This is my first day using ShotPro. Better documentation and help would be useful, but even so, it is a very impressive program on the PC. On the PC, I need to have one of my characters walk the length of a city block. Is there a way of making this process more efficient, such as guides orrulers of some kind? My grid is set for one foot and snapping is enabled. Is there an optimal time interval between keyframes to create a smooth walking animation? Is there an optimal distance to move the character? Right now, it's trial and error and with a mouse, I am not getting the same distnace between keyframes and positioning the character. Are there techniques to simplify this process, getting a character to walk smoothly for a distance?
Search
Figured it out. Not a difficult process. Is there a place on this website where I can submit a write-up of the process for the benefit of others confronting this issue for the first time?
Hi Jerry! I would be very interested in the process you came up with! Perhaps you could post a writeup here in the forum...documentation is a bit scarce on this great piece of software unfortunately so please share your wisdom 🙂
@larsf1 It's actually very simple. I picked it up by watching all the Shotpro videos. It is not specifically called out. (Animation must be turned on. Beneath the Timeline on the right side is a comb (a stack of horizontal bars). Click on that and make sure that the Animation property at the bottom of the list is toggled to ON.) Set your timeline marker to where you want the sequence to begin. Place your character wherever you want and select it so all the controls are showing.
On the lefthand side, you'll see a menu of character options. Chose "Animation" and then select the animation you want. When you've done that, click on the Keyframe control on the bottom. It's the red diamond in the middle. A red diamond will should appear above the Timeline with a red keyframe marker atop the timeline marker. Now drag your timeline marker to the point you want your character to go. This MUST be done before you move the character! Now move the character to wherever you want it to wind up. Place another keyframe. If you're doing walking or running, you'll have a smooth walk. I think ShotPro has the potential to be a great program, especially for the price. But the lack iof documentation and support is a killer. I'm looking at iClone as an alternative. Jerry
@jerry Thanks a lot Jerry! Yes, the keyframing part is quite straight forward...I just have som difficulties making it look natural and not to ”floaty”. Always looking for shortcuts 🙂 and thought maybe you had figured out a formula (yards/meters per second or something) but with some trial and error it’s not too hard after all! And yes, it’s certainly not the hardest program to figure out (compared to other 3D software) but some documentation would be fantastic! Will look into iClone as well! Thanks again!