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Motion Studio Pro
About Truespace Archives
These pages are a copy of the official truespace forums prior to their removal somewhere around 2011.
They are retained here for archive purposes only.
Motion Studio Pro // New Users
Post by xprt007 // Oct 28, 2008, 7:07am
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xprt007
Total Posts: 37
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Hi
I have a question related to this character animation tutorial http://www.caligari.com/products/trueSpace/ts5/Courses/Newcharacteranimation.asp?Cate=Training&SubCate=Older
The author talks about creating and animating a character within TrueSpace and mentions using Motion studio Pro. Before I start doing this, I want to know whether this and any other tools needed for this tutorial are part of trueSpace 7.6 or it may involve buying and integrating additional plugins.
Currently, because of limited financial resources, this is not an option, which would however be unfortunate ...
Thanks in advance.
P.S.
I did not know those links below your post were connected to it, so I am checking them out, which would answer my question. |
Post by Steinie // Oct 28, 2008, 7:19am
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Steinie
Total Posts: 3667
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Put away that wallet...it is now FREE! :)
http://www.primitiveitch.com/pub/
Thanks to Scott Miles
http://www.frankladner.com/mostu/
Thanks to Frank Ladner
http://forums1.caligari.com/truespace/showpost.php?p=24847&postcount=92 |
Post by xprt007 // Oct 29, 2008, 2:53am
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xprt007
Total Posts: 37
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Hey, that is great know :), but ....
Is it part of trueSpace & if so how does one access it? I somehow could not locate it.
If it is not, where do I get it?
thanks again |
Post by xprt007 // Oct 29, 2008, 3:22am
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xprt007
Total Posts: 37
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Ok, so I downloaded Motion studio from http://www.primitiveitch.com/pub/ and in the help file I see references to an installer:
Q: The installer suggested I put Motion Studio into my Program Files folder. Don't I have to put it into the trueSpace tsx folder?
A: You can install trueSpace plugins to any folder you like. The important thing with Motion Studio is to make sure that you keep all the installed files together.
Q: I installed Motion Studio to C:\Program Files\Motion Studio\ and then I moved the TSX to the trueSpace tsx folder. Now I'm having problems.
A: You must keep the TSX together with the other files copied by the installer. If you want to move Motion Studio, move the whole folder.
but on unzipping the above file, I have a .tsx file and nothing like the installer i expected.
So how does one "install" MSPro? :confused: |
Post by xprt007 // Oct 29, 2008, 3:28am
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xprt007
Total Posts: 37
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I did some gambling ....
After remembering seeing some Install truespace extension button, I placed the extracted folder in \trueSpace76\tS\tsx . After that i got a MSPro button, with which i could start it. It looked like what I saw in the tutorial. I hope that is the right way to do it.
:p
Another question, though ...
What other free useful/must-have plugins for 7.6 are there that one could recommend?
I would like to get as many of them as pöossible, just in case ...
Regards |
Post by robert // Oct 29, 2008, 10:15am
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robert
Total Posts: 609
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Caligari is no longer selling their various Packs of plugins, some of those are quite useful for things like cutting up geometry or making arrays in a dome shape etc. I know there's a website that has a bunch of plugins, I just can't remember what it is. Try just searching "truespace plugins" and you'll get a bunch of stuff, like this (http://"http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&gfns=1&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4ADBS_enUS294&q=truespace+plugins&safe=active').
I'm not sure what to recommend as many of the useful things you will find have already been implemented somewhere, or in some cases may not be entirely compatible. |
Post by Steinie // Oct 29, 2008, 10:26am
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Steinie
Total Posts: 3667
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Geesh doesn't anyone check out links in my Signature? Remember "FREE"?!
This is one of the links you'll like...
http://emmanuel.asset.free.fr/tsxarchive/index.htm |
Post by spacekdet // Oct 29, 2008, 10:50am
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spacekdet
Total Posts: 1360
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Can't help but spread a little Linky-Love to Lunadude (http://www.lunadude.com/)!
(follow the 'truespace' link) |
Post by xprt007 // Oct 31, 2008, 2:08am
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xprt007
Total Posts: 37
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Alright ....
thanks for the links. :jumpy: |
Post by DesignDevil // Oct 31, 2008, 11:02pm
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DesignDevil
Total Posts: 76
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For PlugIns you can also look here: http://www.east-power-soft.de/index.php?menu=truespace_truespace_plugins |
Post by xprt007 // Nov 4, 2008, 10:55am
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xprt007
Total Posts: 37
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Hi
I am doing the chapter on creating bones with Motion studio Pro.
After creating the initial parts of the skeleton, consisting of 4 bones of the spine, I named each of them & tried the save the work as a scene RsScn in format.
When I tried to load it I got some error, but the character loaded, showing the joints, but there was nothing like the names I had given the bones in MSPro.
I still have many more bones to create ...
So my question is, which is the right way of saving work when using motion studio Pro & which is the appropriate format?
The character has eyes + teeth, which are not attached to anything. The rest of the body is in one piece.
Thanks in advance. |
Post by Tiles // Nov 4, 2008, 10:21pm
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Tiles
Total Posts: 1037
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After creating the initial parts of the skeleton, consisting of 4 bones of the spine, I named each of them & tried the save the work as a scene RsScn in format.
Motion Studio is made for the old core, made for tS 5 up to 6.6. It is Modeler only. Workspace cannot deal with Motion Studio files. So no wonder your skeleton is shot down when you save it from Workspace :)
Keep your hands away from the Workspace Menu when working with Motion Studio. You need to save the scene as *.scn or *.cob from the Modeler side menu. |
Post by xprt007 // Nov 5, 2008, 4:32am
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xprt007
Total Posts: 37
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Thanks for the clarification.
Actually before I asked that question, I had tried to find a saving option in MSPro, but did not see anything in that direction.
After reading your response, I tried to locate the "Modeler side menu" & dont quite know where to find it, ... in MSPro :o
When i tried looking for it in TrueSpace proper using the the search function in the Icon Helper area, the only instance where "Modeler" comes up is in the "Mirror Modeler".
According to the tutorial video, the author seems to work in the truepace6/Model side of TrueSpace.
I have also been working from there. If that is what you refer to as the "Modeler" ... the saving options here dont seem to include .cob or .scn.
Correction
If it's saving under "TS6 Files", then, there I see those saving options.
Saving stuff would really help as I cannot finish all the work in the longish tutorial chapters in one go and would need to begin from where i have stopped.
Meanwhile .......
I am now getting the error message that Object cannot be converted to subdivision object geometry
There is a problem with the object's geometry
when I use the Add subdivision Layer tool to check out my character, which sounds omnious ...
... or not? Must I correct this & if so how or I have to take a character some few steps back, where this message was not there?
Regards |
Post by Steinie // Nov 5, 2008, 6:28am
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Steinie
Total Posts: 3667
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xprt007, I think you should read this first. It will clear up a few problems you are having.
http://forums1.caligari.com/truespace/showthread.php?t=5796 |
Post by xprt007 // Nov 8, 2008, 6:12am
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xprt007
Total Posts: 37
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Motion Studio is made for the old core, made for tS 5 up to 6.6. It is Modeler only. Workspace cannot deal with Motion Studio files. So no wonder your skeleton is shot down when you save it from Workspace :)
Keep your hands away from the Workspace Menu when working with Motion Studio. You need to save the scene as *.scn or *.cob from the Modeler side menu.
Yes I changed over to TS6 Files & there I can save as .scn which solved my previous problem.
I have been able to add bones & did skinning yesterday & was able to save the character at different stages. I could load and start these with nothing lost.
The problem, though is yesterday, just before going to chapter 4 I decided to transfer the character to another PC & there, I got an error (ts7.exe) when loading it - something which was not happening before for the same character.
Today, back to the laptop, a series of these characters saved at different stages give
the same error.
The error message gives 3 options, continue with the aplication, restart or close.
Restarting leads to the same error reappearing, continuing leads to the character loading but apparently with some data like bone names, etc that is on the right side of MSPro missing.
Here is the complete bug report:
date/time : 2008-11-08, 17:02:21, 31ms
computer name : ...
user name : ...
operating system : Windows XP Service Pack 3 build 2600
system language : English
system up time : 22 minutes 51 seconds
program up time : 43 seconds
processor : Intel(R) Pentium(R) M processor 1.60GHz
physical memory : 5/503 MB (free/total)
free disk space : (D:) 2,44 GB (C:) 5,67 GB
display mode : 1024x768, 32 bit
process id : $17a0
executable : tS7.exe
current module : C:\PROGRAM FILES\TRUESPACE76\TS\TSX\MOTIONSTUDIOPRO.1.1.0.2
\MOTIONSTUDIOPRO.TSX
module date/time : 2006-02-26 22:35
version : 1.1.0.2
madExcept version : 2.7f
exception class : EAccessViolation
exception message : Access violation at address 100B4F1C in module 'tsxapi.dll'. Read of
address 0000001C.
main thread ($13d4):
100b4f1c tsxapi.dll
1000fa06 tsxapi.dll tsxGNodeGetParent
0761feb0 MOTIONSTUDIOPRO.TSX FileIO 207 +1 FindSkeletonAndAddBone
0761ff47 MOTIONSTUDIOPRO.TSX FileIO 228 +2 FixupBones
0761ff67 MOTIONSTUDIOPRO.TSX FileIO 234 +1 FixupBoneJoints
07620062 MOTIONSTUDIOPRO.TSX FileIO 268 +2 IoFixupSkeletonsAfterSceneLoad
076254fe MOTIONSTUDIOPRO.TSX Main 411 +11 TMainForm.DoSceneLoad
0762548b MOTIONSTUDIOPRO.TSX Main 390 +2 TMainForm.SceneLoadedTimerTimer
0750e20f MOTIONSTUDIOPRO.TSX ExtCtrls TTimer.Timer
0750e0f3 MOTIONSTUDIOPRO.TSX ExtCtrls TTimer.WndProc
074fa1b8 MOTIONSTUDIOPRO.TSX Classes StdWndProc
7e4196c2 USER32.dll DispatchMessageA
10018664 tsxapi.dll ?tsx_WinMain@@YGHPAUHINSTANCE__@@0PADH@Z
thread $1508:
7c90e4f4 ntdll.dll KiFastSystemCallRet
7c90df2a ntdll.dll NtWaitForMultipleObjects
7c80956e kernel32.dll WaitForMultipleObjectsEx
7c80a100 kernel32.dll WaitForMultipleObjects
thread $1314:
7c90e4f4 ntdll.dll KiFastSystemCallRet
7c90df2a ntdll.dll NtWaitForMultipleObjects
7c80956e kernel32.dll WaitForMultipleObjectsEx
7e4195f3 USER32.dll MsgWaitForMultipleObjectsEx
7e4196a3 USER32.dll MsgWaitForMultipleObjects
thread $16c4:
7c90e4f4 ntdll.dll KiFastSystemCallRet
7c90df2a ntdll.dll NtWaitForMultipleObjects
7c80956e kernel32.dll WaitForMultipleObjectsEx
7c80a100 kernel32.dll WaitForMultipleObjects
thread $284:
7c90e4f4 ntdll.dll KiFastSystemCallRet
7c90df2a ntdll.dll NtWaitForMultipleObjects
7c80956e kernel32.dll WaitForMultipleObjectsEx
7c80a100 kernel32.dll WaitForMultipleObjects
thread $15b4:
7c90e4f4 ntdll.dll KiFastSystemCallRet
7c90da8a ntdll.dll NtReplyWaitReceivePortEx
thread $15ac:
7c90e4f4 ntdll.dll KiFastSystemCallRet
7c90d1fa ntdll.dll NtDelayExecution
7c8023eb kernel32.dll SleepEx
7c802450 kernel32.dll Sleep
7c910412 ntdll.dll RtlAcquirePebLock
thread $19c:
7c90e4f4 ntdll.dll KiFastSystemCallRet
7c90d1fa ntdll.dll NtDelayExecution
thread $fe4:
7c90e4f4 ntdll.dll KiFastSystemCallRet
7c90da2a ntdll.dll NtRemoveIoCompletion
thread $1228:
7c90e4f4 ntdll.dll KiFastSystemCallRet
7c90df2a ntdll.dll NtWaitForMultipleObjects
7c80956e kernel32.dll WaitForMultipleObjectsEx
7e4195f3 USER32.dll MsgWaitForMultipleObjectsEx
7e4196a3 USER32.dll MsgWaitForMultipleObjects
thread $10ec:
7c90e4f4 ntdll.dll KiFastSystemCallRet
7c90df2a ntdll.dll NtWaitForMultipleObjects
7c80956e kernel32.dll WaitForMultipleObjectsEx
7e4195f3 USER32.dll MsgWaitForMultipleObjectsEx
7e4196a3 USER32.dll MsgWaitForMultipleObjects
thread $17ec:
7c90e4f4 ntdll.dll KiFastSystemCallRet
7c90da2a ntdll.dll NtRemoveIoCompletion
thread $760 (TWorkerThread):
7c90e4f4 ntdll.dll KiFastSystemCallRet
7c90df3a ntdll.dll NtWaitForSingleObject
7c8025d5 kernel32.dll WaitForSingleObjectEx
7c80253d kernel32.dll WaitForSingleObject
075605be MOTIONSTUDIOPRO.TSX VirtualTrees 5064 +3 TWorkerThread.Execute
074db616 MOTIONSTUDIOPRO.TSX madExcept HookedTThreadExecute
074f8c8c MOTIONSTUDIOPRO.TSX Classes ThreadProc
074b4cb0 MOTIONSTUDIOPRO.TSX System ThreadWrapper
074db5ab MOTIONSTUDIOPRO.TSX madExcept ThreadExceptFrame
>> created by main thread ($13d4) at:
075604c7 MOTIONSTUDIOPRO.TSX VirtualTrees 5027 +1 TWorkerThread.Create
disassembling:
[...]
100b4f14 test eax, eax
100b4f16 jz loc_100b4f2c
100b4f16
100b4f18 mov ecx, [eax-4]
100b4f1b push eax
100b4f1c > call dword ptr [ecx+$1c]
100b4f1c
100b4f1f add esp, 4
100b4f22 test eax, eax
100b4f24 jz loc_100b4f2c
100b4f24
[...]
So my question is what triggers this error? On the laptop as said, exactly the same characters were loading yesterday & today I have this error & cannot edit or work on my characters & may have to go several stages back & start again.
Can one do this tutorial to the end with TS 7.6?
:( |
Post by Tiles // Nov 8, 2008, 7:52am
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Tiles
Total Posts: 1037
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I have absolutely no clue what is going on there, sorry. And i have bad news for you. Neither Motion Studio nor Modeler are longer supported when it comes to bugfixing. You have to live with existing bugs and quirks.
Question, does the scene just fail to load at the laptop, or does it also refuse to load at the pc you have saved it? If yes you did something wrong while saving. I cannot say what though. Just guess. Maybe you saved the scene with being in Setup tab. I remember that i have shot down some scenes that way. |
Post by xprt007 // Nov 9, 2008, 2:26am
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xprt007
Total Posts: 37
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Hi
I think the problem is related to how TS is ended in the previous session.
I noted when I went back to the laptop, where everything was originally functioning but later inexplicably produced the same error, that if before I close TrueSpace, I click the New Scene button to get the working space blank and then exited ...
and started it anew, loading the mentioned characters functions with no problem, as if nothing had gone wrong.
All the missing data like bone names was back and the characters are editable.
*After writing that above, I tried exiting TS with the character in the workspace + MSPro & on starting TS again, the problem reappeared.
When I exited with an empty New Scene & loaded the character, there was no error.
(I will look at other scenarios, later).
I did the same on the separate PC where I am writing this from and I have rightly loaded characters.
I hope I can do this to the end, because I find the tutorial to me as a newbie otherwise good and easy enough to follow.
Many thanks for your input.
:) |
Post by xprt007 // Nov 11, 2008, 9:26am
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xprt007
Total Posts: 37
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Hi
I have a rather awkward problem attaching a hand, whose skeleton I have created to the rest of the body.
It looks quite easy in the tutorial Video Clip but i cannot quite get it done.
http://www.orbit.890m.com/awkward.jpg
Attaching the teeth & eyes to the head was easy as it only involved dragging & dropping them on the right on the head & on the left, they do not open up as they have nothing "under" them.
With the "Handleft" & "Handright" which are skeletons, the moment I click on them on left, they instantly open up as shown in the second pic, making it impossible to pull say Handright onto "Hand_right" & hence attaching them to the rest of the body.
This does not happen when the author does the same, although before he moves them, the Hand skeletons on the right also open up when he clicks on their skeletons on the left.
I am missing something here, but I cannot figure out what it is. I have tried all sorts of stuff including to drag & drop in milliseconds before the clicked on hand opens up on the right, but it is not possible.
Could someone please tell me the trick to get around this?
:confused: :o |
Post by trueBlue // Nov 11, 2008, 9:45am
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trueBlue
Total Posts: 1761
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Here is an awesome Motion Studio tutorial that you may find very valuable:
http://forums1.caligari.com/truespace/showpost.php?p=2902&postcount=1 |
Post by xprt007 // Nov 12, 2008, 3:02am
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xprt007
Total Posts: 37
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Thanks for the link to that tutorial, which I will be reading through in detail.
Actually the Help doc that is available at the download link for MSPro also explains attaching in general, done by dragging and dropping as I did and as is in the tutorial video.
The problem is doing what the author appears to be doing with ease, at least in my case as explained fails for the reason stated.
I did some gambling for a while and discovered that if I right-clicked on one of the hands (skeletons) on the left in the above diagram and without releasing the mouse - clicking the left button right after, so I have both held down, that way, the the contents of the body as shown in the first diagram remained as desired and I could drag and drop say "Handright" onto "Hand_right" on the right side of MSPro. The hands' skeleton contents did not open this time.
That solved my dilemma.
If that is mentioned or explained anywhere, I could have overseen it.
Once again thanks. :) |
Post by frank // Nov 12, 2008, 6:34am
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frank
Total Posts: 709
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I did some gambling for a while and discovered that if I right-clicked on one of the hands (skeletons) on the left in the above diagram and without releasing the mouse - clicking the left button right after, so I have both held down, that way, the the contents of the body as shown in the first diagram remained as desired and I could drag and drop say "Handright" onto "Hand_right" on the right side of MSPro. The hands' skeleton contents did not open this time.
Actually you should be able to use just the Right Mouse Button, without having to hold both in sequence. Had the same issue myself until, like you, I discovered the RMB trick by experimenting.
I think this issue started happening with the last (free) release, as far as I can remember.
Anyhow, MotionStudio is pretty flexible... There are a hundred ways you can set up any given skeleton, and a handful of little "quirks" about the program that actually work to your advantage. |
Post by robert // Nov 12, 2008, 9:54am
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robert
Total Posts: 609
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Now if they would only bring mostu onto the Workspace...;)
Actually I think it may technically be possible. If you use the KFE in conjunction with Workspace anim stuff... I think... |
Post by robert // Nov 12, 2008, 1:48pm
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robert
Total Posts: 609
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Oh, no, wait, it wouldn't work. Not that it really matters anyway. |
Post by xprt007 // Nov 13, 2008, 7:53am
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xprt007
Total Posts: 37
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I know I am asking rather a lot of questions, but I take comfort in the fact that many people seem to be reading this thread and probably some few are also learning a thing or 2. :p
I have some things I have to get right before continuing. The author of this excellent tutorial assumes one knows a number of things, which is not always the case for a beginner.
Here is some text from the tutorial I am not fully understanding.
Here again part of the substructure, of the face skeleton, we created joints, connected them, added some nails. It is interesting how this system will work but unless u have taken each eye and arranged for the axes to be at the center of the object, this particular feature will not work. So the eyes have had the axes centered, the bones attached as u saw, and of course here the ability to move the eyes as an independent system
http://www.orbit.890m.com/head1.jpg
http://www.orbit.890m.com/head2.jpg
He is referring to what has been done so far BUT the first picture (screenshot from tutorial videoclip) shows some features added but not shown in the tutorial.
The difference between my character (second graphic) and his are the features that were added but the process not shown, specifically to do with the eyes.
My questions:
Does one center the axes of the eyes by simply highlighting the eye and then click on the tool "Move axes to the center of object" or one has to do more?
Regarding the eyes, I assume with "bones" he is referring to the ones in BLUE, that were probably created by using the "Joints" tool, "connected" them (like other facial bones shown in my character) and then the ends in red located inside the eyes "nailed - "? I assume they are blue because they are highlighted ...
....
Well, that is what I did ... to get
http://www.orbit.890m.com/head3.jpg
Which at least appears to look like it ;) ...
I think it is important to get this right since he otherwise says some particular feature wont work, later on when it comes to animation ...
Thanks in advance |
Post by robert // Nov 13, 2008, 9:53am
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robert
Total Posts: 609
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Moving the axis to the center is just clicking the button, you can then click the axis tool to hide the axes from view. The red joints are "nailed" in place meaning that they won't move around even if you drag them. The bones are in fact the blue lines connecting the joints.
All in all what you have is correct. One of your bones is green, but I know that's becaue you have it selected.
This is actually quite an ingenious system to get the eyes to look around, the only flaw is that you can't have the eyes go cross-eyed easily, or focus on a specific point like how you can do with the "look at object" tool. |
Post by frank // Nov 13, 2008, 10:46am
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frank
Total Posts: 709
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Robert points out something that is certainly worth considering, and that is the inability to have the character's eyes "focus" with this type of rigging.
Actually it should only be a problem when the character is looking at something close to his face, like around less than 3 feet (relative to the character) or so - before the audience would notice it. What would happen is that if an object gets too close, he would appear to be looking through or past it.
One way to overcome that is to not use the link (bone) between the end of the eye bones. This would allow you to have the eyes go crossed (when looking at stuff close up). BUT you would then have to take more care in focusing each eye individually. Everything's a tradeoff, I think. ;-)
Keep up the good work! I'll be watching for some animations from you soon! |
Post by xprt007 // Nov 14, 2008, 8:00am
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xprt007
Total Posts: 37
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Lots of thanks for all the invaluable reassurances, tips, pointers, etc.
Things are slowly but surely taking shape.
Quite exciting!
Regards |
Post by xprt007 // Nov 17, 2008, 10:03am
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xprt007
Total Posts: 37
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I dont know what I did wrong ... Motion Studio is not loading in the workspace when I load a character or even click on the icon like before.
I even reinstalled TS & also MSPro, but it has not helped.
There's just no sign of it anywhere, other than the icon.
How do I get it back? |
Post by frank // Nov 17, 2008, 11:03am
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frank
Total Posts: 709
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That is strange. I've never seen that type of behavior. (Of course, I'm still using tS6.6, so that may have something to do with it.)
Try Shift+Dragging the MotionStudio icon to the little garbage can icon in trueSpace.
Then click the Load Plugin icon and navigate to the Motion Studio folder and select the plugin. In my case it is "C:\Program Files\Motion Studio\MotionStudioPro.tsx".
Once the icon is installed/loaded, simply click it and see if MoStu comes up.
Let me know if that doesn't work. |
Post by xprt007 // Nov 18, 2008, 2:32am
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xprt007
Total Posts: 37
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This is crazy as it seems to have come out of the blue.
I did what you suggested and even tried uninstalling & re-installing TS again.
I also changed the location of the plugin from the tsx folder (C:\Program Files\trueSpace76\tS\tsx\MotionStudioPro.1.1.0.2) to another.
Clicking on the icon just makes it activated but the interface used for creating stuff does not load, not even with characters created at much earlier stages in case something wrong with the most recent stage was triggering this.
If uninstalled & I load a character I used it to create, TS shows an error of a missing plugin, which is expected.
In case the problem is on the laptop, I have not made any changes I'm aware of except installing WiseFTP of late and a TS Plugin Turbosquid Tentacles yesterday, however AFTER this problem came up.
Any help would be appreciated
Thanks & regards |
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