Pose Library...

lwanmtr

lwanmtr

Lwanmtr
Ok, so I prolly know the answer to this, but figured I'd ask anyway.....

Is there a way to premake some poses for various things like hands, faces, etc....then be able to load /apply them at specific frames in an animation..you know the way you can in Poser (yup, I said the p word)?
 
Legato does.
Both internal and external LWS that have the Legato plugin applied.

The main advantage is that all poses and animations are easy accessed for review & selection because the library is stored in the negative frame range. The marker/regions provide the "library index" for identification.

Together with frame range selection they are often step #1 in many Legato functions.
Markers and regions utilize retime/clone/transfer/reverse/mirror/bake/hold/lock/etc, a PoseType track per character, 7 TextTracks (for lipsync, directing, mood, pov, ...).

Some utilities like organize schematics, animated render region (also frame split for distributed rendering), and Genoma rig renaming (esp. their master channels) to have more than 1 rig in a scene. Also new: switch backplates by pressing selector button: low/mid/highres.

Legato processes hierarchy items of a hierarchy master including related (pole/goal/etc) items, filtered by tool channels, item locks, item visibility, and booleans for genus/morphchannels/masterchannels. Hierarchy masters are easy to reset to another body part so you´re able to transfer poses/animations on a sub-selection of your rig. Alternatively it supports processing by (multi genus) groups.

Unfortunately it's in transition for features/fixes anno 2020, unless LW2020 doesn't support LScript anymore.
I also need to check LW2019 LWS file format compatibility in case of a Transfer from an external reference.
Those are the reasons it's not public at the moment.
Not enough spare time is another reason.

Read some details on this old web page:
http://home.kpn.nl/vincentmesman/tools/legato.html

Some features are unfinished/broken/untested (after some upgrades and changes).
Legato is functional and improved in many ways but not really ready for wide spread release and support.

I could make a quick video to show some features that are actually functional.
Let me know if you're interested in a download link.
 
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vncnt said:
... I could make a quick video to show some features that are actually functional.
Let me know if you're interested in a download link.
Click to expand...
A little introductory video would be actually quite cool. I glanced through the website, and I find it overwhelming - in a good way, though. Legato looks very, very interesting!!
I linger about here for quite a while now, but actually never came accross Legato, go figure...
Rather nice website you have there, by the way... :-]
 
Expect a download link in +/- 1 week from now.

Running tests and polishing for a release (optimizing EXT Transfer speed) that should be acceptable for other users. But don't expect it to be finished.
 
A long, loooong time ago (last century,) I would insert pose keyframes in sub-zero frames. Then I would just copy/paste the keys to the animation timeline as I needed them. I mostly used this for hand poses. Pretty 'low-tech' but it worked.

(Come to think of it, that was back when I used Puppet Master. Anybody remember that plugin?) :)

There are better tools for that now. Ryan Roye's posing tools come to mind. I think they're included in the free version too. More info here:

https://forums.newtek.com/showthread.php/149100-New-free-posing-tools-for-Lightwave
 
Greenlaw said:
There are better tools for that now. Ryan Roye's posing tools come to mind. I think they're included in the free version too. More info here:

https://forums.newtek.com/showthread.php/149100-New-free-posing-tools-for-Lightwave
Click to expand...

I'll be re-writing those next week, although the current version lets you control what items are included with any given pose, i'd rather not have to select anything in the first place to make it work. Instead it will bypass all selection and just save a snapshot of the bone and its children to recall later. (fun fact, I had no idea how to do this at the time of writing the tool)
 
Legato 2020, for LightWave 2019:

http://home.kpn.nl/vincentmesman/legato.html

Download the plugin files + demo files.
Both INT/EXT Transfer functions work for the Genoma2 biped rig.

The demo contains a source file with a few very simple poses, and a target file that references the source file as a "library". Switch to the "E" type library, show the "m" type markerregions in the listbox, select one, press 'T' key to transfer the keys from the external source file into the current time on the (target) timeline.

If you want to Transfer a Region (you need to create one in the source file first), you may want to select a target frame range, optionally with a different duration.

Make sure you set the filter settings (in F7 Config) to "Nulls" to keep transfer time acceptable.
I believe the Transfer of Morph and/or Master Channels from an external LWS file, is not yet implemented.

Unfortunately the description is quick and dirty. Sorry about that.
My mother in law died so I'm too busy to make a video tutorial for Legato at this moment, maybe later.
 
Scripting/programming is a fantastic way to control emotions.
I confess I'm working on new improvements in Legato 2020.

A new method for transfering data from external LWS scene files, support for Insert/Backspace in the negative frame range to be able to create additional frames (or remove them) without corrupting the motion/pose Library or the animation in the positive frame range, EXT Transfer can now also transfer the Pose Track data and the Text Tracks from external sources, EXT Transfer is now also able to (optionally) create a MarkerRegion that matches the source MarkerRegion type.

This update will be available before Monday evening.
 
vncnt said:
Legato does.

...

Read some details on this old web page:
http://home.kpn.nl/vincentmesman/tools/legato.html

Some features are unfinished/broken/untested (after some upgrades and changes).
Legato is functional and improved in many ways but not really ready for wide spread release and support.

I could make a quick video to show some features that are actually functional.
Let me know if you're interested in a download link.
Click to expand...

I'd definitely be interested in seeing more videos of Legato's workflow, etc.
 
vncnt said:
Scripting/programming is a fantastic way to control emotions.
Click to expand...

Never heard it put quite that way, interesting. Of course, the real difficulty is getting access to the REPL... :devil:

vncnt said:
A new method for transfering data from external LWS scene files, support for Insert/Backspace in the negative frame range to be able to create additional frames (or remove them) without corrupting the motion/pose Library or the animation in the positive frame range, EXT Transfer can now also transfer the Pose Track data and the Text Tracks from external sources, EXT Transfer is now also able to (optionally) create a MarkerRegion that matches the source MarkerRegion type.
Click to expand...

On a semi-related topic, it's kind of a shame the LWSDK doesn't provide better hooks to override/augment the actual LWO & LWS (really, all) file load/save access mechanisms themselves. Not only would that enable adding proper VCS-type functionality, as well as CMS-type hooks, but would also offer unique capabilities in scenarios like yours (having ability to bind/access various "meta-scene" LWS's, LWS templates, and other files "around" access to the main LWS, as well as potentially even building/assembling the LWS loaded "on the fly"). Alas.

Still, given what the SDK does provide, that all sounds extremely useful!
 
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Updated demo content: http://home.kpn.nl/vincentmesman/Legato_demo.zip
All scenes use the new plugin file format of build 20-FEB-2020.

IKarm_source.lws has 1 action for the arm, and 2 poses for the hand.

To apply these markerregions in another scene:

1 - Open scene IKarm_target.lws
2 - Press F7 to open Config
3a - Remove Meshes/Bones/Lights/Cameras from the filter settings
3b - Verify "Keys", "TextTracks", "Poses" are enabled (being processed), disable "Blocks" and "MarkerRegions"
3c - Specify your screen dimensions (default: 1920x1080 16:9), then click "Set Layout Now"
4 - Press F7 again to close Config
5 - Set current frame to #50
6 - Verify that the Library file matches the path on your system
7 - Click the small "E" button to import envelope data of that Library file
8a - Select 'm' in the 'M','R','m','r','S','T' selector to list available Poses
8b - Or select "r" in that same markerregion type selector to list available Actions
9 - Select any of the available Poses or Actions and press 'T' on your keyboard to Transfer the external envelope data to the arm in this scene
10 - Use the Spline type feature (right side of the interface to define a TCB Spline with T=1.0 to a selected frame range or the current frame for slow-in/out
 
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