Does anyone know what the relationship is between the Motion Puppet SPEED and the frame count of the CYCLE.  e.g. I need a walk cycle of 60 frames (or however many to be determined) so I can loop with frame accuracy, so that my Keyframes land at the right place.  Is there some formula to determine what the motion puppet Speed setting, and the frames-per-loop output is?  This makes a big difference if you're trying to keyframe animation and are rendering at anything other than 60 fps.

TIA

--Bex.

I use the "Grid" to count.

Place a character at the center of the world. (0,0,0) Add a normal walk motion.
Move the timeline - Have the character complete (1) full walk cycle.
Draw a thin rectangle" Marking feet positions from start to finish.
"This accurately denotes the foot spacing for (looping)."

I use this as a guide to measure secondary animation.
Example:
Loop a walk cycle.... "Copy and place the rectangle for each full walk cycle.
i.e. you have 10 steps.. place 10 rectangles.

Add motion puppet... "Use the rectangles to measure motion puppet speed."

For all intense and purposes:
You are measuring "Foot Trajectory" to sync secondary motion.

... do this a couple of times and you won't need the rectangles nor "Walk Movement."
You will KNOW. 

Thanks for the reply.   Unfortunately I'm not sure what you mean:

How do you "draw" a rectangle -- are you suggesting resizing the grid to estimate spacing?  This is an interesting idea for moving a character (thanks BTW), but I'm trying to get the timing on the walk-cycle down -- i.e. the number of frames between contact points. 

Right now I'm experimenting with stretching or contracting the output from the motion puppet, but if there was a numerical relationship between the speed and the frames in the motion-puppet generation (e.g. the walk-cycle generator, or the run-cycle generator) this would be really easy.  I need to reduce the animation to 24 fps, so I need my contact-frames (heel-toe contact in a walk-cycle) to land on a precise frame.  Once I figure that out, I can adjust everything else.

Thanks for the reply!

--Bex.

You could use a  simple plane... opacity map to make the middle invisible = rectangle.
Or, just use a plane with lowered visibility.
 
You want a (PRECISE) 24 fps walk cycle???
LET'S ANIMATE!

Pose: 01
1. Start.:  Character Pose - Feet apart... "Not Idle"
~ Forward Leg...(Heel Strike).....Extended at its extreme (Leg straight)... Foot 45 degrees pointing upward.
<Forward Foot's Heel strikes the ground.>

~ Rear Leg.... (NOT Straight - Knee Slightly Bent)
(Foot Roll) ...foot rolls up on it's "BALL" 45 degrees.
This is your first pose at the start of the timeline!!
 
Pose: 02   (Character Leans Forward)
Forward Foot is "PLANTED" flat on the ground
Rear Foot folls up on the "Toe"

Pose: 03 (Passing)
The Rear Foot swings forward (Lifts off the ground) and both legs are (Even... Under the Hip)

Pose: 04 (Back to your forward leg Heel Strike pose)
...but for the (PASSING) Rear Foot.
_________________________________________________________________________

Please.....do this one time. This is how you animate.

Start of timeline.... Pose:01
Frame: 04 = Pose 2
Frame: 08 = Pose 3
Frame: 12 = Pose 4
THIS IS 1/2 walk cycle

Repeat this by swinging the other leg forward and you have (1) complete 24 fps walk cycle.

"First and Last Pose" are precisely the SAME.
Pose: 02 is (HEEL - TOE) "PLANTED".... Key.... NO Foot Sliding
Perfect Loop.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Why the rectangle.
With practice you'll see how animating a walk cycle (In Place) is fast.
Simply move the rectangle to the correct frame... to show where the character should be "With Precision."
"Then LOOP IT!"

Are you able to animate a 24 fps walk cycle?


Use iClone's Curve Editor to accurately apply secondary animation:

~ Pelvis Twist::
When the (Right Leg) performs its (Heel Strike)... rotate the Pelvis (+ 15 degress)....that's Positive 15 degrees.

When the (Right Leg) slides all the back....
Change tangents from "Auto to Linear"
Rotate the Pelvis (-30 degress)....that's Negative 30 degrees.

"Passing Pose" where both feet are even (Under the Pelvis).... Pelvis rotation is zero.

~ Arm Swing:
Change tangents from "Auto to Linear"

~ Head Roll:
Accurately apply head rotations.
,,,and all other motion.

Thanks for the feedback and reply!

Over the last few months I've been away from Iclone so I used Pivot (a stick-figure animation package) to practice some basic concepts, quick-test walk cycles etc.  Building a walk cycle in Pivot takes five minutes -- in Iclone (because there is no Onion Skin or pose flipping) it takes forever -- and then I have to start again.

I like the Motion Puppet because you can preview the animation quickly, but timing (which is a huge part of animation -- surprise surprise), is apparently arbitrary. :-(

For primary motion I'm using Motion Puppet, isolating a cycle, changing the speed, and adding secondary animation from there.

Thanks for the feedback and advise!

--Bex.

I completely understand. I use MotionBuilder's "Pose Editor"
~ Create 4 poses.
~ Select lead Foot.... Mirror
~ Adjust curves.
~ Loop
3 to 5 minutes tops.