I am experiencing strange issues with the timeline and I wonder if there is a solution. I have a simple 3D Text object that I want to move from point a to point b, hold for a length of time, and then move on to point c. So what I have are 4 keyframes as follows:

1 - starting position (frame 0)

2 - hold position (frame 30)

3 - hold position (frame 60)

4 - ending position frame (90)

If I have keys 2 & 3 with the exact same position then you would think the object would remain there for 30 frames. However, as I click on the in-between frames, the object drifts backwards out of position. This also happens to me in other areas where there seems to be no interpolation happening between some of the keyframes. I've verifed that no additional keys exist in between #2 and #3, but the result is incorrect.

Exiting and re-loading don't help.

Am I missing something?

You might check the MOVE key frame you might have key there that you are missing
Jo

I thought about that and so I opened up every section of the timeline for that object including the Move one. Most of them just have a solid bar with no individual frames or keys. Is there a way to open them up and see the keyframes there or is the solid bar an indication that there aren't any or you can't add any? If they're buried in the Move timeline and I know how to see them/delete them then that would solve all my problems.

Start position frame 1

You want it to remain static until frame 30 and start moving at frame 31 so at frame 30 you copy and past frame 1 again this will then hold the object still until frame 31

If you did not copy and past the frame 1 again the object would start moving from frame 1 straight away.

hope I have made sense.

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I see you posted between moviechick and my reply with a comment that also made me think that maybe just maybe your object might have some moves built in accidentally in the making. Try right click and remove all animation hopefully this may clear anything that may have got embedded in the object and try resetting your fames as you said. Then hopefully that will stop your prop going walkabout.

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Well, my keyframes are correct. I can guarantee that. If there is something "embedded" in the object then that's what I need to find out. Does iClone hide movements somewhere that aren't accessible? I would think that would be bad. I can certainly remove all animations and start over, but just when then will it suddenly decide to do this again and force me to start all over again?

Check the TRANSFORM line. Zoom in as close as possible, and look for Stacked Markers (They can be hard to see unless you move one to the side.

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Hi Scott,
what you are experiencing is actually common, Iclone is trying to interpolate or inbetween the frames, thats why you get that extra movement inbetween your keys 2 and 3. Here are a couple of trick you might want to try.

1) at keyframe 2 (frame 30) move the timeslider back one frame and create a keyframe there. There is a little icon that allows you to add key on the top row of the timeline.

2) go back to keyframe 2 (frame 30) select key, right click on it and copy key

3) move the time slider forward one frame (frame 31) right click on the empty square and paste key.

4) go to keyframe 3 (frame 60) select key and right click and paste key

5) move back one frame (frame 59) right click on square and paste key again


that should flatten the motion curve for you and stay on hold. If it still wiggles , it mean that the motions between keys 1 and 2 are too extreme to smooth out by brute force which mean you need do a different trick until IC4 comes out. then that problem will be solved with the new motion curve options like step, linear, easy in, etc.

Trick two (if trick one does not work for you.

1) Create a duplicate of the logo with the exact same key frames.

2) Call it logo1 and logo2

3) select logo1 and go to the opacity slider on the modify window. (window along the right side of the screen) scroll down until you see the opacity slider .

4) in the time line go to materials and at frame 30 add key

5) go to frame 31, move the opacity slider to 0 (this will add a new key for you)

6) select logo2 , open the transform tab and delete keyframes 1 and 2

7) open materials tab and go to frame 30 , slide opacity slider to 0

8) go to frame 31 and put opacity slider to 100

9) go to frame 1 and delete key there if there is one.

So this is what is going to happen by doing this, logo1 will be visible only until frame 30, and logo2 is only visible from frame 31 on, and since you removed the transform keyframes 1 and 2 from it, the logo will remain still from frames 31 to 60 and them move to from 61 to 90.

I know this is the long way to do things, but like i said before, this will all be fixed on IC4.

Hope this helped,

Stuckon3d





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Stuckon3d,

Thanks for the detailed instructions, but I'm fairly certain that iClone is not trying to interpolate between 2 keys that are identical. I think there is some other underlying bug going on here.

As far the other post about stacked keys, are you suggesting that there can be 2 keys for the same frame? I'm zoomed in all the way to where I see only a single frame at a time and there is only a single key and no stacking. Did you mean something else by stacking?

As of now, I'm just going to clear all animations for this object and start over. I just hope it doesn't happen again. I'd still very much like to know what's happening here.

Yes, as far as the Stacking goes, they can sometimes lay right over each other and you don't see the one underneath. That's why I recommended moving them to the side; I've seen this time and time again.

The simplest method is to Right Click on the Prop while in Frame1 and Select "Remove all Animation", then place it where you want to start from, and go from there.

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