Hi there! You are currently browsing as a guest. Why not create an account? Then you get less ads, can thank creators, post feedback, keep a list of your favourites, and more!
Instructor
Original Poster
#1 Old 26th Feb 2018 at 11:25 PM
Sliding Feet in Converted Child Animation
I converted an adult animation for children with Blender. It's a simple animation done while standing, and the converted animation basically works in-game, except for the fact that the child sim's feet glide/shuffle while the animation is playing. How can the feet be made to stay in place?

Any guidance would be appreciated. Thanks!

Own Grandma's Canning Station? Check out the Canning Station Overhaul.
Like doing laundry? Check out the Infinite Laundry Buffs Fix.
Advertisement
Scholar
#2 Old 27th Feb 2018 at 12:02 PM
It kind of happens with my animations too. Were the feet gliding in Blender too or only in the game?
Virtual gardener
staff: administrator
#3 Old 27th Feb 2018 at 4:41 PM
It might be the ROOT data that causes the sim going inside the ground. I'd try and see if in Blender it's working without going inside the ground (aka, the grid). Though I do have to say that Blender sometimes has weird export values, like, legs being rotated in game in the most uncomfortable way, so when that happens you need to improvise a little and guess where it would look wrong in Blender but good in game
Instructor
Original Poster
#4 Old 27th Feb 2018 at 8:00 PM Last edited by Butterbot : 27th Feb 2018 at 8:35 PM. Reason: Details
@skydome

It happens both in Blender and in-game.

@Lyralei

The feet aren't going into the ground, but sliding on top. As far as I can see, the feet stay on the ground plane, but slide around instead of being stationary. The problem is actually only with the sim's left foot not staying in place, as the right leg is supposed to step forward in the animation.

Thank you both for replying. I've attached .blend files with both the original adult animation (where the left foot doesn't glide) and the converted child animation with the gliding problem, if that helps.
Attached files:
File Type: zip  animation.zip (11.02 MB, 13 downloads) - View custom content

Own Grandma's Canning Station? Check out the Canning Station Overhaul.
Like doing laundry? Check out the Infinite Laundry Buffs Fix.
Scholar
#5 Old 27th Feb 2018 at 8:29 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Butterbot
@skydome

It happens both in Blender and in-game.

@Lyralei

The feet aren't going into the ground, but sliding on top. As far as I can see, the feet stay on the ground plane, but slide around instead of being stationary. The problem is actually only with the sim's left foot not staying in place, as the right leg is supposed to step forward in the animation.

Thank you both for replying. I've attached a .zip file with both the original adult animation (where the left foot doesn't glide) and the converted child animation with gliding problem, if that helps.

Did you use locrot or locscale? You have to use locrot or the animation gets messed up.
Instructor
Original Poster
#6 Old 27th Feb 2018 at 8:34 PM Last edited by Butterbot : 27th Feb 2018 at 8:36 PM. Reason: Typo
I used locrot. The rest of the animation is ok. The foot movement is the only problem.

Own Grandma's Canning Station? Check out the Canning Station Overhaul.
Like doing laundry? Check out the Infinite Laundry Buffs Fix.
Scholar
#7 Old 28th Feb 2018 at 4:25 AM
OK I'll download the animation and check it out. Btw can you upload a screenshot as well?
Instructor
Original Poster
#8 Old 28th Feb 2018 at 5:02 AM
Thanks for checking it out! What should the screenshot be of? A shot of the child animation from Blender? Any particular viewport?

Own Grandma's Canning Station? Check out the Canning Station Overhaul.
Like doing laundry? Check out the Infinite Laundry Buffs Fix.
Scholar
#9 Old 28th Feb 2018 at 9:52 AM
Quote: Originally posted by Butterbot
Thanks for checking it out! What should the screenshot be of? A shot of the child animation from Blender? Any particular viewport?

Yea the child one with the glided feet. Also can you tell me which version of blender you're using?
Instructor
Original Poster
#10 Old 28th Feb 2018 at 7:10 PM
Screenshot is attached. I'm using Blender 2.70.
Screenshots

Own Grandma's Canning Station? Check out the Canning Station Overhaul.
Like doing laundry? Check out the Infinite Laundry Buffs Fix.
Scholar
#11 Old 5th Mar 2018 at 5:22 AM
Sorry I've been a bit busy. I'm going to check out today.
Instructor
Original Poster
#12 Old 5th Mar 2018 at 7:30 AM
No prob; am relieved that you haven't forgotten.

Own Grandma's Canning Station? Check out the Canning Station Overhaul.
Like doing laundry? Check out the Infinite Laundry Buffs Fix.
Scholar
#13 Old 5th Mar 2018 at 2:55 PM
Ok I think a little bit of gliding is inevitable. You'll have to manually edit the keyframes where the gliding happens. But I reconverted the animation again see if anything's changed. I'm uploading it.
Attached files:
File Type: 7z  Butterbot.7z (634.9 KB, 8 downloads) - View custom content
Instructor
Original Poster
#14 Old 5th Mar 2018 at 7:43 PM
I compared your conversion with mine; they seem about the same. Looking closer at the animation, it seems that the left toe and foot bones start shifting going from keyframe 3 to 4. So is this a matter of copying the position + rotation of the toe/foot bones in keyframe 3 to all the subsequent keyframes? (Will have to look up how to do that; I know so little about animation.) Would that risk deforming the sim's body mesh, though?

Own Grandma's Canning Station? Check out the Canning Station Overhaul.
Like doing laundry? Check out the Infinite Laundry Buffs Fix.
Scholar
#15 Old 5th Mar 2018 at 8:59 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Butterbot
I compared your conversion with mine; they seem about the same. Looking closer at the animation, it seems that the left toe and foot bones start shifting going from keyframe 3 to 4. So is this a matter of copying the position + rotation of the toe/foot bones in keyframe 3 to all the subsequent keyframes? (Will have to look up how to do that; I know so little about animation.) Would that risk deforming the sim's body mesh, though?


I don't know much about animations either, there are some good tutorials out there in youtube. I don't have the link currently but I can ask Sofmc9 to get me a link. She knows about where the tutorials. I don't think the body mesh will be deformed. Just make a change in those Keyframes, I think that'll work. Animating in Sims 3 is not hard but you need a lot of practice to make good ones. It's like drawing, picking a pencil and making a shape is easy but it takes a lot to make a sketch. But in this case since it'll be a small change I think you can do it. Also the little bit of gliding isn't really a big deal if you ask me. The animation still looks good.
Instructor
Original Poster
#16 Old 5th Mar 2018 at 11:24 PM
If Sofmc9 has any advice, I'd love to hear!

Meanwhile, I've tried deleting, via the dope sheet, all the keyframes of b_L_Foot and b_LToe except for keyframe 1, then copying and pasting keyframe 1 to the end of the animation, hoping that Blender would tween between two identical keyframes, producing no change in the position of these two bones. That didn't work: the foot still glides in a circle, and now also goes a bit below the ground plane. I've attached the .blend file below. What am I doing wrong?
Attached files:
File Type: zip  child animation_modified left foot and toe keyframes.zip (4.78 MB, 4 downloads) - View custom content

Own Grandma's Canning Station? Check out the Canning Station Overhaul.
Like doing laundry? Check out the Infinite Laundry Buffs Fix.
Virtual gardener
staff: administrator
#17 Old 6th Mar 2018 at 8:10 PM Last edited by Lyralei : 7th Mar 2018 at 11:01 AM.
I feel almost sorry for not reply sooner. I noticed that the moment I looked at your Rig, the height wasn't correct. See image

The same counts for creating objects or actually their shadow meshes. (like the flat plane meshes). If you lower these from EA's default position, it will go into the ground, which I know was the issue you were having.

Hope this helps!

EDIT: Wait i'm an idiot... That won't necessarily work... I mean it would but there's also something else you should include. Ikchains! See the foot bone there? Tbh I would just try copy pasting these into your custom CLIP you exported from Blender. The way to get there is just click on your clip>Grid. Let me know if that worked!

ANOTHER EDIT: now i’m even more of an idiot for not including the grid screenshot i made... will fix that in a bit!
Screenshots
Instructor
Original Poster
#18 Old 8th Mar 2018 at 6:19 AM
@Lyralei

Thanks for the suggestion! Just tried copying the IKChain into the converted CLIP. Unfortunately, that seemed to have made the entire sim (as in both feet) glide around instead, without sinking into the ground.

Own Grandma's Canning Station? Check out the Canning Station Overhaul.
Like doing laundry? Check out the Infinite Laundry Buffs Fix.
Back to top