When the rig is selected, the brief Posing panel appears in the DAZ Runtime tab.
It consists of only two buttons:
- Load Poses
- Load Animations
both of which load a pose or animation to the active rig. The
difference between a pose and an animation is how they are represented
in the DAZ file. An animation is described by an animation structure
with keyframes for the different bones, whereas a pose is a collection
of translations and rotations. Normally it is an animation that we want
to load, but there is no harm done if we attempt the wrong type; there
warning message is simply written in the terminal window.
When
the Import Pose or Import Animation button is pressed, we are
redirected to a file selector, where we can select a file which we
believe contains an animation; such files are often located in a
directory called Poses. The import options are:
- Data Types: Poses or Animation. Here we have another opportunity to change.
- Load All: Load all files in the selected folder. Default False.
- Clear Pose: Zero the translations and rotations of all bones
before loading the animation. The default is True, and it is very rare
to change this option.
- Affect Object: The animation may contain keyframes both for
the various bones and for the entire object. Sometimes we only want to
animate the bones, leaving the object where it is. The default is True.
- Convert Poses: The Genesis figure has evolved over the
generations, and poses for one generation are not compatible with
others. If this option is enabled, the importer attempts to make a
conversion to the active rig; how well it succeeds is another matter. In
the future it may also be possible to convert poses to the MHX and
Rigify rigs.
- Insert Keys: Insert keyframes for all bones, starting from
the current frame. The default is True. If the Load All option is
enabled, keyframes are always inserted irrespective of the value of
Insert Keys.
After
we selected the .duf file in the file selector and pressed Import
Animation, Ana is posed. In the picture to the right the rig was hidden
to make it easier to see the pose.
Here
are some of the poses loaded when the Load All option was enabled. The
poses are inserted at consecutive keyframes, starting with the current
frame.
Above we see the effect of the Affect Object option.
The
previous poses were designed for Genesis 3, and since Ana is a Genesis 3
character there is no compatibility problems. However, if we try to
import a Genesis pose to a Genesis 3 character, we run into problems
because the two generations have a different bone hierarchy with
different bone names. To circumvent this problem, the importer attempts
to convert the poses. The picture above shows the same pose for Genesis
(Female contraposto), imported without and with Convert Poses enabled.
