Rigid body articulated human body models

[rfam]

Hi,

I am using Vizard 3.0 to make animations with human avatars.
Usually the avatars that i used in vizard are based in the file "vcc_male.cfg" or others avatars of this type.

dude = viz.add('vcc_male.cfg')

I would like to vizualize only the skeleton segments of the avatar (the avatar "without clothes").
Something like these rigid body articulated models:
http://i42.tinypic.com/w2mwir.png
http://www.euclideanspace.com/physic...nts/m12113.gif

Does the Vizard Software have this type of Rigid body articulated human body avatars? Or, is it possible to obtain this type of avatars from the "dressed" ones?

I also would like to know if there is the possibily to make the frames/referentials attached to the body segments visible during the animation of the avatars.

Thanks.


Regards,
Ricardo Martins

[Jeff]

Thanks for posting. WorldViz will be closed until January 2 so there might not be more of a response until after then.
Its possible that one could hide the mesh of the avatar and link line segments or other objects to the bones.
I'll check with others here after the holidays and if this has been done or if there are other ways of doing it I'll let you know.

[rfam]

Thanks worldviz team!

I would appreciate your answer because I have some urgency in knowing how to do that.
Until there, i will try to solve the problem by myself. If I achive some solution I will describe it here.


Regards,
Ricardo Martins

[mspusch]

i dont know if this helps at all but i suspect it might be useful for you to check the downloads for the 'live characters' product line, which is an add on to vizard which helps connect vizard avatars with motionbuilder data. there should be example files and explanations in the manual that might be useful

[rfam]

Thanks,

All I want is to make a simple model... something like this...
http://www.cg-files.com/cgpicture/Pi...ingaHand/1.jpg

In 3ds studio max is easy to define the skeleton, but i don't know how to define a simple mesh.. simple body segments..
does anyone knows how to solve my problem?


Thanks,
RM

[tobin]

Something like what you showed is easy for us when our offices reopen next week after our offices re-open on Friday (1/2).


In the meantime, here's a good tutorial you may not have found about creating avatars in Cal3D format:
http://download.gna.org/cal3d/docume.../tutorial.html

[tobin]

Also, as mspusch suggests, if you download the trial product below and install it, you should find some .cfg files ready to use in Vizard that will look just like what you see above.

http://www.worldviz.com/download/fil..._2.02.0000.exe

[Jeff]

Sorry, a correction about cfg files in Live Characters. There are no cfg files to load a skeletal figure in Cal3D format within the Live Characters download. It does include fbx files that will load skeletons but those are to be used in Motionbuilder.

There is a way to export that to Cal3D from Max. As soon as our offices reopen and folks are back someone will be able to help with that.

[rfam]

thank you all.. i will wait for your help..

another question...
is there any chance to make the referentials of each body segment of the avatars visible?


Thanks again.
RM

[Veleno]

Hi Rfam,

It is easy to export a skeleton as an avatar, but the animations that come with the vcc_male avatar will not work with the export unless the original skeleton file is used. We can't give out the original skeleton file, but I'll check if it's alright to export a skeleton avatar for you that can use the animations.

To export a biped skeleton as an avatar within Max, select all the bones in the biped, go to Tools ----> Snapshot , then select Mesh as the snapshot type. just take one snapshot in the biped's base pose.

Next, select the root node of the new non-biped skeleton and attach all its children into one mesh. Be careful not to attach any parts of the actual biped since this can cause crashes.

Once it is all one mesh, add a Skin modifier and add all the bones from the biped, then adjusted the skinning as you wish.

Once that is done, you can follow the exporting steps in this tutorial:
http://download.gna.org/cal3d/docume.../tutorial.html

[farshizzo]

Here is a sample script showing how to draw the skeletal structure of an avatar using on-the-fly points and lines:

import viz
viz.go()

def CreateSkeleton(avatar):
	
	points = []
	lines = []

	def traverse(bone):
		points.append(bone)
		for b in bone.getChildren():
			lines.append((bone,b))
			traverse(b)
			
	#Collect list of bones for drawing points and lines
	for b in avatar.getRootBoneList():
		traverse(b)

	#Create OTF object
	viz.startlayer(viz.LINES)
	viz.linewidth(2)
	viz.pointsize(6)
	viz.vertexcolor(viz.RED)

	for l in lines:
		viz.vertex(0,0,0)
		viz.vertex(0,0,0)

	viz.startlayer(viz.POINTS)

	for p in points:
		viz.vertex(0,0,0)

	skeleton = viz.endlayer()
	skeleton.dynamic()

	#Link each vertex to corresponding bone
	count = 0
	for b1,b2 in lines:
		viz.link(b1,skeleton.Vertex(count))
		count += 1
		viz.link(b2,skeleton.Vertex(count))
		count += 1

	for b in points:
		viz.link(b,skeleton.Vertex(count))
		count += 1

	return skeleton
	
model = viz.add('male.cfg',alpha=0.7)
model.state(2)

CreateSkeleton(model)

#Toggle avatar mesh on space key
vizact.onkeydown(' ',model.visible,viz.TOGGLE)

import vizcam
cam = vizcam.PivotNavigate(distance=3)
cam.centerNode(model)

[rfam]

thank you all for your attention...

Ricardo Martins

[rfam]

and there is any option to make the referentials of each body segment visible in the vizard software?

thanks,
Ricardo Martins