Animate2 For Daz Studio Serial Number
AniMate2 User GuideWe are always looking for way to improve our documentation and videos. If you have questions please let us know.We have included videos for each section of the User Guide. Any time you see this icon., click on it to watch.The Basics - Overview of Our Approach to AnimationAniMate2 takes a building block approach to 3D animation. Animations are broken down into editable chunks (aniBlocks) that can be stored and reused similar to the way video clips are used in a video editing application. Just as video editing software doesn’t care how the video clips were created, aniMate doesn’t care where the animation clips were created either. AniMate2 is a DAZ Studio plugin and can only be used within DAZ Studio. A DAZ Studio scene is made up of a collection of objects.
Objects are things like characters, cameras, lights and props. All objects in a DAZ Studio's scene can be aniMated with aniBlocks.AniMate2 was designed to be as easy to use as is possible, with special emphasis on human/character movement. The 'blocked' nature of aniBlocks allows you to create compelling animated scenes with great ease. Moving aniBlocks Around on the TimelineAniBlocks are moved by grabbing the middle of the block and dragging it along the timeline. Multiple aniBlocks can be moved at once by shift-clicking them and then dragging. There are two different 'Layout Modes' that affect how aniBlocks interact when you move them around in the timeline. The default layout mode is 'Sparse'.
In Sparse mode you can put aniBlocks anywhere you want along the timeline leaving gaps. The other mode is 'Packed'. In Packed mode the aniBlocks all stack together with no gaps starting with the beginning of the timeline. When dragging an aniBlock in Packed mode it assumes you want to switch the position of that aniBlock with another. You will see a red line appear where the aniBlock will be placed when you drop it. You can move aniBlocks between tracks by holding down the shift key. Block Mode EditingWhen you single click on an aniBlock you enter 'Block Mode'.
A new set of tools show up directly above the timeline as illustrated below.When you edit an aniBlock in 'Block Mode' you are editing the aniBlock as a whole and not the individual keyframes inside it. While some of the tools described below certainly affect the keyframes (for instance 'Reverse' switches the order of the keyframes) you are not 'editing' individual keyframes. To edit individual keyframes you will need to be in 'Keyframe Mode'.Keyframe Mode:This allows you to enter keyframe mode of the currently selected aniBlock.Speed:This tool allows you to adjust the speed the aniBlock will play. 50% would mean the aniBlock will animate the character at half speed and take twice as long to complete. You'll notice that as you adjust the speed, the aniBlock's length will adjust accordingly. If there is another aniBlock after it, that aniBlock may get pushed further down the timeline to make room for it if it's lengthened, or a gap may be created if the aniBlock is shortened.NOTE: Grabbing the handle of an aniBlock and changing it's length is not the same as changing the length via the speed control.Facing Direction Offset:This tool allows you change the facing direction (Y axis rotation) of your character at the beginning of an aniBlock.
Let's say your character walks around a corner and now needs to open a door, but it's not lined up accurately to have the hand grab the doorknob. You can use this tool to change the facing direction of any of the aniBlocks along the sequence to get your character perfectly aligned.Reorient Block:This toggle switch is on by default. When it is on, the horizontal position of the hips at the end of the prior aniBlock becomes the new starting point for this aniBlock. The facing direction of the hips at the end of the prior aniBlock also becomes the new orientation for this aniBlock. You may notice aniMate quantizes this facing direction to multiples of 45 degrees.
Those that need finer control can offset this with the Facing Direction Offset.Reorient Loop:This toggle switch is on by default. It acts exactly the same way as Reorient Block but does it for loops inside your selected aniBlock.Split aniBlock:Press the split button when the playhead is above a selected aniBlock at the place were you want to split it. Your aniBlock will split into two pieces. Each piece still has the entire animation in it so if you stretched out the aniBlock it would be revealed. If you want to have an aniBlock that contains a cropped animation, you should use the crop tool next.Join aniBlocks:The Join tool will make one aniBlock out of two or more adjacent aniBlocks. To use it, select two or more aniBlocks that are side by side and then click.
The new 'combined' aniBlock will be named the same as the first (earliest in the timeline) aniBlock in your selection. It might be a good idea to save your new aniBlock with a new name.Crop aniBlock:The Crop tool can be seen as doing two things. First, it will remove all keyframes from the selected aniBlock that are not visible. Secondly, it rebuilds the selected aniBlock to contain only the part that you want to keep. Just click the button after you have trimmed, stretched or split an aniBlock to the size you want it.Reverse aniBlock:This reverses the order of keyframes in the selected aniBlock.Invert aniBlock:Inverting an aniBlock changes all property values from positive to negative and vice versa. This will be more useful for morph aniBlocks.
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You should try it out on a full body aniBlock if you want to see some freaky effects. You can always hit the button again to change it back again.Mirror aniBlock:This tool allows you to mirror the aniBlock across its X Axis. Example, a punch with the right hand, would become a punch with the left hand (see image at right). Click it again to switch back.Delete aniBlock:Probably no explanation needed here. Hit the button and the aniBlock goes bye-bye.This would be a good place to mention that if you hit the delete key on your keyboard thinking that it will delete an aniBlock, you will probably see your character and the tracks associated with it disappear instead. This is because we cannot take control over certain keys from DAZ Studio (the delete key is one of them) and so the delete key removes the selected item from the scene. If you end up deleting your character just hit undo and your character and tracks will come back.Save aniBlock:Clicking this button gives you the standard 'Save' dialogue box.
Name your aniBlock, pick a location to save it and then click 'Save'.Align aniBlocks:This tool will align all the currently selected aniBlocks to the nearest guide. Guides are the inverted triangles found next to the zoom slider.Keyframe Mode EditingDouble click on the selected aniBlock to enter Keyframe Edit Mode.
In this mode you will see the keyframes of the selected block and have new tools to use. The new toolbar looks like this:After you are in Keyframe Mode the aniBlock you double-clicked will look something like this.Exit Keyframe Mode: Click to get out of keyframe mode.Level Picker: This dropdown lets you pick what level you want to see and/or edit. All prebuilt aniBlocks will have animation on the 'Base' level. There are 14 other levels that you can use.
Levels are keyframe layers that are used to offset the animation of the base keyframe layer/level. So let's say you have an aniBlock where the character kicks in the air about chest height and you want the kick to go well above the head. You can now go to 'Level 1' and add a new keyframe at the peak of the kick that rotates the leg to it's new height. You didn't re-key the base level, you added an offset that can easily be adjusted or deleted altogether, leaving your original keyframes untouched. It's a very liberating way to edit animations without the fear of messing anything up. In the image to the right you will notice that the Base level has 95 keyframes, level 1 has 4 keyframes and level 1 is the currently selected level.Part or All: There are two different modes you can keyframe in, 'Part' and 'All'. 'Part' Mode only shows you the keyframe information for the part you currently have selected.
For instance, if you have the foot of your character selected, you only see keyframes for that foot and no other parts of the character. Also, when you add or delete a keyframe it only affects the selected part. 'All' mode, on the other hand, shows you all the keyframe information for the whole character.
For instance, if you have no keyframes set for the foot, but you do have keyframes set for the hip, you would still see the keyframes for the hip even though you have the foot selected. In other words, you will not be able to see which parts have keyframes because in 'All' mode you will see that there is a keyframe set but it could be on just one part or on all parts.there is no way to know. When you add or delete keyframes in 'All' mode, it affects every part of your character.
Each mode has it's advantages and it will take you time to figure out which mode to use in different situations.Add Key: This button adds a key to the frame of the scrubber's current location. Adding a key means that you are saving the current values of the selected part or parts at a certain point in time. AniMate2, like all animation software interpolates the values (i.e. Rotation, translation and scale) of each part between keyframes. So if you have a key set on frame 1 for the foot, and the foot is placed on the ground and then on frame 10 the foot is off the ground about waist high, frames 2-9 will be filled in with new positions of the foot that move it smoothly from frame 1 to frame 10. Note – the Add keywill only add keys for parts that are already in the aniBlock.
It will not create keys for a part that has not already been keyed, even if that part is currently selected.Zero Key: This button adds a 'Zero' key to the frame where the scrubber is currently at. A Zero key sets the values of the keyframe on the current level to match the values of the 'Base' level. This is very useful when you trying to adjust the animation on the base level but only for a short segment of the aniBlock.
For instance, if you have an aniBlock of a kick and you want the kick to be higher, you would switch from the 'Base' level to another level (like level 1), then you would find the frame where the foot reached the peak of the kick and raise it up to it's new height. The foot is now higher at the peak of the kick but it is also higher on every other frame of the aniBlock.
This would not look good if when the foot returned to the ground after the kick it did not touch the ground, so you would add a 'Zero' key at the point the foot should hit the ground and it will return to the same position(on the ground) it was on the 'Base' layer. Using the Zero Key may take a little getting used to but it is extremely handy. Note: a Zero key only has an affect if you are a level other than the Base level.Delete Key: This button deletes any keyframe information from the frame of the scrubber's current location.Graph Editor: This button toggles the Graph Editor on and off. The Graph Editor is explained in it's own section below.Save aniBlock: This button brings up the standard 'Save' dialog box where you can name and save your aniBlock.There are 4 values types that have unique visual indicators in aniMate2 keyframes.
(Illustrated at left)1. (Note: This actually represents any value other than the first 3 but is most often a Morph.)When you are in Keyframe Mode (aniBlock's keyframes are visible) you will notice that any adjustment you make to your character will be reflected in the appearance of the current frame. If for instance, the current frame is empty and you rotated the arm of your character, the top half of the current frame will turn green. If the current frame already had a rotational value set, the value would be updated but you would see no visual change to the keyframe. Any combination of values can exist in a keyframe.If you are in 'Part' mode, some Studio properties can be adjusted on that part, but really exist on a different one and won't show up. 'All' mode does not have this issue.Keyframe LevelsIn aniMate2, all aniBlocks have a base keyframe level and keyframe levels 1-14. Levels are similiar to sub-tracks in how they work.
Levels allow for easy adjustments of existing aniBlocks.Levels 1-14 are for adjustments to aniBlocks. Levels add in their effect. Each level is evaluated individually and then combined. So for example, if you have a walk aniBlock, you can add 15 degrees of bend to every keyframe in the base level by adding a single 15 degree rotational keyframe on level 1. The adjustment's influence can be limited/blended in by placing zero keys on both sides of the adjustment.And good practice is to make all your adjustment to aniBlocks on level 2-14 and then flatten these adjustments to level 1.
Thus you keep the original base level intact and all adjustments to that aniBlock are contained to the levels.While making adjustment on levels 1-14, the 'Zero' and 'Key' buttons will only place keyframes on properties that already have keyframes at that level. For example, if you are on level 1 and you use the Studio dials to place a keyframe on the left arm to rotate 15 more degrees, the key and zero button will put rotational keys on the left arm, but not on the right arms. See below for the contrasting behavior.The base keyframe level is meant for the creators of original aniBlocks. The 'Zero' and 'Key' buttons will place keys on every property in the aniBlock. Suppose you start with an empty aniBlock with all the motion properties. While you are on the base level, you use the Studio dials to place a keyframe on the left arm to rotate 15 more degrees, the key and zero buttons will put more than just a single rotational keyframe on the left arm. They will put a keyframe on every property contained in the aniBlock.After watching a video demo once to see how it is done, we are confident anyone can use keyframe levels to make adjustments to existing aniBlocks.Graph EditorThe graph editor allows the user introspection inside an aniBlock.
In block mode you build, in keyframe mode you adjust, in the graph editor you understand. Adjustments can be made with the graph editor, but level keyframing is usually better for that task. The graph editor is excellent at understanding what is going on inside your aniBlock and to clean things up.The graph editor is available from the Keyframe Mode Toolbar. Click the graph button to enter, click it again to exit. The graph editor will take as much vertical space as possible. The timeline tools (scrubber, zoom, play range scroll bar) will continue to work and are in the same horizontal scale as the tracks.Arranged in a tree structure according the the skeletal hierarchy, the properties that are contained in the block can be seen on the left. Expand and collapse the parts as necessary.
Selecting a property will display its graph. If you select a property or part and hit the delete key button, you will be asked if you want to remove entirely the respective properties from the aniBlock.While in the graph editor, another zoom bar is shown.
This corresponds to the vertical zoom of the graph. Adjust as necessary.
The mouse wheel in the graph editor also controls the vertical zoom.Also shown on the left is if that particular part/bone is turned on or off in the sub-track. You can click on the setting to toggle the part on or off for the sub-track.Select, Move, and adjust the points on the graph.To select, click on an open area and drag across the points you want, then release the mouse. You can then click(need to hit at least one selected point) and drag all the points together or delete them.