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Ask me anything > question#1079

Anonymous

May 20, 2022

Hi Lordaardvark, thank you for your works. I'm wondering if there's a way to import the animation of the dazv4 model to the dazv5 model of the same character? Cause directly exporting and importing animation doesn't seem to work. Thanks.

LordAardvark

You'll have to puppeteer it. A Valve-to-valve puppeteer script will work. I believe I have a bunch of them, and a video explaining how to use them, on SFMLab somewhere. If not, you can download it by clicking here.

The high-level you'll want to do is this, though:

1.) Spawn a new copy of the V4 model you wish to transfer animation from, and the V5 model you wish to transfer the animation to. Let the model with the animations be the ORIGIN, this new V4 model the SOURCE, and the V5 model be the DESTINATION.

2.) Put the SOURCE and DESTINATION models directly overtop each other. Pose them to have the same angles of feet and arms as you can get. They should already have the same base pose. So this should be very easy.

3.) Rename the SOURCE animset to have the same name as DESTINATION, with "Host" at the end. For example, if the DESTINATION is named "elizabeth_curvy_dazv51", then the SOURCE should be renamed to "elizabeth_curvy_dazv51Host".

4.) Run the Puppeteer script on the DESTINATION model. Test to make sure it worked, by grabbing the SOURCE model and moving it. The DESTINATION model should move with it.

5.) Select the ORIGIN. Go to the Motion Editor, select all of time, and right-click -> Copy Samples. Select the SOURCE, right-click the selected time, and right-click -> Paste Samples. This should copy the animation from the ORIGIN model onto the SOURCE model. And since the DESTINATION model is puppeted to SOURCE, the DESTINATION model should get the motion as well.

6.) Once you're happy with the transfer, select only the relevant time in the Motion Editor (where there's actual animation). Select the DESTINATION model. Right-click its name in the Animation Set Editor, Constraints -> Bake Constraints. Once that finishes, Right-click -> Constraints -> Remove Constraints. You should now be able to safely delete both ORIGIN and SOURCE, leaving only the V5 DESTINATION, with its transferred animations.

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NOTE that if you have IK rigs on your SOURCE model, there is an additional step between 4 and 5: after applying the Puppeteer script, you need to apply an IK rig to the SOURCE model.

You can not have IK rigs on the DESTINATION model at any point during this process. You apply it AFTER this entire process is done. If you already have an IK rig attached to your V5 model, just delete and respawn it. Detaching the rig can have... unsavory results. Easier to delete and respawn.