Having now etched myself ever so closer to making an animated project with my ProxyMan tool, I've now turned much of my attention to spending time really trying to dial in the user functionality and workflow. This includes adding helper commands and buttons, shortcuts for the user, and completing functions I hadn't finished.
Among a raft of recent additions, I've also:
- given the spline editor a few more commands, and a popup menu with additional options
- completed the layer options to allow for user-selected clip-types during system layer execution
- tightened up some of the processes around clip executions
- added in a couple of extra FK solver options
- added viewport frame and playback controls for the user
- updated and added additional selected clip tab display functionality
- significantly improved the overall drag and drop functionality, and
- (the big one) added in the ability to drag and drop ProxyMan object's onto timelines. More on this below.
I know some of the above may not make much sense without context. Just know that it's all going in the right direction.
I've been really trying to hone in the usability and user workflow. Trying to round off the finishing edges, complete functions, and just getting the overall tool working the way I expect it to.
Most of the work has been going on in the motion editor dialog, and inside the execution stages. It's really starting to pay off.
New 'ProxyMan Driver' motion system clips
This one's a real doozy. Another key feature I've added is the ability to drag and drop an existing ProxyMan scene object onto another ProxyMan's motion system timeline. A strange thing to do at first you might think, but there is reason to this madness.
You see, part of producing 3D character animation is that you might work with a proxy version of the character rig in the viewport. The advantage here is speed in workflow. It's often much quicker to work with a low polygon version of your character, before switching over to a better quality one at render time. There are a few ways of accomplishing this, and one way I thought of was to simply allow an already animated ProxyMan to drive another ProxyMan's rig.
It works by dragging a ProxyMan object onto another ProxyMan's motion system timeline, and display as a normal clip. You can then edit this clip like any other clip on the timeline, and the engine underneath will transfer one character rig animation onto the other character rig. The engine takes care of all the goings on underneath. And I can use all the usual clip options on it, like blending etc.
I thought this was a really good solution. It means I can animate a proxy version of a character, before transferring the animation to a more developed final version for rendering. I can even use one proxy rig to drive a completely different ProxyMan character, with different skeleton proportions. Really neat!
This is in fact, in part, where the name ProxyMan originated from! I wanted to be able to animate a character rig using a proxy character setup before applying the animation to the final model version at render time. That was part of the idea anyway. Hence ProxyMan. There you go.
This is a really powerful bit of functionality. It really opens up the workflow for proxy/final model controls. And without saying too much more, it might also be the basis for developing further functionality in the future.
Here's a short render showing one rig drivin another:
FINAL THOUGHTS
I'm really starting to tighten up the character tool at this point. It's been quite a job to get to here, but everything is really coming together now. And with the remaining mocap gear on it's way, I'm really starting to think about how I can ahead towards making an animation project.
I've really made leaps and bounds in the last couple of months. It's been an awful lot of work, and I've received no payment for it. But I've learned a lot along the way. I've taken the idea from a dream prototype to a powerful little character toolkit.
There's still a fair bit to overcome. But I feel a lot of the grunt work has been done, enough that I should be able to start heading into a project production soon. I'm quietly getting excited.