CreepingDeath

SHORT DESCRIPTION

HOW DOES IT WORK

• Synchronize a pre-animated walk cycle containing any number of legs to the ground.
• Specify a single animated Leg as the Reference animation and synchronize any number of Legs to the Reference to cover the same distance during the Walk Cycle.

Example AVI : Linear Acceleration - Linear Motion (Indeo(R) Video 5.04)
Example AVI : Bezier Acceleration - Linear Motion (Indeo(R) Video 5.04)

FEATURES

• The utility is implemented as floating window containing only one rollout. There is a User Interface Variable called [LegsDisplayHeight] in the CRDEATH.INI file in your Scripts directory containing the number of Leg Dummies to be displayed at once in the List box. The default value of lines is 6. Changing this value will resize the floater to fit the new length next time the script is evaluated.

• Use the drop-down list to select the Root Dummy of the Hierarchy.

• Use the [ P ] button to add new Main Dummies (Root of the Hierarchy) to the drop-down list. You can either select the Dummy in the scene by picking it with the mouse, or press the H button to select by name. The pick button will not let you select an object that is not a Dummy.

• To select the current Main Dummy in the scene, press the [S] button.

• The utility will try to determine the main motion direction of the Main Dummy in local object coordinates. You can override this setting using the radio buttons.

• The "Leg Dummies" group contains info and controls for setting up the IK End Effector dummies. The List box will contain all animated children of the Main Dummy object.

• Active Dummies are marked with a "+" sign in the beginning. All Dummies are Active on startup by default. Active Dummies will be affected by the "APPLY EASE CURVES" and "REMOVE Ease Curves" commands.

• Inactive Dummies will be marked with a "-" sign. Inactive Dummies are ignored when applying/removing Ease Curves.

• The Reference Dummy will be marked with a ">" sign. A Reference Dummy is a special version of an Active Dummy. The Reference object provides the reference speed for synchronizing the rest of the Leg Dummies' motion. There can be only one Reference Dummy at a time. There must be always a Reference Dummy. By default, the first Dummy in the list will be set as the Reference.

• To make a Dummy the Reference, DOUBLE-CLICK the entry in the List box.

• Whenever Ease Curves are detected in the Position Track of the Dummy, a "~" sign followed by the number of curves will appear after the Dummy's name.

• You can use the [All On] button to activate all listed Leg Dummies.

• You can use the [All Off] button to deactivate all Leg Dummies except the Reference Dummy.

• You can use the [Invert] button to invert the selection. All Inactive Dummies become Active. All Active Dummies except the Reference become Inactive.

• The ON checkbox is used to control the Active state of the Dummies on per object base. It will be disabled for the Reference Dummy - you cannot Deactivate the Reference Dummy.

• The "Auto-Select in Scene" checkbox is unchecked by default. When checked, the corresponding Leg Dummy will become selected whenever it is selected in the list. If a TrackView is open, you can use the Icon in the lower left corner of the Track View window to Zoom at the Selected object.

• The "Distance" field displays
• when no Ease Curve is applied: the Distance the selected Dummy travels along the specified axis during the Walk Cycle Time Segment.
• when an Ease Curve - Synchronize to Reference is applied: the Distance the Dummy travels in the MainDummy Local coordinate system.
• when an Ease Curve - Synchronize to MainDummy is applied: the Sliding caused by rounding error. This error is usually about 1/1.000.000 of the Walk Cycle Distance and isn't visually noticeable.
• The Axis radio buttons display the main motion axis of the current Dummy in the Local Coordinate System of the Main Dummy. The buttons can be used in Automatic and Manual (Locked) mode. By default, the utility will define the axis with the longest traveled distance as the main motion axis.

• The [Lock Axis] check button is deactivated by default. To set a Manual Axis, press the [Lock Axis] button - it turns red. Set the Axis radio button to the desired axis - the new axis Distance will be displayed. If you release the [Lock Axis] button, the automatically selected axis will become active again. If you check the [Lock Axis] button again, it will return to the manual state.

• The "WalkCycle Timing" group provides control over the duration of the Walk Cycle and the speed of the Reference Dummy.

• The "From" and "To" values contain the first and last frames of the Walk Cycle. The values must be inside the active Animation Range.  The Walk Cycle Time Range is used to calculate the Distance value for all Leg Dummies.

• If the "Auto-Range from Reference" is active (default), the first and last key times of the Reference's Position track will be automatically set as Walk Cycle Time Range.

• The "Reference Ease" value defaults to 1.0. It is used to speed up the Reference Dummy's Position track (values above 1.0) or slow it down (values bellow 1.0). This way the user can control the speed of the whole Walk Cycle without moving any keys. The "Reference Ease" value is used in the Reference Dummy (and all other Leg Dummies when affected) as a speed multiplier.

• The [SYNCHRONIZE ANIMATIONS] button is the main button in the utility. It applies or updates Ease Curves to all Active Leg Dummies. The controls in the "Synch. Options" group are respected. When pressed, existing Ease Curves on Active Dummies are being removed first.
• If "Synchronize to - MainDummy - LINEAR" is selected in the drop-down list, all Leg Dummies are synchronized to the motion of the Main Dummy. This mode should be used for mostly linear motion paths of the MainDummy, including keyframed or path animations with Bezier In and Out tangents. Additional Helper Points are being created at the average position of the lag's motion and become children of the MainDummy. Their traveling distance is being calculated and is being used by the Leg Dummies to travel the  same distance, too. This makes the Legs stay firm on the ground without sliding.
• If "Synchronize to - MainDummy - CURVED" is selected, all Leg Dummies are synchronized to the motion of the Main Dummy. This mode should be used for curved motion paths of the MainDummy, including keyframed or path animations with Bezier In and Out tangents. Additional Helper Points are being created at the average position of the lag's motion and become children of the MainDummy. Their traveling distance ALONG THE CURVED PATH is being calculated for each frame and stored in a cache inside the Helper Points themselves. Then this Cache Data is being used by the Leg Dummies to travel about the same distance as the Helper Points. This makes the Legs slide at curves less than in LINEAR mode.
• When "Synchronization to - Reference - IN-PLACE" is selected, the distance traveled by the Reference Leg Dummy during the Walk Cycle is calculated. This reference value is used to calculate a multiplier value for each Active Dummy from the list. A new Ease Curve with a Bezier Script Controller is being assigned to Position Tracks (and Rotation Tracks if "Apply Rotation Eases" is checked). The resulting Ease Curve synchronizes the motion speed of all Active Leg Dummies to the Reference Dummy. This way all Legs travel about the same distance during the Walk Cycle.

• The "Generate Rotation Eases" checkbox is active by default. When checked, rotation tracks are being affected by the same Ease Curve as the Position Track. Currently, only "Local_Euler_XYZ", "Euler_XYZ" and "TCB_Rotation" controllers are supported.

• The "Apply Eases to All Children" checkbox is active by default. When active, all children of the affected dummies will also receive Ease curves to synchronize their motion to the whole hierarchy.

• The "Set Cycle Out-Of-Range" checkbox lets the utility set the Out-Of-Range type of all Synchronized tracks to Cycle mode (Before and After).

• The [REMOVE Ease Curves] cleans up all tracks as described for [SYNCRHONIZE ANIMATIONS] without applying new Ease Curves. It can be used to reset the object to its original Walk Cycle by removing any changes made by CrD. It is NOT necessary to use this button prior Applying Ease Curves since this is done automatically by the utility.

• The "Curved Path Cache" group contains controls for the position cache used by the CURVED Synchronization mode.

• The [FIT RANGES to Anim.Ranges] resizes the Track View ranges to the current animation segment to allow the scripted controllers of the Ease curves to be evaluated correctly on all active frames.

• The [CLEAR Cache of Active Legs] button lets you flush the Cache manually. In general, the cache will be managed automatically. The values in the cache will be calculated from the first frame to the current frame. If the current frame changes to a higher frame than the last calculated, the cache will be rebuild to include the new part of the animation. The cache will also be rebuilt whenever the animation keys change. NOTE: Working with long animations might slow workflow down significantly.

1. Install and Register CrD
2. Load the sample MAX scene "Crd_Sample01.max"
3. Press the "CreepingDeath" button
4. Go to Display Tab, Hide by Category, Geometry OFF, Helpers ON.
5. Press the [ P ] button and select the biggest Dummy called "WalkMainDummy" - it should appear in the drop-down list, and 5 Leg Dummies should apper in the Legs List.
6. Select every single Leg Dummy and note the different "Distance" values for Rear and Front Legs! The numbers show that the rear legs cover almost 4 time the walking distance of the front legs.
7. Check the "Auto-Select in Scene" checkbox and note that the current Leg Dummy is selected in the scene, too.
8. Select the "DummyFlyRoot" in the list (3rd entry) and uncheck the "ON" checkbox. This will disable synchronization for the Dummy controlling the up/down motion of the body. Also note that the active axis for the "DummyFlyRoot" is Z while all Legs have axis Y selected by default. These settings are automatic and denote the longest motion along one axis.
9. Press the "Lock Axis" button - it turns pink. Set the axis to X. Since this dummy is disabled, these settings will not affect the scene.
10. Double-click the "DummyFlyRoot" - it will become the Reference Dummy ">". Note that the To: value under "Walk Cycle Timing" has changed to 32 since the checkbox "AutoRange from Reference" is checked. Uncheck this checkbox and double-click the first Dummy "DumLftRearLink02" to make it the Reference again - note that the value 32 remains. Activate the "AutoRange..." checkbox again and double-click "DumLftRearLink02" again - WalkCycle Range will be set back to 0-30.
11. Move the floater to a new position on the screen, uncheck the "Generate Rotation Eases".
12. Close the utility by clicking the [X] button of the floater. Open it again by pressing the "CreepingDeath" button. Note that it will appear at the same position you left it when closing and "Generate Rotation Eases" is unchecked.  Also, all Leg Dummies have stored their activation/reference settings. Select "DummyFlyRoot" and note that the Lock Axis button is still selected and the active axis is still X. Depress the "Lock Axis" button and note it returns automatically to Z axis. Press again - it goes to X. Depress - back to Z.
13. Check "Generate Rotation Eases" again.
14. Move the Time Slider around - note that the FireFly legs move in-place, each with different speed.
15. Set the "Synchronize to Dummy" mode to "Reference - IN-PLACE".
16. Press [SYNCHRONIZE ANIMATIONS] - a symbol "~1" should appear after the 4 Leg Dummies. "DummyFlyRoot" was disabled and will not be affected.
17. Move the Time Slider or press PLAY - note that the front legs move much faster than they used to in order to cover the same distance as the rear ones.
18. Double-Click the Front Left Dummy in the list to make it the Reference.
19. Press [SYNCHRONIZE ANIMATIONS] - the old Ease Cuvers will be removed automatically and new ones will be created.
20. Move the Time Slider or press PLAY - note that the front legs move as slow as they used to, while the rear legs move much slower to cover the same distance.
21. Change the "Synchronize to Dummy" mode to LINEAR.
22. Press [REMOVE Synchronization] - note that the "~1" symbols disappear from all Legs in the list. This step is not really necessary since CrD will remove any existing EaseCurves automatically before applying new ones.
23. Press [SYNCHRONIZE ANIMATIONS] again - the "~1" symbols should appear after the 4 Leg Dummies again.
24. Move the Time Slider around again - note that the Legs will stand still while the body controlled by "DummyFlyRoot" will still move up/down.
25. Select the "WalkMainDummy" in the scene, go to frame 40, Activate ANIMATE button and using the MAX Move tool / Transform Gizmo move the Dummy along the Negative Y axis. Note that the legs will move accordingly to stay on the ground WHILE you move the Dummy along -Y. A position key will be created at frame 40.
26. Go to frame 100 and move the bug back or copy the key from frame 0 to frame 100. DON'T MOVE IT BACK BEYOND THE ORIGINAL POSITION AT FRAME 0!
27. Deactivate the ANIMATE button.
28. Go to Display tab, hide Helpers and show Geometry.
29. Press the PLAY button and note the motion of the legs relatively to the checkered ground.