This asset imports multiple motion capture files and generates an animated rig driven by CHOPs using inverse or forward kinematics.
It generates the rig inside its own subnet.
You can get Acclaim motion files from: CMU Graphics Lab Motion Capture Database
Parameters
Controls
Skeleton File .asf
The Acclaim Skeleton file to load.
Framerate
Motion files usually have an higher framerate than the render framerate. Set the rate to match the motion data.
Mocap Clip
A dynamic menu listing all the CHOP nodes inside the nested mocap CHOPnet. Selecting an entry toggles the Export flag on the associated CHOP node and modifies the global animation range to fit the animation. You can disable CHOP export by selecting None.
Reload
Clears the content of the subnet and reloads the mocap rig and animation from files.
Clear
Clears the content of the subnet.
Reload when Loading Scene
Forces reloading of the mocap rig and animation when opening the scene.
Automatically Load Motion Files from Skeleton Folder
Automatically search for .amc files in the folder of the .asf file when reloading.
It will also look for an index.txt
file to rename the clips based on the amc filenames.
If you have 126_01.amc
and 126_02.amc
, the files should have the following format:
126_01<tab>This is the description for Animation 01 126_02<tab>This is the description for Animation 02
FK/IK Mode
The rig can be generated using FK or IK.
Dual bone chains with twist affectors
IK Bone chains with 2 bones can be generated with a twist affector.
Define IK Chains (More than 2 bones)
Enables the manual definition of IK bone chains with more than 2 bones. This reduces the number of IK affectors on the chains with more than 2 bones.
IK Chains List
A multi line string where each line represent an IK bone chain. Use the chain root name and the chain end affector name separated by a space.
<IK Chain Root Joint> <IK Chain End Affector>
Bone Length
The rig’s bone lengths can be driven using CHOP if the mocap included translation data.
Don’t Overrride Channels
Don’t animate/override bone lengths.
Always Overrride Channels
Always animate/override bone lengths, even if the bone lengths don’t change.
Automatically Override Channels
Detect if bone lengths are animated and override bone lengths.
Output Folder
Specify a writable folder where animation and temporary files are generated.
Keep Temporary Files (.cmd, .txt)
Keep temporary files generated by the mcacclaim utility and by this script.
Load Motion Files from Skeleton Folder
Manually reload the .amc files from the skeleton folder. It populates the motions files entries.
Number of Motion Files
List of pairs of motion file path and motion name to create. You can generate multiple motions during a single import.
motion1
Path to a .amc motion file.
name1
Node name to use for the corresponding CHOP file node.
Convert Log
Command line output of mcacclaim utility. It can output errors or warnings.
Transform
Transform
Transform Order
The left menu chooses the order in which transforms are applied (for example, scale, then rotate, then translate). This can change the position and orientation of the object, in the same way that going a block and turning east takes you to a different place than turning east and then going a block.
The right menu chooses the order in which to rotate around the X, Y, and Z axes. Certain orders can make character joint transforms easier to use, depending on the character.
Translate
Translation along XYZ axes.
Rotate
Degrees rotation about XYZ axes.
Scale
Non-uniform scaling about XYZ axes.
Pivot
Local origin of the object. See also setting the pivot point .
Uniform Scale
Scale the object uniformly along all three axes.
Modify Pre-Transform
This menu contains options for manipulating the pre-transform values. The pre-transform is an internal transform that is applied prior to the regular transform parameters. This allows you to change the frame of reference for the translate, rotate, scale parameter values below without changing the overall transform.
Clean Transform
This reverts the translate, rotate, scale parameters to their default values while maintaining the same overall transform.
Clean Translates
This sets the translate parameter to (0, 0, 0) while maintaining the same overall transform.
Clean Rotates
This sets the rotate parameter to (0, 0, 0) while maintaining the same overall transform.
Clean Scales
This sets the scale parameter to (1, 1, 1) while maintaining the same overall transform.
Extract Pre-transform
This removes the pre-transform by setting the translate, rotate, and scale parameters in order to maintain the same overall transform. Note that if there were shears in the pre-transform, it can not be completely removed.
Reset Pre-transform
This completely removes the pre-transform without changing any parameters. This will change the overall transform of the object if there are any non-default values in the translate, rotate, and scale parameters.
Keep Position When Parenting
When the object is re-parented, maintain its current world position by changing the object’s transform parameters.
Child Compensation
When the object is being transformed, maintain the current world transforms of its children by changing their transform parameters.
Enable Constraints
Enable Constraints Network on the object.
Constraints
Path to a CHOP Constraints Network. See also creating constraints.
Tip
You can you use the Constraints drop down button to activate one of the Constraints Shelf Tool. If you do so, the first pick session is filled automatically by nodes selected in the parameter panel.
Note
Lookat and Follow Path parameters on object nodes are deprecated in favor of Look At and Follow Path constraints. The parameters are only hidden for now and you can set their visibitily if you do edit the node’s parameter interface.
Misc
Set Wireframe Color
Use the specified wireframe color
Wireframe Color
The display color of the object
Viewport Selecting Enabled
Object is capable of being picked in the viewport.
Select Script
Script to run when the object is picked in the viewport. See select scripts .
Cache Object Transform
Caches object transforms once Houdini calculates them. This is especially useful for objects whose world space position is expensive to calculate (such as Sticky objects), and objects at the end of long parenting chains (such as Bones). This option is turned on by default for Sticky and Bone objects.
See the OBJ Caching section of the Houdini Preferences window for how to control the size of the object transform cache.
See also |