Ragdoll 2022.11.29

Ragdoll 3.0 is out! :partying_face: We’ve got Live Mode, Load Physics, a new Asset Library a new $199 pricing option and more ready for download!

Ragdoll 2022.11.29

Enjoy this trailer too! :partying_face:

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Some news coverage!

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Congrats on shipping the new version of Ragdoll :partying_face:!

Quick question about the new license for Ragdoll Freelancer - does it have any limitations on number of frames/ markers, multi-thread? Or is it like Unlimited?

Thanks @kgr!

Once it’s activated, it’s identical to Ragdoll Unlimited.

It’s the activation that’s limited, being intended specifically for animators working as freelancers. Basically my younger self. :slight_smile:

Full list here:

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this is awesome Marcus, my brain is still trying to figure how it works !!! Congrats and best luck !

I have not found the time to test this new version… BUT I will for sure !

2 questions:
Will the previous license work to upgrade?
Will affect any of the files that i made with the previous version?

Yep! This is like any other update and still falls within the 1 year Annual Upgrade Period of any licence purchased.

No, anything made in an earlier version will continue to work in 3.0.

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Here’s a podcast I did with Ian Failes’s Befores and Afters, about the history of myself and Ragdoll.

And some more media coverage!

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So Ragdoll grows some of its legs from Euphoria and WeightShift - fascinating! Would love to hear sometime what “something else” Marcus is referring to in regards to Euphoria engine sauce in Rockstar games. :smiley:

Hah, well. In a nutshell, there is no Euphoria in GTA. They hired Natural Motion engineers to write their own version. Use of the Euphoria brand/logo in-game - like the lead and end titles - is for marketing purposes only. Euphoria was legit software though, it was used in Star Wars - Force Unleashed for example as the middleware it was designed to be.

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Amazing Marcus!
Whats process to install this over previous ragdoll in maya?
Do i need to uninstall previous and do I use same serial key?
Ty

The process is:

  1. Install new version
  2. Restart Maya
  3. Enjoy

The same licence and serial are valid here as well, the update falls under the Annual Upgrade Plan included with every licence.

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I can see the BIG change and potential on this new module… pretty nice… I think this is the NEW era of animation… it will just take time to grow the horde of Animators with the mindset to use this great tool !!! … game changing!

The animation interface is a bit … confusing… even using the Documentation took me some brain to bake my first keys… But I guess once there are few demos and examples everything is gonna be more clear and more Animators will joint !

great tool !

Thank you

Thanks for the feedback! Would it be possible to be more specific? Where did you struggle, and what did you learn to enabled you to set those first keys? I’d love to improve upon both the tool and documentation for the next animator coming this way.

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Yes and I will, I know you need more clear feedback…
I am planning on breaking it down and writing it, but I think I need to play a bit longer with it to organize those thoughts .

Here are some comments, it might be a long post I will break step by step so you can have the clear input and see where my intuition took me. " I think I am lost and using it the wrong way will need more Documentation or Demo "

Having basic ragdoll/ 5 joints FK hierarchy

1- select marker, Ragdoll GRP or rSolver and press “T” to enter Live Mode/

2 - Select the last option to activate Live mode

3- 3- Select and use any of the three option to Interact with the Ragdoll “Pitch -Translat - FK or IK” . These otions will activate activate the /playback simulation . Or will save on “cache” the modifications made to the Ragdoll”

Until Here… I guess I survived …! XD

Note:

    1. A- I found non-intuitive having to use “select” to stop the running SIM/cache

Is there any other way to stop Time Line? … would be good to know
the fact that there an Icon of Play, mu User Brain is trying to find the “Stop”

    1. B- “W” helps to reset, but if we use it and while we get use to it , Will we loose the “motion cached”?

4 - “toggle” this option happens so fast on the documentation that took me several rounds to figured it out. Maybe I was not familiar with the “toggle” … but then I got it…

5 - To stop the running Interaction / Time Line “live mode” use the “Select”arrow

6 - Now that I had some motions that I like, I thought that by using ragdoll/ “record simulation” will save/bake my keys. Until I figured first “cache” the motion

7- Press “Q - W -E or R” to exit the Interactive mode,

8- Check that the Motion was cached successfully and do ragDoll / Record Simulation

… Until here… not sure if this is the right way to Do it… But I was able to “record the animation”

Interacting with the TimeLine … this was a bit more complex to me…
a- having the Play and the Select ON the time slider does not “run”, But I can Move the slider

I am guessing that the idea of the “transfer and Key” frame is to Pose and set Key in Maya’s timeline.

How about “copy simulation onto Animation” … it is for just poses?
image

A couple of questions:
Do the “Air resistance and the Scne Scale” affects - Matters inside the Live Mode?

I will keep digging… I hope this breakdown provide you more info.

thanks !

Thanks for this @Andrei_da_02!

This doesn’t sound right. Playback should not start. Can you confirm this is what you are seeing? If not, can you record what you see?

I assume you have either Drop of Tense active, which would include playback. If so, I can confirm that it pauses when using the Select manipulator. It should not pause playback, that’s a bug I can address.

Yes, I haven’t figured out how else to make this sensible.

  1. If you exit the Manipulator, and keep the current state including cache, what should happen when you playback in Maya?
  2. If we separate between the simulation inside and outside of the Manipulator, such that when you re-enter the Manipulator you get back to the cache you had when you exited, what if you wanted to reset it?

When you re-enter the Manipulator and want that cache to remain, what is it that you wanted to do? What is it in the cache you need? It’s only really meant for undo/redo and to rewind in Live Mode, what else would you like to use it for?

I’m not sure how to make it more clear, there’s a tooltip. Any idea on how this could be made more clear?

image

Yes, working on this. The current release is only intended to pose; the ability to record is up next, and the cache method is a temporary hack you can use to record early.

It’ll do the same thing, except not set a keyframe.

Yes, it’s the same solver, the same settings. Live Mode disables Gravity and the stiffness between Markers and increases Air Density, unless you use the Drop and Tense buttons. Everything else is preserved, such that you get the same result in both Live Mode and vanilla Maya playback.

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:exploding_head: :smiling_face_with_tear: :grinning: :smiley:

finally got it !!! this is AWESOME and INSANE !!! Deammmmmmmmm…

thank you…

Will get back to you with better feedback after I play with this beauty !

@marcus
first questions and ideas :

1- Does Live mode only work with FK hierarchies? … how can I do to use Live Mode to transfer just the translations of and object?
for example, The Snake setup that I built, is based mostly on the translations of the controls, so the interpolation is smoother and easier…avoiding Gimbals and weird rotations. I did tried “soft” and made sure translations was recording but not succes… also start trying with PIN … but I have not figured it out yet.

2 - Maybe could be nice that any object that is on Kinematic mode won’t be highlited or selected?.. Just to favor user interaction… (just as idea)

3 - Another idea: the same way the “toggle” activate the Gravity and tension… Maybe by Toggling othe key “K” for example… could be used to Set a Key on the pose every time we press Gravity or tension. (that might save the time to go to the

4- If we want to delete one of the poses/ keys that we set inside the Live mode … what’s the best approach? …

thanks…

Will keep digging and playing with this awesome tool !

The Transfer button on the timeline only works with FK hierarchies, or FK-like hierarchies. Meaning your controls need to act lik a plain FK hierarchy in order for that button to work.

You can however set your solver node to Cache and use Live Mode, such that you can then run Record Simulation as per usual. Even if the cache was made with Live Mode. We’ll expand on this ability in upcoming releases, but the Transfer button will remain only functioning with FK hierarchies.

Good idea, that would make sense. Adding this for next release.

Ragdoll is extremely limited in the kind of buttons it can receive from Maya. Clicks, Shift and Ctrl is pretty much it! As soon as we want to also read from your keyboard, we interfere with normal Maya keyboard shortcuts.

I’ve got a few ways to try and tackle this in mind, because yes it would be much more convenient to toggle many of these functions via keyboard hotkeys. Stay tuned for this.

The best way is still to use Maya’s Graph Editor/Dope Sheet for this. That’s where poses are stored (as keyframes). This is also something upcoming, so double-stay tuned.

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thank you!
Will keep plying with it… so far It is great ! / amazing !