Skele: Character Animation Tools, Cutscenes and Animations authoring tools

Do you know if it is possible to use this to manipulate TextMesh Pro objects?

 

I have the latest Skele, just updated it. I have Unity 5.3.5 wich is incompitable I guess? And Windows ***Ofcourse*** And it happens on all Models.

 

I have this issue when compiling to iOS platform: " Assets/Skele/AnimatorSP/Files/AnimatorData.cs(289,9): error CS0103: The name `AssetDatabase' does not exist in the current context "
Do you have any idea what is causing this?
Thanks

 

Hi, Hazneliel,

Thanks for your feedback

For clip modification, There're several use-cases here:

For native Unity editor, you have limitations like:
1) Humanoid clip (if you have the archive file), you can use inspector to convert it to Generic and make some modifications, but you cannot convert it back to humanoid clip, as you need some tool like "DAE Exporter" to export an archive file.
2) Humanoid clip (no archive file), you cannot edit it;
3) Generic clip,
(1) you cannot tell where the bone is: you cannot see each bone's position/rotation, have to click each transform to look at single gizmos;
(2) it's hard to select the joint you need: For any non-trival model, (e.g.: most humanoid model) the hierarchy could easily go deeper than 10 levels. And you cannot select the bone by clicking on scene, you have to dig through the hierarchy window for each bone constantly.
(3) No IK solver: only FK, you will need to modify each joint manually;
(4) No constraints: Check the manual for details on constraints;

These are something I can think about immediately, just some high-level features, not a full list, no details either.

You could check the [Manual] for more info on Skele package.


Best regards, Be creative,

 

Hi, yoonack,

Thanks for the reporting,

I'll fix it as soon as possible, for now you could just workaround by commenting out line 289.

=====================================

updated: just submitted 1.9.6 p6 to fix this

Best regards,

 

Hi, alanmthomas,

Sorry, I don't have TextMeshPro, not sure how it's implemented.

But if it uses skinned meshes, then we can manipulate it.

Best regards,

 

Hi, Alfonso_CJ,

Could you help to check on Unity5.3.6/Unity5.4.0 to see if the issues persist?
There's a good chance it's the known issue of incompatibility on Unity5.3.5:
http://www.tmpxyz.com/Skele/docs/84-utility/81-f-a-q#known-compatibility-issue

Tell me if you still have the same issue there.

Best regards,

 

I'll just wait till it's fixed, I'm really busy right now, so I would'nt even be able to try it out at the moment.

 

Got it. You could try it out anytime you feel appropriate.

Just to clarify, this incompatibility issue roots in the Unity engine layer and is already fixed in the Unity5.3.6 and above versions. So there's no fix for "Unity5.3.5", an engine update is required.

Best regards,

 

Hi !

I've got a problem with an animation :
http://www.hostingpics.net/viewer.php?id=927449Bug.png

After exportation in 2 frames the animation don't be correct ...
Can you help me ?

Thanks for your answers
meTonne

 

Hi, meTonne,

Thanks for your feedback

I cannot see the very details from this pic, do you mean that:
You made an animation on the model, then you exported it with DAE exporter, but you find the animation in DAE archive different from the original one?


I need to know some more details here:
1. Please tell me your OS & Unity version, and if the Unity version you're using is compatible. (www.tmpxyz.com/Skele/docs/84-utility/81-f-a-q#compatibility)

2. If possible, please send the model & clips to me via mail (tmpxyz at gmail dot com). I will debug with it and make a quick fix if there's some issue during the exportation procedure.

(Just in case, in some versions of Unity, the animation preview window doesn't always show the motion the same as in game or in animation window, so better check it by put the exported clip in an Animator and play it to make sure)

Hope to hear from you soon,

Best regards,

 

Hi,
My Unity Version is 5.4.1f1,I use the Skele to make a very simple animation.In the animation tool the first posture is T pos and the ending posture is my defined pos(just stretched the model's lift arm used the IK),but the animation is wrong,the arm rotated strangly.And other models have the same problem.
T pos: Ending pos: middle:

 

I'm not sure if anyone else has a use case for gradually controlling the CCDSolver's rotation-tracking enabled by the Use Target Rotation checkbox, but if so, replace m_tr.rotation = m_target.rotation; in CCDSolverMB.cs with m_tr.rotation = Quaternion.Lerp(m_tr.rotation, m_target.rotation, m_influence);

I get why the script isn't like this already, but it might be nice to have it as an option in the future. Suddenly jerking to a new rotation after exiting 0-influence is odd behavior.

 

Thanks IFL, I will look into this one.
====
Just updated the code with your proposed change, the new update should be submitted soon.

 

Hi, eagle1098,

Thanks for your feedback

If it's for Unity before Unity5.3.4, I would direct you to this entry:
http://www.tmpxyz.com/Skele/docs/84-utility/81-f-a-q#why-is-my-rotation-twisted-when-animated

But as you're using Unity5.4.1 and judging from the pics you posted, it looks like some keyframe setting issues that popping up after 5.3.4.
It usually fixes itself after deleting and re-creating the keyframe. I've been trying to collect some materials easy to reproduce that.

It would be very helpful if you could send the model with the animation-clip in question to me: tmpxyz at gmail.

Best regards,

 

Hi, Developers,

Skele v1.9.6 p7 is online now.
The main focus is to adapt package to the API changes in incoming Unity5.5 series.
And merged in the changes provided by @IFL in #813

=======================================
1.9.6 p7 (Submitted on 2016/10/02)
Fix: CCDSolver "use target rotation" should respect the "influence" setting;
Change: adapt the API changes in Unity5.5;
=======================================


Best regards, Be creative,

 

Hi,

Sorry for the delay :s

Yes that it :/

I work with the Unit's version 5.3.4f1 and Win10

 

Hi

I have some questions concerning the capabilities of Skele:

1) Seems like Skele can visualize the bone weights, but can it also be used to paint weights?
2) Now this is more leftfield as I haven't read any mentioning of this, but is Skele able to visualize, and maybe even create/modify Shapekeys/Blendshapes?

Thus, the overarching question is: Can Skele replace an animation suite like Blender or Maya fully, thus also allow users to rig unrigged 3D Models, or is it more for taking already rigged models and bake keyframe animations for it?

Additionally, I am using quite some Blendshapes in my 3D characters to make sure everything deforms nicely. I have setup drivers in Blender to animate how the model looks with the blendshapes active during animation, but against all the wisdom of experts online it seems the current blender version actually DOES export the driver values as part of the animation clip, and these import to Unity just fine... What will Skele do with these Blendshape values that are baked into animations? Just ignore them? Overwrite them?
Not sure this really is a problem as I might want to drive the blendshapes from a Unity script anyway, just asking what Skele would do with these baked in values.

 

Hey mate,

I know you've explained this a million times already, but I'm having no joy at all, even after watching all the videos and even managing to do it last week ( And I stupidly forgot the steps to replicate it, all I remember it was a lot of hoops to jump though ).

Ok, as walkthrough:
I've loaded a model ( Model_A ) to mixamo and auto-rigged it.
Downloaded various animations from there.
I bring Model_A into Unity, it's a humanoid, and I can attach the animations to it.

What I want to do is to be able to alter the mixamo animations ( Basically I just want to alter his arm so I can have him carrying a gun when he's walking ).

I've tried exporting Model_A to Model_B using the dae exporter so he's now a generic rig rather than humanoid. In the original Model_A animator window I've selected the walking animation, and used the Muscle Clip Convert option to then convert that walking animation to a generic one ( And it stops it being Read Only )

The problem I'm having is that then in the Animation timeline ( For Model_B ), all the properties are showing up as yellow / no values, so any changes I make are added as a new property, and being ignored during playback. The generic walking animation works fine on Model_B, which is now a generic rig, it's just that I can't alter it.

Also, whilst I'm bugging you What's the best practise ? Should we convert to generic, alter pre-created animations, create our own etc. and then change everything back to humanoid for the IK features ?

Anyway, thanks for your time, and Skele is awesome, I'm really impressed by it.

Cheers.

PS. The law of posting on a forum says that I'll work it out myself 5 mins after hitting post and realise I've done something dumb.

PPS. Quick update, as I imagine everyone is on the edge of their seats to see where this story goes. So Yellow in the animation window means it's not targeted correctly, so I used the Animation Hierarchy script to re-target everything properly... stops the animation doing anything, he's just standing there lifeless. So correct mapping, no animation, seemingly broken mapping, works fine. None of the animations I'm using are either humanoid or read only, but any changes I make are lost the moment I click the record button off, including changes I do to a sprite I have within the skinned mesh structure.
Just for completeness, using the latest version of Skele, and Unity 5.4.1.f1

 

Hi, gian-reto-alig,

Thanks for the feedback

Nope, Skele doesn't do weight-paint.
There're very few suggestions that call for skinning, and 90% of them are requesting auto-skin, which is already covered by Adobe's Auto-rig (free).

Current Skele's implemented a mesh-modify system + custom runtime shape-key system (not native blendshape),

It's made quite a long time ago, At first we considered to exporting DAE archives to add blendshapes, but it would be a meaningless effort as Unity said there would be blendshape-related Unity API on plan, so we decided to wait for it. But it seems that the API is still not around yet.

I've not tried exporting driver values in animation clip, I will need to try it later.
But basically, even if the blendshape's value curve is included in clip, you could modify the clip and remove it, so that should not be a problem.

Best regards,

 

Good news, turns out I'm an idiot ( Hang on, wait a second... )

I'd created an empty gameObject to work as a parent, then dragged my animated skinned mesh into that. Then, thinking I was being a bit neater I moved the Animator class to this new root object.

I've not idea how the animation still worked when nothing technically was being targeted, but it's all good now.

Sorry to have wasted anyones time.

 

Hi, meTonne,

I've received an email with a model with no links to corresponding post, is that yours?

I made a video showing the exported clip:

You could also check the manual at:
http://www.tmpxyz.com/Skele/docs/81-exporter/77-dae-exporter-manual

Tell me if you still have trouble exporting the clip, and be sure to send the model and clip to me here.
if you're not allowed to send the model, we could do with the skeleton hierarchy; just make a whatever cubeman and skin it with the same skeleton.

Best regards,

 

Hi, Squize,

Glad to hear you've fixed that already,

Although you don't need it now, here's a video showing how to modify the clip to adjust to new hierarchy setup:

Here's the manual of more details:
http://www.tmpxyz.com/Skele/docs/84-utility/80-utilities?showall=&start=4

Best regards,

 

Excellent, thanks man

 

Hi ! No it's not me ^^
Thanks I will test it

 

Good evening!

I bought Skele several months ago but hadn't used it until today due to working on other aspects of my project and prototyping with stock animations.

I need to report a Unity bug that is causing a serious issue with several of my assets, including Skele. I have a workaround for it, and it's being reported to Unity by another asset developer, but I felt other users should know about it. This applies to version 5.4.1 (including patched versions) of Unity. It *may* apply to 5.3.x and 5.4.2, but I haven't tested 5.4.2 yet.

If you have a Mac machine with a Retina main screen, Unity incorrectly reports the wrong screen resolution somewhere in their UI APIs. This causes UI elements to be the wrong size and/or the wrong position in the scene view and the game view in the editor (but it works correctly in standalone player outside the editor). The problem appears to be that the physical screen resolution is 2880x1800, but I believe the Unity editor only partially supports this and is internally still using the logical resolution (scaled) of 1440x900 which was used in earlier Unity versions.

If I have my Unity editor scene view in the Retina screen, Skele positions its IK editor panel either above and left of the visible Scene window (therefore inaccessible -- you can just see a tiny corner of the bottom edge), or it is completely out of range. Putting the Scene window on a lower-res secondary monitor usually works around this.

Other affected assets: World Creator Pro (latest version), Easy Roads 3D (latest version), and New UI Widgets (latest version).

Again, this is a Unity bug and I'm not blaming Skele, but I thought the Skele devs and users should be aware.

 

I have just tested in 5.4.2, and the Unity bug is not fixed for Skele or any of my assets. I had high hopes for this version, because one of the bugs in the "fixes" list sounded exactly like this one.

 

,

Hi, syscrusher,

Thanks for the report,

I've been using a windows machine with resolution of 1920*1020, so I never had a chance to see this issue.

I will add your post into the FAQ for other's information.

Best regards,

 

Is it possible to use a audio/video clip as a reference for the timing and placement of animations? I haven't played around with the timeline editor but is it possible to have a timeline of a video synced with the animation timeline so that for frame X of the video I can position the corresponding frame of the animation? Did you sync the MMD demo animation to the music just by trial and error?

 

Hi, darkcser,

Thanks for the feedback,

No, I haven't made such feature yet.

Do You mean something like
http://antiqu-bakery.deviantart.com/art/How-to-load-a-wav-file-in-MMD-170385062
?

Looks interesting, I might try adding this thing in v2.0 update.

If you've better method in mind, please give me a link. I'm interested in this too.

Best regards,

 

I have not used this, because it's not a requirement for my project, but have you looked at Koreographer, from the Asset Store? It doesn't do what Skele does but rather specifically handles the audio sync part. Perhaps you could use both assets to do what you need.

 

I'm more interested in using the reference videos for the side and front perspectives to help with animating a character. In Blender, you can set videos as backgrounds for different perspectives like front, left, etc. and the video frames are controlled by the same timeline as your animation. I wasn't able to find a readily available video that showed this so I thought I would throw one together quickly... 3-4 hours later:

Total noob in Blender and video editing...

 

Great to hear you're working on v2.

 

The MovieTexture could be used like a background reference, but it provides bad control like seek & pause.
This Media Decoder asset could provide play control, though I've not used it myself yet.

I will check if it's helpful.

 

Hi!

I've started using skele and first thing I noticed is that I do not see the panel used to enable/disable IK and rest of options. It simply it's not there. I can StartEdit in the skinned mesh renderer, though.

I'm using unity 5.4.1f1 on mac and last Skele update from asset store. Any idea?

thanks!

 

Yes. You are experiencing a Unity bug that affects Mac OSX. The bug is that mapping between screen space and world space is broken. Unity 5.4.2 does not fix this, and I haven't tested 5.5 yet. The Skele window exists but is outside viewable screen coordinates.

I have a bug report filed with Unity Technologies, and I also was able to demonstrate the problem for UT at Unite LA, and they confirmed it's real. I am on my work system right now and can't conveniently dig up more details, but I will do that after lunch. This bug affects multiple assets. I do have, courtesy of the author of Easy Roads 3D, a workaround code snippet, which I'll also post so hopefully Skele can implement the workaround.

EDIT 1: Link to my initial post to this thread about the bug, for reference.
EDIT 2: The bug number is 847387.
EDIT 3: The workaround is to use

HandleUtility.GUIPointToWorldRay(Vector2 mousePosition);​

to convert to worldspace. Credit for this goes to Raoul ter Berg, from Unity Terrain Tools (developer of Easy Roads 3D).

 

Hi, jaraen,

Thanks for your feedback

Please check if the "Hide GUI" button is toggled, (see the picture below)
If it's green, that means the GUI is hidden (sometimes you might want to have more space in the screen);
By the way, you could toggle IK/FK by clicking "~" key on keyboard,
You could find more info about hotkeys by clicking the "H" button on the GUI panel;



Tell me if this doesn't solve your issue,

Best regards, Be creative,

 

Thanks A LOT syscrusher

I'll work on this and merge the workaround in latest update.

Best regards,

 

Thanks! I've watched the tutorials on Skele but so far haven't been able to actually try it out because of the bug. I'm looking forward to using this excellent tool.

Just to be clear, Raoul gets credit for sharing the workaround code. I don't want to inadvertently get credit for his work.

 

I've been trying to follow the cut scene tutorial

, and had some questions:

1. When I try to run via CTRL+P with just a camera under the CCRoot it tells me that "Display 1 no cameras are rendering". When I add a separate main camera though it doesn't have the animation. Did I miss a part where you set the main camera to use the animation from the camera under CCRoot?

2. How did you add the two robots to the animation window of the CCRoot? Was it just by adding them as children of CCRoot, and then just directly moving them via skinned mesh renderer->start edit? If I already had an existing animation for the robots (e.g. waving hands), is there some way for me to merge it into the same animation view as the camera movement?

I'm pretty new to animations in Unity so I might be missing something obvious.

version 1.9.6

 

Hi, Darkcser,

This "cutscene controller" was firstly introduced to make multi-character animations two years ago(like the backstab in DarkSouls).
It has an obvious drawback, as you've found out, it cannot utilize existing clips.

To solve that drawback, I made a second try to integrate the asset "Animator-Timeline Editor for Unity", upgraded it to Unity5 and add a bunch extra code, now it could play existing clips on existing model.
So, I would recommend you to try the integrated "AnimatorSP" editor, you could find the manual at "Assets/Skele/AnimatorSP" directory.

I'm checking on the "Source Filmmaker"(SFM) and "MikuMikuDance", considering making new timeline editor like SFM.

Best regards,

 

Before you invest too much time in this, make sure you observe what the Unity folks are building into the upcoming 5.6 edition. You may be able to leverage a lot of the work they are already putting into the new timeline features. They demonstrated this at Unite LA in November, and it's pretty impressive stuff.

 

Hi, syscrusher,

Thanks a lot, I've not checked the unity roadmap for a while

So the long-waiting "Director" system is finally coming? been waiting for it since Unite2014 keynote.
That would make people's life much easier. But according to the unityblog and roadmap it's not coming with Unity5.6(?) and the release time is still uncertain.

I hope to get a play with "Timeline" sooner, and hope it leaves enough extension points for us to modify, it's painful to dig and maintain the internal API usage of AnimationWindow.

 

I stand corrected. I might have misunderstood the presenter at Unite. I will say, though, that I saw it demonstrated and was very impressed.

 

I'm interested to modify existing animations to create videos.
Confused from the many options available such as Skele, Final IK, and even Bio Inspired IK.
I did find reference to many IK solvers such as FABRIK or genetic algo.
Also I'm interested into using SLATE as cutscene editor but discovered Skele it's not integrated, yet does have his own cutscene editor.
Interested to know if Skele IK is missing something vs i.e. the genetic algo approach, and also if the integrated cutscene editor is general purpose or usable only with Skele created animation.

 

Yeah, I was impressed too.

Hope to have it at hand sooner. But I've a vague feeling it might come up until Unity 6.x cycle

 

Hi, davide445,

Thanks for your interest,

• "Final IK" and "Bio-Inspired IK" are both runtime IK solutions, Skele's IK sub-system are for helping authoring animation clips in design-time;
• Skele's IK subsystem uses "CCD IK" + "Constraints" combinations, not as much as FinalIK, but does the job for animation authoring;
• Skele created clips are standard unity animation clips, you can use it in any cutscene editor of your choice (like SLATE)
• Skele's bundled cutscene editor is an independent sub-system, you can use it or any other alternatives;

Best regards,

 

Thanks. There is also a feature to generate a video and crowds animation.
Testing DAZ3D characters as I want to use their beautiful clothing, there is any way to animate them or I need first to rig and skin.

 

Hi, davide445,

> there is any way to animate them or I need first to rig and skin
You could try Mixamo's auto-rigger service [FREE], it could automatically skin the bipedal model for you.
It mostly works out well, but in some cases, there might be some vertices that assigned to wrong bones.(like fingers).
If you knows a litter how to use Blender to weight-paint, then it would be easy to fix it.

> generate a video and crowds animation
Do you mean to make video recording in the runtime or design-time?
If for design-time, there're many available free/paid softwares to record part/full screen;
There're some assets in AssetStore seems able to record in runtime, like this, you might give it a try.

crowds animation, it seems to have something do with AI-ctrl + Spawn? You might try using some AI code to populate and control the crowd.

 

I still get the error "RCall.GetField: failed to get "UnityEditorInternal.AnimationWindowState.m_ActiveAnimationClip"
when opening the "AnimCurvePropEditor".
I'm guessing that's why I can't change path's anymore?
I was hoping this last update addressed that, guess not.
Any idea when it will be fixed?