Performing Editor

Step Animation

Step animation concept

XR Studio uses a unique animation method called step animation.
For those who make animations with video editing and 3D tools, I think that frame animations with time frames in units of time are familiar.
For step animation, there is no notion of this time-based timeframe.
In frame animation, each frame is either seconds or minutes.
For step animations, you have something that looks like a similar timeframe, but this is called a stepframe, Each frame is a pose step.

Each step is an image of the current pose, the next pose, and the next pose.
In the case of frame animation, if one time frame takes 1 second to change from one pose to the next, it means 1 second later, In the case of step frame, it is not after 1 second. This means that step frames do not represent time.

You may be confused at first if you are familiar with frame animation, but the animation handled by XR Studio is "Interactive movement".
For example, the pose of the first step and the pose of the second step may be near or far.
If you set 1 second between 1 step and 2 steps in frame animation, it will change slowly when the pose is close, If it is far, it will be played in fast forward. The time and effort to adjust each time will increase. In other words, the concept of time is an obstacle.
Also consider creating an animation as part of a pattern that loops partially.
Of course you can also create a frame animation, but since it is partially looped, only the object to be looped is Ignore the entire flow of time, and repeat the process of returning to the number of seconds before the number of seconds. At this point, the concept of time has partially collapsed.

In the step animation, not the time but the moving speed of each part object is set.
By specifying the speed without setting the time, the playback will be performed at the same speed regardless of whether the pose or position coordinates are near or far.
It does not rotate fast or slow motion, and the image of movement does not change at the specified speed.

It may seem like a difficult explanation, but what is step animation based on "interactive movement"? It's a simple story that you can create animation data with a very small amount of data by removing the disturbing concept of time.
If you just think about the concept, there is no big difference from creating with frame animation.
Rather, it is simple.

Main step

Set the position, rotation and movement speed for each part, and move to the next step when all the movements that form the pose are completed The basic step unit of a step animation.

Substep

In the case of the above main step, if all the movements that form the pose are not completed, it will not move to the next step.
In other words, you can't make movements between steps.
Sub-steps support the auxiliary movement between steps.

For example, in the case of walking animation, the pose with the right foot out (first step) and the pose with the left foot out (second step) It looks like walking if looped, but is it a little slippery? Do you have a feeling of dynamism?
That's right. The animation that the legs intersect in the first and second steps is not enough.
The impression can be changed by moving the whole body (parent route) up and down a little during the loop animation.

However, if you make the 1.5th step that raises the Y-axis position of the parent route as the main step, the animation of the 1.5th step that the body rises Until it's done, the foot crossing animation will stop.
What can handle such a situation is a substep.