When it comes to working with Motion Capture in Maya there are a few options with external tools but the out of the box solution is HIK and is the only solution that has compatibility with Max(Cat) and in MotionBuilder when trying to share setups and process large animation sets.
The problem often comes when animators don’t want to use the HIK control rig or don’t understand how to use it effectively. We have much deeper training on this but for now we will focus on using a traditional rig including animating on a “traditional” foot roll custom rig during the retarget, in our first one minute video tutorial
HIK Maya Custom Rig Animation and Retargeting 1 Minute Tutorial
Reuse: Save and load characterization and custom control rig mapping
If you have to work with the HIK system when the bone names don’t match, you know it can be a pain to remap a character skeleton for a new file. In this video we show you a way to save that mapping when the built in save function breaks and how to save and reload your custom rig mapping as well.
Download the settings file: gameAnim book AZRI rig.Rigging Dojo HIK file.zip
This workflow pairs well with Mocap Editing Techniques – Level 1
Kristjan Zadziuk (note: We don’t encourage the use of BIPED but if you need to use it for some reason check out our HIK to Biped Workflow)
#moframe
Game Anim:
Video Game Animation Explained
For the TD that wants to check out another rig example and play with a game type character rig or work to make your own, check out the Rig and resources on how it works.
Free Rig
The AZRI Rig is a simple animation rig for non-commercial animation #game-anim, #azri-rig and @GameAnim
Rig by Sophie Brennan
Free Motion capture sword animation
https://mocaponline.com/blogs/news/tc-sword-animations
About the Tony Cross Sword Animation set
Tony’s inspiration came from his life experience participating in realistic and historically accurate Viking fight reenactments where he used real weapons, and he also passionately practiced martial arts.
He was a big, loud, fun, bearded dude who loved mocap animation and working in the game industry. Unfortunately, Tony passed away shortly after our first capture session, leaving his work incomplete. We’re hoping to revive this pack in his honor.
May his body rest in peace and the mocapped motion of his that is featured in so many of our current animation packs live on forever.
Free Training for anyone using Motion Capture or HIK
Learn how to great a smooth seemless cycle from a mocap run using MotionBuilder or similar non-linear animation tool.
https://ondemand.riggingdojo.com/Guide to Motion Editing and MotionBuilder
Your inside guide to better looking captures, edits and MotionBuilder tips, you don’t want to be without! This Twitter conversation between industry pros is now in a handy PDF guide book.
“… I have been using it for years and pretty much every single one of his tips were new to me….will save me countless hours in production.”
#animtip, #rigtip, Autodesk, education, gamedev, GDC, GDC2014, HackMobu, HIK, Maya LT, Mocap, Motion editing, MotionBuilder Character, Tech Artist Bootcamp
Hacking MotionBuilder: 10 Things You Aren’t Doing but Should Be!
Techniques learned in this session, while focused on MotionBuilder, can be applied to the HIK rig in Maya as well.
Other Resources: Paid
https://ondemand.riggingdojo.com/MotionBuilder_for_Animators
Video crash course on getting your workflow for Keyframe Animation in MotionBuilder dialed in from Rigging Dojo. This is priced low, get it, learn and get your work done…Good, Fast, Cheap – now you can have all 3!
Check out our workshop on Rigging, Motion Editing, Character Prep, Ragdoll, Best Practices and the latest tips and tricks on MotionBuilder Updated regularly with new content based on software updates. Learn to stop spending animation time fighting and fixing problems that you might have caused in the retargting of the source animation data.
We also cover rigging techniques and workflows for editing and animating that have saved hours and hours of work, something that might take you a 8 hour day could be done in under 2 hours once you understand the tools.
https://ondemand.riggingdojo.com/Rigging to Retargeting Workshop
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