You're welcome, Wizaerd. :)

In my techniques of animating character movement, I sometimes have to choose between using a path, or going into "Director" mode, and using the walk animation in that, using the keyboard as a means to control where the character goes.

My criteria:
Do I want the character continuously walking to the end of their journey? Or do I want them to make stops along the way?

If the question is the the former, I'll use the path method I described.
If the latter, I'll go into Director mode, making stops where I wish them to stop, and resuming when I wish them to resume.

Now, this is to say that I've not learned AML/XML. I don't know how to make scripts to allow for different animations in Director mode, based on the needs of the scene. So, sometimes, I have to just wing it, and strike a balance between the two techniques.

I guess you can say that my usage of Director mode, at least for now, is a broadsword solution for stop/start animations during walking. :)





"Incompetence will always prevail so long as evil men stand by and do nothing."
-Martok2112

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a wiiner.  Rampa, as to the original question, this is indeed the best solution.  I too am not a big fan of the picking path method, which is why I asked the original question in the first place.  Although based on all the other answers here, I felt that it was the only feasible way. But you have renewed my faith in the user friendliness, and ease of use which iClone is supposed to be known for.

However, to the others who've responded in this post, thanks to you, I have learned that  if you're willing to go through the extra steps and tweaking, the pick path method does allow for far greater control.

So thanks to everyone.  Rampa has shown that we can have our cake and eat it too, and the other posters have taught me how to bake a far more elaborate cake.

Getting back to the original query.......

I did a little experimenting, and discovered that when my character overshoots the end of the path (I don't like attaching them to a path), I can then select the point in the timeline at which they are exactly at the end of the path, and add an "idle pose" (the one where they are just standing there, but any pose would work). You might want to drag out the transition portion of the idle pose (outline part on the front of the clip in the timeline) for a smoother transition.

In the timeline: The walk will be on the "Move" line for the character, and the idle pose will be on the "motion" line for the character.



Hope this helps.

you can also just cut your animation clip in half, and move the latter half further along the timeline. Just make sure you cut it so your character looks balanced when they stop.

That effectivly leaves an open spot to add other animations, and keeps it all pretty simple.

Thank martok2112, there's certainly a lot more to getting a character to smoothly move along a path than the right click, move forward, select path approach. Hopefully iClone will better document or tweak it, because using the approach from the manual just does not give good smooth results, whereas your approach does, just a whole lot more work to it.

If I may be so bold to ask a how to question...  Is there a way to get the character to stop somewhere along the path, for a length of time, then resume moving along the path until the finish?  Stop and perform some other animations/actions before resuming?

[EDIT] - Nevermind, I think I figured it out.  Move along the timeline find your spot where you want them to stop, and edit the position field.  This will drop a new key onto the timeline.  Copy it move forward in time where you want them to resume, and paste the new key.  You'll most likely also need to move the ending key a bit further along to to tweak the timing.

Of course getting the looping animations timed and in the right places will be trickly, but they're tricky on just a normal move along a path, so same premise, just time different animation sequences, then resume the walking loop...

If I may add my two quatloos worth :)

I've always found it easier to attach the character to the path first, have them traverse the path points without any animation first, check the playback to make sure that the timing is right, and if not, adjust from there, THEN, add in the animations. (A static walk animation is better in this situation than an actual forward moving animation....in other words, a walk animation that keeps the character in place, rather than physically moving forward, because the motion along the path will handle that.)


So....

1. Attach said character to first path point. (Highlight character, select "Pick Path" and use the cursor to select the first point on your path).
2. Adjust the playback slider at the bottom of the main UI to however far down the timeline you wish to go. (5 seconds? 6 seconds? whatever)
3. Select Pick Path again, and use the cursor to select the last point on your path.)
4. Check the playback to make sure your traverse time is satisfactory. If it isn't, go into the "TIMELINE" under your character's "CONSTRAIN" settings, and adjust accordingly. You will find the end path point. The path points look like two vertical hashes, connected by a solid line. The hash on the right is your end path point. Move it right to increase the travel time, left to decrease.
5. Replay. Satisfactory? Good. Now you can start laying down the actual animation.
6. Go into your character animation templates, and pick whichever walk or run animation you wish them to execute.
7. Check the playback again. Some default characters (Trinity, Jack) have Start and End walk/run animations in addition to full on walk/run animations. You may use these animations for your custom character, even if they are not Trinity or Jack. So, to make sub-notes of this.

1. During the animation addition phase of your path animation, select Trinity's MOVE animation blocks if your character is female, Jack's if your character is male.
2. At the first path point, select the respective character's "Walk-Start" or "Run-Start" animation.
3. For the main part of the path traversal, pick "Walk" or "Run" until the character is near the end of the path.
4. When your character is reaching the end of the path, select "Walk-End" or "Run-End".

These are pretty simple instructions, and assumes you know the UI decently enough to find these things.

And the nice thing is, the characters will NOT overshoot the end of the path.

In fact, wizaerd, here is my tutorial as shown in another thread....hopefully the illustrations will help. :)

https://forum.reallusion.com/FindPost87316.aspx



"Incompetence will always prevail so long as evil men stand by and do nothing."
-Martok2112

No sweat colour old boy :D It's just my 2 pee worth :P

As I said, hopefully, it will be a useless tut when 5 comes out Hope,Hope ;)


Click here to go to my YouTube Channel filled with iClone Tutes and Silly Stuff

Visit ANIMATED PROJECTIONS Powered by iCLONE

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Thanks for that, Mark:)

Downloaded to my iC4 Tuts / Mark's Tuts Folder, Via Applian Freecorder & can be viewed, using Applian free FLV Player (If others are interested).

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[snip... no worth falling to the tempation, or the bait presented.  talk about flaming...]

.............and lose.

I was warned about the Flamers in Reallusion Forum before I became a Member, by a well-respected Senior Member & that's why we both preferred CoolClones Forum - A much nicer place to be. Unfortunately it's more-or-less petered-out.

The Reallusion Forum has a bad reputation for Flaming.

My Post was in Reply to sw0000P's Post, anyway.

Amen

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      REALLUSION FORUM ANNUAL PINHEAD COMMUNITY PROJECTS.

       New Pinhead Website & Project to be announced in September 2015

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