Hey, i just discovered this forum, probably bec. i just started using Poser again. I've had it for years but never really got into it, i think because of problems like this.....

Okay, i'm trying to do animation.  I start w/ the default figure and shorten the legs, e.g. to make a dwarf-type but with a big barrel chest, add an animation (e.g. lift weight from the default set), and when i play it, the guy's feet move up and down like crazy, i.e. relative to the ground plane. This apparently is related to the feet moving up off the ground when i shortened the legs.

I get the feeling this is either a simple (read: dumb) question, or it's impossible. I looked around this forum and google and can't find anything, though i'm sure it's out there. Nor does the Poser 4 PDF manual address this obviously very basic issue. That is, HOW do you apply an animation to a figure w/ shortened legs and have the feet stay put..?! THanks.

Hi, and welcome turtlecroc
I myself didn't ever work with Poser4 (started with P2, P3, and then made the big step to P6/7). Also I only do stills, so I'm not much help animation related. Might be a problem with the IK of the legs as well as with the center position of the character (i.e. the hip)
We'll have to wait till the "animators" show up. Maybe tda42 can help

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does your default figure do the same foot stomping action as the dwarf figure?
I never did too much anima but I hope that question up above helps you and also you might need to play with the animation graph or set the walk designer at a slower pace...
Now if that doesn't help there's always posing your dwarf one frame at a time...

hey have fun!

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Hi turtlecroc and welcome to Posetteforever

I don't remember how was working with animations in Poser 4, you probably lost the occasion to have Poser 5 for free, that was some time ago. This is to say that in the later versions of the program there are more options and commands. As far as I know it doesn't matter how the figure is made, but everything stands in the "key frames", if you start the frame 1 with the foot on the ground and end in frame 15 with the foot raised up, between the two frames the program creates a "curve" that you can manage in the animation window (I don't know if it's present in Poser 4), the shape of this curve can be of different types, btw you can "brake" it for example at frame 15 setting a "key frame" at that point, so you brake the curve.
Based on what you described, you should add more key frames to the animation, You can even try some of those animation poses, there should be something in the default installation of Poser 4 and modify them for the shape of your particular character. Here on Posetteforever there is a nice character that Andreas (Ahjah) made some times ago, it's made of joint balls, I think that some exercises using her could be useful.

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Not really sure what is happening. Can you make a picture of it. I think it might have something to do with the bones or IE Chain.

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Two wrongs don't make a right.
But six left turns will get you around the block
and back in the driveway again.

tda42 wrote: [View Post]

Not really sure what is happening. Can you make a picture of it. I think it might have something to do with the bones or IE Chain.

It's hard to make a picture since it's animation-related, but if you start up Poser w/ the default guy, then shorten his thighs and lower legs (to about 50%), and then add the ~weightlift animation (under one of the pose menus), then play it, you'll definitely see what i mean. The feet keep going down until they're noticeably below ground level.  

There are white outlines of the feet at ground level when you start shortening the legs...is that related to the IK?  It's as if the animation values assume default leg length, or perhaps they use absolute values relative to the hip which seems to be the center of the figure.

The same thing happens if you load default guy, then change his proportions to toddler or infant and add the weight-lift animation (or any animation in which the hip goes up/down relative to the feet.....)

turtlecroc wrote: [View Post]

tda42 wrote: [View Post]

Not really sure what is happening. Can you make a picture of it. I think it might have something to do with the bones or IE Chain.

It's hard to make a picture since it's animation-related, but if you start up Poser w/ the default guy, then shorten his thighs and lower legs (to about 50%), and then add the ~weightlift animation (under one of the pose menus), then play it, you'll definitely see what i mean. The feet keep going down until they're noticeably below ground level.  

There are white outlines of the feet at ground level when you start shortening the legs...is that related to the IK?  It's as if the animation values assume default leg length, or perhaps they use absolute values relative to the hip which seems to be the center of the figure.

The same thing happens if you load default guy, then change his proportions to toddler or infant and add the weight-lift animation (or any animation in which the hip goes up/down relative to the feet.....)

I've try to reproduce the error in my P4 but it works fine, just loaded the default guy (brown trousers, red shirt) set thigh and shin Y scale to 50% then loaded the Lift_85 animation pose and everything goes as it should    maybe if you give us an step by step of your procedure without missing a thing we coul help  

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rayera wrote: [View Post]

...
I've try to reproduce the error in my P4 but it works fine, just loaded the default guy (brown trousers, red shirt) set thigh and shin Y scale to 50% then loaded the Lift_85 animation pose and everything goes as it should    maybe if you give us an step by step of your procedure without missing a thing we coul help  

That's exactly what i'm doing. Same guy, same animation. I can hardly believe my Poser 4 is doing something different that your Poser4.  I just tried it again, changing the leg length *before* and/or *after* adding the Lift_85 animation, and no difference--except that if you shorten his legs *after* applying the animation, you get white outlines of his shoes at ground level as you slide thru the animation.

Use the slider to move through the animation, and have it rendering in real time (i.e. not a block figure), and watch the guy's feet.  They start up off the ground (because the legs are shortened), but move down to ground level as he squats down..... Feet moving vertically is simply wron.g

Okay, meant to add smiley--it's simply wrong!!  

turtlecroc wrote: [View Post]

Okay, meant to add smiley--it's simply wrong!!  

Oh, no problem, here is a slice of pizza for you while the team is searching for a solution...

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Maybe if you save your Poser file and post it here, it should be small and I think it's not a copyright violation

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I think there could be problems in that department ... ... It's better if you contact each other privately...

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I don't think, sharing a simple pz3 (without any geometry, i.e. hair or a prop with internal geometry) should be a problem. Technically it's the same as a cr2, just parameter settings for Poser...

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I don't know for sure Andreas, I remember PZ3 and CR2 with geometries included, same as props... We should be careful: it's fine with me but be sure that is everything copyright free, that I'm not sure ... You know that there are some bad people lurking the site ...

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I think we must do things in the right way    I'll try to find if sharing a PZ3 file has copyright material in it, I just sugested because I've seen some PZ3 shared in other places, just to mention Baginsbill has a P8 PZ3 that include primitives...  I'll try to find a good answer, because bisides of this case, it could be a great way to share some stuff, like scene set up

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