Oh this is music to my ears!
I've been hoping and waiting for the day when the Mixer was going to be
looked at again.
To beat a dead horse, and to repeat what I've said in years past.
Check out Hash's Animation Master's use of the Mixer. They simply have
the most elegant implementation I've found.
The idea is that if you keyframe in the scene, there is a "Scene Clip"
that exists in the Mixer on a per-model basis (at least in A:M). That
way the Mixer behaves as it always has, but now you have a new "scene
clip" that exists for each Model. Now you can blend the "Scene Clips"
with the traditional clips and viola! Your mixing Scene Animation with
Traditional Clips! Scene clips are just proxy's of the timeline, and
dynamically change based on what you do in the timeline.
Just throwing that out there.. it's pretty much what Mike said. ;-)
I sure hope you guys can find time to look at and even add-on to the
existing mixer.
"... It'd be a whole lot cooler if you did".
Thanks for reading!
jeff.
JEFFREY DATES
CREATIVE
DIRECTOR
![]()
Mike Werckle wrote:
Thanks for everyone's responses. It seems like people who
use the
mixer a lot can all agree that it needs some improvement in some
areas-- not that it's bad the way it is, just that it could be even
more useful.
I think everyone can agree that it would be useful to be able to
animate directly into a clip, then to be able to open that clip and
manipulate the fcurves the same way you would with a normal animation
in the timeline.
Another issue which hasn't been broached is the concept of the mixer
view. Often you have clips on many different mixers in the scene.
Do you think it would be helpful if there were a global mixer view
where you could display all of your tracks? You'd be able to see
clip relationships to each other in time, and work on all your clips
without having to close one mixer and open another.
Mike
On 1/30/06, Raffaele Fragapane <jaco(at)thejaco.com> wrote:
in
my opinion, human interface wise you can easily get the best of both
worlds without compromising retrocompatibility or the current workflow
the mixer should have one permanent background track (that adapts to
the
selection/keying set and not to the whole scenespace/modelspace) and
this track should be, by default, weighted at 0 (to not change the
behaviour of old scenes).
this background track could then be dealt with like any other clip in
the mixer, shifting or scaling it back and forth should modify the
keyframes (makes for an easier life then having to switch to the
dopesheet for just that), and bringing its weight up should mix it with
the actual clips in the way a normal clip would.
this doesn't get anywhere near to the dream of having channel based
clips and a basic nodal interface common to the whole app to manage
them; but it would make the mixer (and clipFX) a LOT more useful
It could then be expanded on further by being able to create more of
such background animation tracks and being able to toggle the
display/activity of each in the fcurve editor, this would also allow for
interesting things like easily accessible multiple and blendable sets
of
expressions and constraints (which can already be effectively stored in
clips and managed up to a certain point).
while the actual backend and coding work behind this isn't probably
anywhere as easy as it seems, and there would be some circularity to
resolve, I believe it would be a sensible step forward that doesn't take
away what's good already in the NLA system, and it shouldn't alienate
those who want no changes to the current workflow
oh well, just thinking aloud here.
******************************
| Raffaele Fragapane |
| Rising Sun Pictures |
| "Remember, TD is for TopDog" |
******************************
olivier jeannel wrote:
> I agree in some way.
> Although I think it's nice to have the Mixer overiding the
Timeline,
> perhaps the solution could be to have a special
"Timeline-Transition"
> to smoothly blend between both "world".
>
>
> Rafe Sacks a écrit :
>
>> Hi,
>>
>>
>> There is one behavior I think needs to be altered. When there
is
>> ActionSource data and key frame data on the same object, the
key
>> frames don't kick in until the clip is at 0% influence. It
really
>> should blend properly. It would cut out several steps and make
>> animating so much easier.
>>
>> I always loved the idea of a track in the mixer which would
allow an
>> Animator to automatically key there instead of directly on the
>> object. I found a way to do it, but I figured it would take a
couple
>> months to develop the idea and I just don't have the time. It
should
>> be possible though.
>>
>>________________________________
>>R A F E S A C K S
>>Lead Character TD - Technical
>>Animal Logic Film
>>+612 9383 - 4800
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> olivier jeannel wrote:
>>
>>> Hi Mike,
>>> Maybe I don't get your point clearly but I almost disagree
with you :
>>> -"You have to animate, then save a clip and remove the
animation
>>> from the character, then re-apply the animation, so on and
so forth. "
>>> -No, both exist, personaly I like not to "remove original
animation"
>>> from the time + "copy cut key" line and just let the Mixer
Clip
>>> override it or not.
>>> -"When setting a keyframe on an object, XSI would
automatically
>>> start creating a clip on a track in the timeline"
>>> - Yes but starting creating a clip automaticaly, that
would make
>>> tons of clips to scroll in. I prefer make the original
move, and
>>> then if necessary Store it into parts (upper body, arms,
etc. ) as I
>>> wish, instead of an automatic thing...
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Mike Werckle a écrit :
>>>
>>>> There was a thread recently about using the mixer for
animation,
>>>> and it got me thinking of a question I've had about
XSI for some time.
>>>>
>>>> Why is there a distinction between animation existing
"out in the
>>>> world" (or on the timeline I guess), and animation
existing "in a
>>>> clip?" For that matter, why does "out in the world"
even exist,
>>>> other than it's just the way that people are used to
working?
>>>>
>>>> Why can't animation exist both on the timeline and in
a clip?
>>>>
>>>> In my work as a character animator, I have fallen in
love with some
>>>> of the functionality of the mixer, but the work flow
seems a little
>>>> stodgy. You have to animate, then save a clip and
remove the
>>>> animation from the character, then re-apply the
animation, so on
>>>> and so forth.
>>>>
>>>> It seems to me it would solve some workflow problems
if there was
>>>> no such thing as "out in the world," only clips on
tracks. When
>>>> setting a keyframe on an object, XSI would
automatically start
>>>> creating a clip on a track in the timeline. You
could then
>>>> duplicate and trim and mix the clip, isolate loops,
whatever, then
>>>> open the clip and edit the keyframes with the same
ease you have as
>>>> when they are in the world. (You can open the clip
and edit
>>>> individual keyframes in the current setup, but the
curves are all
>>>> lumped together and not neatly arranged on nodes
anymore.)
>>>>
>>>> I realize that "in the world" probably isn't going to
go away, but
>>>> what do people think about the idea of being able to
animate
>>>> directly into a clip, and see immidiatley how it's
going to "mix"
>>>> in? What would some of the issues/problems be with
that way of
>>>> doing things?
>>>>
>>>> Mike
>>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>>
>>> Olivier Jeannel
>>>
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