mrsAnimate

Last Updated: 04.22.2019

Overview

_images/mrsAnimate_vid_1.PNG

Until we get embeded video sorted. Please use this link: https://player.vimeo.com/video/271510677

mrsAnimate is the new animation ui for use with MRS rigged assets.

What can I do with it?

  • Contextually work with parts of a rig
  • Mirror
  • Tween
  • Space switch
  • Change settings

Accessing

  1. UI
    • Top cgm menu - CGM> MRS > mrsAnimate
  2. Python
import cgm
cgm.core.mrs.Animate.ui()

Terminology

  • Proxy Rig - Rig without a final mesh for fast prototype work

  • Puppet - Our name for the root node that is has the wiring to the rest of the components nodes and features of a character or asset.

  • Module/Part - The module unit of a puppet. Be it a hand, arm, leg or whatever

  • ControlTypes

    • Main - Main controls of a module
    • Sub - Sub controls of a module. May be hidden
    • Direct - Per joint controls. May be hidden.

  • Space Pivots(Pivots) - This is our solution for having easily constrainable spaces that change scene by scene. They are a space option for space switching.

MRS Tab

To start MRS is the only really new section.

Note

Some tabs just mirror sections other places.

Context

Context is the ability to modify what part or parts of the rig you are working with in the ui. There are two types of context currently.

  1. Selection
  2. Time
_images/mrsAnimate_context.png

Selection

  • ctrl - We only care about the current controls selected.
  • part - Dealing with the module of the current control. For example if you have a wrist selected, you'd be in that arm's context.
  • puppet - The entire character of whatever controls you have selected
  • scene - All mrs assets in scene
  • options
    • [] core - NEW | this tells the systems to use the core control lists in context. This can speed up some functions when you don't need all the tertiary controls included.
    • [] children - Also include any children of the base context
    • [] siblings - Include any siblings of of the base context. A sibling of a finger for example would be the other fingers
    • [] mirror - Include mirror modules,controls in the context as well

Time

Time context was added in Feburary 2019 and is still in testing. There are a couple of things to think about regarding this. Time context means that with our selection context in mind, do whatever action over time based on that selected context.

Time context functions affect most calls:

  • Space switching
  • IK/FK switching
  • Mirroring

Keys

  • each - Act on each time contextual part based on it's own keys
  • combined - Combine the keys in context
  • Q - Report on context in the script editor

Mode

  • <- - Previous | All before
  • |< - Last | Last key
  • ^ - Current | Current frame
  • |--| - Bookend | Last and Next. Includes current if there is a key there.
  • >| - Next | Next key
  • -> - Forward | All ahead
  • [] - Slider | All on the slider
  • sel - Selected | Work off selected timeline

Anim

_images/mrsAnimate_anim.png

Tip

Remember, all the buttons take into account your context. Not only the controls you have selected.

  • << - Go to the previous key in context
  • key - Key at current frame in context
  • bKey - Breakdown key ....
  • >> - Go to the next key in context
  • delete - Delete current key
  • Push - Push current values to the time context

Select

Select by control type.

  • fk - FK controls in context
  • ik - IK ...
  • ikEnd - IK ends...
  • seg - segment handles ...
  • direct - direct controls ...
  • all - all of them ...

Reset

Reset controls in context.

  • fk - FK controls in context
  • ik - IK ...
  • ikEnd - IK ends...
  • seg - segment handles ...
  • direct - direct controls ...
  • all - all of them ...

Tween

_images/mrsAnimate_tween.png
  • Reset - Resets controls in in context. Zero is on the right. WARNING - this is slow.
  • Tween - Typical tweening between poses
  • Drag - Using Morgan Loomis' great ml_breakdownDragger in context
  • [ .00 ] - Set the amount for the next row
  • << - Push towards the previous key in context by the amount in the row above
  • avg - .5 contextual average in context
  • >> - Push towards the next key...

Hold

_images/mrsAnimate_hold.png

Using Morgan Loomis' _ ml_hold in context - Morgan's docs

Mirror

_images/mrsAnimate_mirror.png
  • push - Push the first control's contextual side to the other
  • pull - Pull the first control's opposite side to itself
  • flip - Flip the pose contextually
  • symLeft - Make symetrical to the left side regardless of selection
  • symRight - Make symetrical to the right side regardless of selection
  • select - Select contextual mirror
  • animFlip - Overrides time context and pushes all in context to r9Anim.MirrorHierarchy.mirrorData

Switch

_images/mrsAnimate_switch.png
  • FKsnap - Snap to fk mode for all modules in context
  • FKOn - Turn on fk mode for all modules in context
  • IKsnap - Snap to ik mode for all modules in context
  • IKforce - Snap to ik mode then force handles to snap as well to make sure they match. Experimental
  • IKOn - Turn on ik mode for all modules in context

Aim

Tip

Only the head module currently supports this kind of aim setup

  • on - Turn on aim mode for all modules in context
  • off - Turn off aim mode...
  • toFK - Snap to fk from aim setup...
  • toIK - Snap to ik from aim setup...
  • Snap - Snap to to aim mode

Settings

_images/mrsAnimate_settings.png

Module settings

  • visSub - Hide/show sub controls in context
  • visDirect - Hide/show direct controls in context
  • visRoot - Hide/show root controls in context

Puppet settings

  • skeleton - hide/lock/on joints for all puppets in context
  • geo - hide/lock/on geo for all puppets in context
  • proxy - hide/lock/on proxy geo for all puppets in context

Updates

We try to keep this updated with big feature adds to see how it's changed over time.

2019

April

  • core | new context | Added new option for more speed increases. Uses a truncated list of controls in context- roots, fk/ik, segments and ignores space pivots and other extra controls
  • animFlip | added direct push to red9's anim flip
  • Context rewrite | Took a few days and completely rewrote how context and tim context work to get more speed in the system. This entails a new shared global mrs anim cache so that where possible data is called and buffered rather than reaquired every button press.
  • Push | Added value push function

February

  • Time Context | first implementation