Which Motion Should Definitely Be Animated In Fk?

How to rig, add motion capture data, and utilise extra hand keyframed animation to your 3D character with Picture palace 4D & Mixamo.

Whether yous are a Cinema 4D veteran, grapheme animation kungfu master, or blitheness newbie you will always take a wave of obstacles facing you. Whether it'due south time restrictions or lack of character animation & rigging skills.

Nobody has ever said that character blitheness is easy. Whether you're a C4D veteran or blitheness newbie you volition always find new challenges when working on 3D character blitheness. Even so, I recently found a tool that can brand the 3D animation process in Movie theater 4D much easier... Mixamo!

What is Mixamo?

Mixamo is a 3D company based out of San Francisco. In 2015 Mixamo was acquired by Adobe and has since been integrated (in part) with the Creative Cloud. In the context of this article nosotros will be looking specifically at Mixamo'due south online database of 3D motion tracking animation information. Mixamo has over 3,000+ motion tracked animations that y'all can quickly utilise for 3D projects. This data can be easily applied into humanoid biped characters for quick animations.

Volition this information completely replace the need for kefyramed character animation? Admittedly not! But, Mixamo does have the power to relieve your a ton of time and give you lot quick data that can be manipulated in postal service. Information technology is especially helpful for background characters or any grapheme movement where custom-movement isn't essential for storytelling. Depending on the project this workflow could save you dozens, if not hundreds, of hours.

Then you lot can concur off on renting the ping-pong ball adjust, for at present...

Animating a 3D Character with Mixamo

In this breakdown, I volition show you lot how to use Mixamo data to rapidly create a character blitheness in Movie theatre 4D. First, download the project file to follow along!

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At present that the project file is downloaded, let'south take a look at our finished blitheness.

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Starting Your 3D Blitheness Project in Mixamo

Earlier nosotros become started with animating your 3D animation project in Mixamo, you volition first demand a graphic symbol to map your motility capture onto. Your options are:

i. Use Mixamo'south existing graphic symbol library

2. Apply Adobe Fuse CC (beta) to custom build your graphic symbol

3. Model your own in character in Cinema 4D

Modeling Your Ain Character in Cinema 4D

We will be going with choice three. Why? Considering the beauty of Mixamo is that even if you are very bad at modeling in C4D, Mixamo more than makes up for this. In conventional 3D modeling yous would need to build a character with one single mesh. With Mixamo you are able to draw split up trunk parts, line them upwardly and boom, Mixamo applies an individual weight map to each torso part. Your only requirement is to blueprint your grapheme as a humanoid biped and to allow for enough segments, so that the limbs can bend and pose your character in a T-pose. Artillery & fingers straight apart and spread out. Legs straight and unbent as well.

I'VE MODELED MY Own CHARACTER, NOW WHAT?

After you've modeled your 3D grapheme you tin can follow the process below.

Save your character.c4d file every bit an .obj file - File/Export/Wavefront OBJ (*obj)
Open Mixamo from your web browser.
Sign in Gratis with either your Adobe Subscription or create an account.
Click "upload grapheme" and upload your character.obj file
If Mixamo accepts your grapheme, you will exist able to click "side by side".
Follow the instructions and place markers where instructed. Floating markers will result in an error and Mixamo volition decline it and you will start again. If your character is fingerless, click on the dropdown menu labelled standard skeleton (65) and choose No Fingers (25)
Click side by side and it should take 2mins to rig your character
Click Animations and cull blitheness. For this exercise we will animate a skaterboy who runs, jumps, skateboards and so falls apartment on his face.
Search each action individually, click on it and customise your animations to suit your requirements.
Download each action individually.

Running.fbx
Jump.fbx
Skateboarding.fbx
Fall Apartment.fbx

How to Import from Mixamo into Cinema 4D

Now it's fourth dimension to accept all of that information into Picture palace 4D!

File/Merge and locate your Running.fbx
Click ok on the FBX import setting panel
Click mixamorig:Hips in your objects panel. It'south the layer with the greenish articulation symbol
Click Menu/Add Motion Clip and label it Running so click Ok. This will broil your keyframes into a Motion Clip.
Press Shift F3 to open your Timeline (Dope Sheet)
Click View/Motion Mode.
On the left there volition be a library with a single bake animation labeled Running. It'southward already as well on your timeline. If you can't see annihilation on your timeline press View/Automatic Mode (Alt+A)
Past baking the blitheness to a Motility Prune yous have unlocked a whole new set of options to editing your animation. At present in the motion clip'southward aspect panel y'all will have the option to add loops to your blitheness and even decide where to outset and end your animation without even touching a keyframe!
If you intend to load in more one animation you will need to beginning save your running broil past right clicking running in your library and choosing Copy Motion Source. Exist sure to create a MotionSource folder to save information technology into. It will salvage out as running.c4dsrc
Next select all your layers in the object bill of fare and grouping them in a null (ALT+G) and label it character.
Echo and load in the other FBX files individually, baking the animate as earlier and saving out skating.c4dsrc, spring.c4dsrc, skatingboarding.c4dsrc & fallflat.c4dsrc. Each time you import .fbx files in, it will load in the total graphic symbol. Once you lot have exported out all your .c4dsrc files you lot tin can delete all the extra character layers. Y'all only demand the original rig in the zippo labeled grapheme.

Animative in Cinema 4D

Right! Now you have all the broiled animations, just drag them onto the timeline in the lodge you would like them to animate in.

Elevate i animation over the top of some other animation and you volition notice it it frame blends the ending of the 1st animation into the start of the 2nd animation another. OOOoooo! You can change blending interpolation to linear on the Attributes panel under Basic on the Blending dropdown menu. Change from Easy Ease to Linear.
To motion each blitheness individually into position you need to create Pivot Objects and parent it to the animations.
Press Animate/Pin Object. Label it Running. Select the running motion clip on your timeline. Under Attributes/Bones elevate the new Pivot Object from your Objects layer in the Source field. Create a pin object for each animation and parent them. Group (Alt+K) all pivot objects in a folder named Pin Objects.

Adding Props to Your Graphic symbol

I created two props for our skaterboy. A helmet and a skateboard. How we parent these props to our character depends on how we are going to apply them.

one. Parenting the helmet

untwirl mixamorig:Hips on the object console
untwirl mixamorig:Head
untwirl mixamorig:HeadTop_End
Elevate the helmet layer below mixamorig:HeadTop_En in the hierarchy
Select helmet layer. Then go to the attributes and select Coord. tab and goose egg out all the values. Now the helmet will share the exact space equally the head rig. If it's non totally in-line, only position the helmet until it fits the head perfectly.

2. Parenting the skateboard

At present I intend to move the skateboard from the boys hand, to the flooring when he jumps then to his foot when he skates and so back to the floor when he falls. (animated gif joke)
You will need to use constraint tag to reach this
Create floor a primitive plan
Select the skateboard grouping information technology (alt+G) and telephone call it skateboard_no_rotation. Selectskateboard_psr and go to the Objects carte du jour and select Tag/Grapheme Tags/Constraint
A pivot symbol volition appear on skateboard_psr layer.
Double click the pin.
The skateboard volition wiggle at all angles of the character's joints. And so we desire to constraint whatsoever rotations from happening. And so nether the basic's tab you volition check the box parent. Then under the parent tab you lot will cheque the box R (rotation). Now since the floor is the only affair not moving, create a zippo and phone call it floor.zip and position in the aforementioned y position as the floor. Lets use it as a target past dragging the floor.aught object into the target field. Now the skateboard won't wiggle about.
And then next footstep is to group information technology once more (alt+Thou), name information technology skateboard_psr and add another constraint tag to the upper most null name skateboard_psr.
Double click the pin, under the basic tab check the box PSR (position, calibration, rotation).
Nether the PSR tab in the targets dropdown press add together 4 times. (to create 4 target feilds)
Elevate mixmorig:LeftHand object into the 1st field (check box P & R)
Drag mixmorig:LeftToe_End object into the 2nd field (check box P & R)
Create a goose egg called skateboard_on_floor a drag information technology into the 3rd field (cheque box P & R)
Create a null chosen skateboard_fall elevate it into the 4th field (check box P & R)
At present to motility the skateboard from the kid'south hand, to the floor, then to the foot & dorsum to the floor when he falls all you have to do is animate the weight radio button from 100-0 to unparent it, and from 100-0 on then animate at the aforementioned time the new parent from 0-100.
If for any reason your psr tag is not sticking, set your priority number up to a value over 100. It could be something similar a generator (ie subdivision surface. Annihilation with a green symbol) preventing information technology from sticking. If that is the case change the priority dropdown menu from Expression to Generators.

WHAT IF I DON'T WANT THE ARM TO Move WHILE RUNNING? I'D Besides LIKE THE ARM TO HOLD THE SKATEBOARD.

Well aren't you existence picky?... That's no trouble at all.

i. Go dorsum to motion way in your animation timeline

2. Select the running prune in your timeline

3. Under the Hierarchy tab untwirl running in the source view

4. Uncheck all joints to do with the arm you want to edit.mixmorig:LeftShoulder, mixmorig:LeftArm, mixmorig:LeftForeArm & mixmorig:LeftHand.

5. Now under your Objects panel untwirl Mixamorig:Hips until you find the left arm and rotate the joints. Now that the joints are unparents from the pre-animated rig y'all tin can keyframe and breathing the arm.

WHEN THE Boy PUSHES ON HIS SKATEBOARD HIS Pes DOESN'T QUITE Impact THE GROUND. Can I FIX THIS?

1. Untwirl the Mixamorig:Hip rigg over again in the object console.

2. Select RightUpLeg + RightLeg + RightFoot + RightToeBase

3. Go to the Coord. tab press F9 to record all the PSR (position, scales and rotation)

iv. Motility the human foot to the flooring. and press F9 once more to drop another keyframe for information technology's new position. Beware that this foot is now forever in this new position you lot placed it in. And so don't forget to scrub forrard and drop a new keyframe and tape it'due south new resting position too. To make life easier apply F & G to strub back and forward on the timeline. You don't want to be an ass similar me and keep pressing spacebar just to play the blitheness to move to the next keyframe.

WHEN MY Grapheme'S BENDS THE MESH KINKS. HOW DO I FIX THIS?

There two factors to bear in mind when your mesh deformers incorrectly. Either there aren't enough segments for your graphic symbol to bend. Or the weight map needs smoothing.

To add more segments to the leg - select the leg in the objects layer, hold down ALT on the keyboard and select subdivision surface. In the subdivision surface attributes panel up the number of the subdivision editor & renderer to 2 or 3. The higher the number the more segments will be added.

To smooth the weightmap of the breast - double click the weight expression tag to the right of the chest layer in the objects panel. In the attributes console of the weight map under the tab options alter the way to smooth and increase the radius of the castor to a higher value to make your castor bigger. Y'all will detect the chest of your character is covered in colors. Each separate color represents where the grapheme can bend. But brush over the gradients and soften the harsh gradients. As the gradients softens, so will the mesh of the grapheme's geometry.

BOOM! YOU'RE DONE!

This tutorial might take been tougher than you lot expected. If you are new to Picture palace 4D I'd recommend doing Movie theatre 4D Basecamp by the awesomely talented EJ Hassenfratz. I have personally greatly benefitted from C4D Basecamp and in only 6 months I went from 3D newbie to creating online 3D pedagogy content! Imagine what yous could practice with your new found powers?