ok, to switch on the "locked parameters" did the trick with the animation
editor ;)
i checked in xsi4 and it worked there and found that this little
switch was not set in xsi 5.1 ... pfew... lets see what happens next
;)
ciao
franky
Monday, May 15, 2006, 9:21:26 PM, you wrote:
FL> thanks adam for your answer.
FL> would it be possible that you go abit more indepth when you say you
FL> use this workflow all the time? how? :)
FL> i try to build a little test course for that. so far i got a character
FL> mesh, a rig (from biped), and the resulting model referenced in a
FL> animation scene.
FL> i plan to update model and most of all the rig and keep the animation
FL> in the other scene intact!
FL> but i already stumble into problems like, why doesnt the animation
FL> editor show the curves on a referenced control? just plain nothing. i
FL> can go to the kinematics and click the animated entry right and call
FL> the animation editor. and THEN it shows me that one single curve. when
FL> i just hit 0 with the control selected it doesnt show me anything
FL> (tried all combinations of view settings as well).
FL> when the model is local(not referenced) it works like expected.
FL> another question, where do you save you the envelop datas? vertex
FL> weights? and what happens if you make changes to the model and reload
FL> the weight datas? how it gets applied when the vertex count changed??
FL> i understand gator and the power it has. but what i am after is not
FL> transferring stuff from low to highrez or different characters. its
FL> just one character :) and is gator good enough (and fast) to use the
FL> old mesh of the character and its skinning to drive a new version with
FL> different vertex count?
FL> ciao
FL> franky
FL> Monday, May 15, 2006, 7:13:44 PM, you wrote:
AS>> Hey Frank.. what you say is all possible and is something we try
AS>> to utilize on all of our projects to minimize the amount of repetition in character work.
AS>> GATOR works very well for passing assets such as
AS>> envelopes,shapes, UV's and textures back and forth between different res characters.
AS>> XSI also gives you the ability to save out .preset files of uvs,
AS>> weight and shapes that you can drag and drop onto other characters.
AS>> The main thing to keep in mind with swapping out deformers like
AS>> quat for FK spines in your example is to establish a naming
AS>> covention that works for you, as well as ensuring that the
AS>> deformers initial kineState is the same between old deformers you are replacing and the new ones..
AS>> You could also look at reference models for utilizing a non
AS>> destructive workflow between low, med and hi res characters that
AS>> all share the same skeleton and rig.
AS>> The workflow is there to be taken full advantage of, however you
AS>> still have to follow some fundamental steps to ensure flexibility
AS>> further into your production schedule.
AS>> Adam
AS>> ----- Original Message -----
AS>> From: Tim Leydecker <BauerOink(at)gmx.de>
AS>> Date: Monday, May 15, 2006 9:24 am
AS>> Subject: Re: Non Destructive Character Workflow
>>> Hi Frank,
>>>
>>> I haven´t touched the Animation mixer in XSI, nor animated at all
>>> so far but currently try to setup a PassSystem that should allow to
>>> move the Lighting stage infront of the Texturing.
>>>
>>> Basically, I do the lighting in greys plus a colored environment
>>> bounceand later add a flat textures pass plus a selfoccluding
>>> reflections pass
>>> from with the same colors.
>>>
>>> Here´s a breakdown of passes I´m playing with, I´m 75% there:
>>>
>>> Incident angle (camera position), no shadows/spec/refl/lights.
>>> Environment sampled occlusion, as above
>>> Ambient occlusion
>>> Fake shadow pass using a white Lambert material (not just shadows)
>>> (env) Reflections, via an amb_occ spread=0
>>> Optionally, a global broad specular pass to determine bounce area.
>>>
>>> For setting things up:
>>>
>>> The Incidence controls the amount of reflections with the viewing
>>> angle,facing get´s less reflections...
>>>
>>> The environmentsampled occlusion is used as the main filler, replacing
>>> a FG pass (to prevent flicker). You can try incidence and brad
>>> specularas the mask and take whatever you prefer.
>>>
>>> The Shadowpass is multiplied using a mask of the env sampled occlusion
>>> (multed over the incidence if you like).
>>>
>>> The stanadard occlusion is used to shade down caveats where
>>> neccessary.
>>> Boiling things down, the incidence brings the most *filmic* effect
>>> and makes
>>> it a joy to play around with front/backlights, e.g. the amount of
>>> fill and bounce.
>>>
>>> It´s a bit difficult for me currently to squeeze the colors in
>>> correctly without
>>> flattening out the tonalrange but as I said, I´m just ~75% there.
>>>
>>> Cheers
>>>
>>> tim
>>>
>>> P.S: You could also check out a SSS pass (for the textures) looks
>>> quite good.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "Daniel Bachmann" <dbachmann(at)mediagenerator.ch>
>>> To: <XSI(at)Softimage.COM>
>>> Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 12:12 AM
>>> Subject: Re: Non Destructive Character Workflow
>>>
>>>
>>> > hi franky,
>>> > actually i think this is a good idea to compile a workflow fact
>>> sheet.>
>>> > as newbie on xsi i cannot tell anything about that at this time
>>> but since i have
>>> > started to work on my new short that involves a lot of parallel
>>> working i can state
>>> > about my thoughts and workflow from time to time.
>>> >
>>> > so any pro hints are welcome about the non destructive workflow.
>>> >
>>> > daniel
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > Frank Lenhard wrote:
>>> >> Hello XSIlers
>>> >>
>>> >> i finally got a bit of time between projects and try out what i
>>> >> actually bought xsi for :) the ability to have
>>> >> modelling/texturing/rigging/animation in an almost paralle
>>> workflow.>>
>>> >> now my steps are rather small and slow at the moment but i
>>> would like
>>> >> to hear if ppl out there really using the promised flexibility
>>> and if
>>> >> there are traps and downfalls i should be aware of.
>>> >>
>>> >> i checked the xsi4 production series, which has some good hints
>>> here>> and there. i read the manuals on the topic. but i didnt
>>> found a
>>> >> "ready" workflow somewhere. like its advertised here
>>> >> http://www.softimage.com/about_us/pdf/getting_into_character.pdf
>>> >>
>>> >> i imagine the following scenario and would be happy to hear if its
>>> >> possible.
>>> >>
>>> >> naturally we would start with roughing out the character based
>>> on the
>>> >> designs. that would give us a model which already got the right
>>> >> proportions. but it might missing details like finders, face, toes
>>> >> whatever.
>>> >>
>>> >> this model gets passed on to the rigger, who builds a basic rig
>>> into>> it so it can be posed for animatics, layouts.
>>> >>
>>> >> thats what the animator is getting and starts on the preproduction.
>>> >>
>>> >> while the layouts are in works the modeller doesnt sleep but
>>> gets the
>>> >> model refined, also based upon client response, which might
>>> come late
>>> >> in the process. he applies textures+uvw's
>>> >>
>>> >> while the modeller is busy the rigger is building the actual
>>> rig for
>>> >> animation. with new revisions ready from the modeller he just takes
>>> >> the new model and has to reenvelope the newly added vertices.
>>> the rest
>>> >> of the skin stays intact.
>>> >>
>>> >> the first rigged char for animation gets to the animator who starts
>>> >> animating it.
>>> >>
>>> >> refinements are done to the model+textures and to the rig, as it
>>> >> appears that it needs to support moves there where not
>>> anticipated and
>>> >> where the rig currently breaks.
>>> >>
>>> >> the animator requests a quaternation spine instead of the fk spine.
>>> >> but he doesnt wanna lose the already made animations.
>>> >>
>>> >> the face rig becomes available and the animator takes his ready
>>> body>> animation and applies with the new face rig the facial
>>> >> animation+lipsynch.
>>> >>
>>> >> finally everything is finished and goes of for rendering.
>>> >>
>>> >> in a perfect world the modeller would finish shortly before the
>>> rigger>> who shortly finishes work before the animator.
>>> >>
>>> >> is THAT possible? at least that how the softimage advertisement
>>> sounds>> to me :)
>>> >>
>>> >> maybe if there is interest and several ppl know about different
>>> >> aspects about the pipeline, i can compile a little "how to" and
>>> "what>> to be aware of" list, so there is something we can safely
>>> go along in
>>> >> production.
>>> >>
>>> >> ciao
>>> >> franky
>>> >>
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>>> >>
>>> >>
>>> >
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