanks for the help.

Mike

Glad to help :)