Animation

Animation of avatars is supported for imported avatars with different poses built in. You can output the animation in different formats.

In addition, the application includes several animation ready avatars with natural sequential poses, that include, for example, walking and turning. These avatars are:

Man Running in Place Animation
Man Walking and Turning Animation
Woman Running Animation

To download the catwalk animation for the new Olivia avatar (2020 September Edition) click here.

Creating Avatars for Animation

There are many ways to create animation. For the purposes of animation in VStitcher and Lotta, you need avatars with enough keyframes to have a smooth transition of poses during the animation.

To start, you need a human model that has a rig - where the skeleton is connected to the geometry. Next, work out what animation you want. For example, perhaps you want the avatar to walk across the screen. Then, use your software tool of choice to create the keyframes.

It is recommended to use the services of a professional 3D artist to create an avatar for animation.

For avatars to work in animation, ensure that all the avatar's objects are combined into a single object, and attached to a skeleton.

If you are not a professional 3D artist, or do not have access to one, there are several online sites where you can acquire a rigged model and generate keyframes, or just generate keyframes from your own rigged or non rigged model.

For example, from https://www.daz3d.com/, you can use the following avatars:

In each case, you can use the avatars in their basic form. Do not include any additional elements, such as hair, shoes, and so on.

For example, you can use the basic Genesis 2 and 3 avatars at https://www.mixamo.com.

Using Animation

To use animation:

On the Main menu, click Plugins, then Animation Plugin.

The Animation Plugin pane is displayed.

2020 September Edition and newer

2020 May Edition and older

Edit the settings as required. You must first select an avatar.

The available settings depend on the format selected.
Output size matches the current size of the 3D window.

Setting	Description
Load Animated Avatar	Click , then click the avatar you want to use. Note: Only imported avatars with animation or animated in their name are displayed. Rename suitable imported avatars to have them displayed in the list. Other settings are only enabled when you have selected an avatar.
Output	Click , then click the output you want: MP4 Animated GIF Sequence Note: Sequence output creates a number of images of the selected file format. You must use third-party software to stitch these images together and create animation.text FBX with Animation - 2020 September Edition and newer OBJ with Animation - 2020 September Edition and newer
Export Settings	Only displays if selected Output is FBX with Animation or OBJ with Animation Click to display the available presets, then click the setting you want to use. Garment Outside Baked Textures If selected, the settings are as follows: Geometry: garment outside, scale x1 Textures: baked, PNG, square 4096px UV: single UV layout for all pieces Exclude avatar Garment In and Out Baked Textures If selected, the settings are as follows: Geometry: garment outside, inside and thickness, scale x1. Textures: baked, PNG, square 4096px. UV: single UV layout for all pieces. Exclude avatar.
FFMPEG Library	Only displays for MP4 output You must install FFmpeg to use this output. If you have not already downloaded FFmpeg: Click the displayed link and follow the instructions to download from the website. Once downloaded, click Browse and navigate to the location of the FFmpeg.exe file.
Frame Rate	The higher the frame rate, the shorter the animation clip.
File Format	Only displays for Sequence output Click , then click the file format you want: JPEG PNG
Render Type	Click , then click the render type you want: Ray Trace Normal
Render Quality	Only displays if Render Type is Ray Trace - 2020 September Edition and newer Click to display the available options, then click the setting you want to use: Low Medium High Best
Cycles	Only displays if Render Type is Ray Trace - 2020 May Edition and older The number of cycles the render engine is to complete. The higher the number, the higher the quality of the render, and the more time it takes. A value of 200-300 typically produces a good quality render. Use a lower number for testing ray trace rendering.
Preview	Click Preview to preview the output. By default the preview excludes the garment. To include the garment, select With Garment. When the preview is running, click Preview to stop it. You can click Preview again to continue. In 2020 September Edition and newer, you can also click to return to the beginning of the preview.
Resimulate	Select to delete existing snapshots and simulate by creating new snapshots.

Click Generate. A file explorer window is displayed.
Navigate to the folder where you want to put the output, then click Select Folder. The animation output is generated.

Importing to Blender

If you are importing FBX animation output to Blender, we recommend the following to avoid any mismatch between the position of the avatar and the garment:

Set Animation Offset to 0. (Instead of default value of 1.)
On applying the mdd cache, set Time Remapping to time (instead of frame).