creating a new pose

[badwolf]

as part of the ballet collection (which punkduck is doing quite well on) i would like to get a set of ballet poses starting with the very basic ones

given that it is almost impossible to find good pictures i may have to do the poses myself
which of course means finding how to properly export the correct Zero Pose and then how to setup the pose in blender so that it can be used in MakeHuman

help/pointer to current docs??



(what im wanting to begin with is a set of poses showing first through fifth and then maybe a proper En Pointe pose)

[joepal]

Tricky part is I don't think you can use the IK parts of MHX2 to do the posing. You'll have to go via FK.

But when I made poses, I selected the default skeleton, exported via MHX2, imported with MHX2 *without* overriding any settings, posed, set animation length to one frame and exported as BVH.

That was all that was needed.

[badwolf]

Tricky part is I don't think you can use the IK parts of MHX2 to do the posing. You'll have to go via FK.

But when I made poses, I selected the default skeleton, exported via MHX2, imported with MHX2 *without* overriding any settings, posed, set animation length to one frame and exported as BVH.

That was all that was needed.

IK not an issue (i need the fine control anyway) and on the MH side there are no odd "extra" files needed (like some poses have a "meta" file included)??

[punkduck]

And that is exactly what I was doing.

Forward kinematics isn't more complicated but unfortunately you have to understand the technical background how the default skeleton is designed to work. Some tips I will supply nevertheless:

1. For the skeleton, take the default no toes version, it it sufficient, because the pointe shoes are not allowing each single toe to do its own movement
2. For posing switch off subdivion surface in Blender and switch off smoothing when you do the export in MH (otherwise posing will be a little difficult depending on your OS).
3. For the root bone use global mode, for the rest of the bones local mode, when posing. The root bone is the only bone, which should be moved, all other bones are normally used to be rotated ...
4. I don't know, what you mean with the zero pose ... but when you mean the standard pose and you want this pose back, then in pose mode: simply select all bones by pressing a and then ALT-r ..., all rotations are put back.
5. the kinematic chain of arms and legs and the spine has more joints than a human skeleton. The joint "shoulder01, upperarm01" I take for local rotate z and x, the joint "upperarm01, upperarm02" only for rotate-y. Upperleg01 and 02 is working nearly identical. Also look how spine05 and 04 are designed, when your character bends forward. Or is it better to turn the root bone and to rotate upperleg01 in x-direction or even the pelvis in y-direction? Sometimes you have try it and make a quick render what looks better.
6. Forget about the face of the character, at least in the beginning
7. For symmetric poses (also of a few bones, like the same "hand-pose") select these bones on one side, copy them and paste them x-flipped.
   

I hope it helps. It took me some time to do poses this way, but it works for me ...

[punkduck]

Tricky part is I don't think you can use the IK parts of MHX2 to do the posing. You'll have to go via FK.

But when I made poses, I selected the default skeleton, exported via MHX2, imported with MHX2 *without* overriding any settings, posed, set animation length to one frame and exported as BVH.

That was all that was needed.

IK not an issue (i need the fine control anyway) and on the MH side there are no odd "extra" files needed (like some poses have a "meta" file included)??

It is simple ASCII ... here the contence of arabesque

tag Sport
tag Ballet

for filtering

name is obvious.

description, author, license some "blabla" from myself. I copied that from another meta and changed it for my purpose.

BVH is not capable to held this data, that's the reason.

[DredNicolson]

Also, export the character with the "feet on ground" option turned off. It adds an offset to the root bone and any pose you export back to MH will make your characters levitate. It's possible to fix that after the fact by manually editing the .bvh (if you know what to change), but why not get it right the first time?

[badwolf]

Also, export the character with the "feet on ground" option turned off. It adds an offset to the root bone and any pose you export back to MH will make your characters levitate. It's possible to fix that after the fact by manually editing the .bvh (if you know what to change), but why not get it right the first time?

wanna take a crack at doing some ballet poses?? (even advise as to which bone is correct to move to create say a "turnout" would help)

[punkduck]

wanna take a crack at doing some ballet poses?? (even advise as to which bone is correct to move to create say a "turnout" would help)

Oh, that is an easy one to explain. Decide for one side and then:

1. upperleg01 rotate z (blue) direction, so that legs are close together (or upperleg02 points vertical to the ground)
2. upperleg02 rotate y approximate 35-45 degree to the outside (look where the knees are pointing in reality, use texture or material mode btw.)
3. lowerleg01 should hardly be rotated ...
4. lowerleg02 rotate y for the rest, so that the foot points approx. 90 degrees to the outside

Now select upperleg01 and 02, lowerleg01 and 02, copy pose and paste x-flipped pose.