Animation Layers for Beginners

Drag and Drop motions are a quick and easy way to animate characters for beginners and pros alike. There are many ways to break and blend existing motions, but the introduction of Animation Layers gave us a new level of control to change existing character motions limb by limb if needed.

These layers are a means to non-destructively edit a base motion by using custom layers that are “on top” overriding that part of the base motion. If you create a layer named “arms” and use that layer to animate only the arms, then it will override any arm animation contained in the base motion.

To be clear, we can animate any or all limbs with each layer as that depends on our needs and workflow. This is another example of iClone being as simple or as complicated as we need it to be. While it is just as easy to animate any combination of limbs on any given layer, I would recommend that beginners keep it simple as shown in the example tutorial below by confining each layer to a limb or two until you get some experience.

These layers are in the timeline and can be accessed by limb for fine tuning, adding preset curves or adjusting timing. The layer can also be turned on and off with a checkbox which leaves the layer intact but not in use. Since the base motion is still intact and the layers can be toggled on and off, there is no destructive editing at this point, leaving us the ability to change any aspect of our editing, regardless of timeline location or even go back to the original motion.

More Control

Animation layers give us a lot more control since we choose what to animate and when to animate it on each layer. If we choose to animate the arms and head and do so in separate layers, then we can name each layer accordingly and only animate those parts.

Keep in mind that all character limbs can be animated so be sure not to make any inadvertent changes to other limbs. Even if you make intended changes to other limbs but label the layer as arms and legs you might have trouble finding it in a complicated project so label accordingly.

Color Code

Each layer has a color code that helps you to find it on the timeline by using that color to highlight which layer you are looking at. The layer is color coded and when you select a motion on that layer, it will be highlighted with the matching color.

These unique colors give us a way to quickly and easily identify which motion belongs to which layer on the timeline.

How Animation Layers Work

Let’s jump right into an example of how simple this process is. For this example, I am using an action character carefully moving forward, crouched and at a slow to moderate pace. We’ll do this using the basic walking motion in the Motion Puppet then add animation layers to edit the characters arms and head.

The basic walking motion will be far from what we need so I will demonstrate how to adjust the motion before recording it. We will change the character’s posture and pace while locking down the hips to a more controlled and less swaying motion to match the mood of what the character is doing then we’ll start working with the layers.

I will use the layers to add a different arm motion, and I’ll also animate the head to move around and scan the area ahead and to the side. This will be manual editing but do not let that scare you as it couldn’t be easier. If all you have done is drag and drop motions at this point in using iClone then this will be a good introduction to how you can tweak those motions or customize them completely.

At the end of the tutorial, we will have a cautious walking motion with custom animation layers for the arms and head. After this you will be on your way to more customized animations.

Merge Animation layers

We can also merge animation layers into one to combine animation effects. We have a choice of Optimized which according to the manual will merge layers and their keys with a smooth optimization algorithm. The manual also warns SOME DETAIL may be lost with this method.

There is also the Per Frame method that merges the layers and their keys into continuous keyframes across the timeline.

When you merge, the layer will be renamed to MERGED [ORIGINAL Layer Name], i.e. merged right hand to easily identify merged layers.

Weight

Weight is another tool that can blend layers smoothly or transition between active layers. Below is a quick look at using the Weight slider and its effects on blending multiple layers. Weight allows us to assign weight to each motion layer to control how they interact with the other layers. It is a slider from 1 to 100 percent to control the influence of the layer within the percentage range.

Motion Versus Animation

Animation layers are for manually adjusting the limbs and not for loading motions as this has been confused in the past. If you try to load a motion into an animation layer it will overwrite the base layer and remove any animation layers you may have already added.

Motions and animations are technically different animals in the iClone world even though the terms are used interchangeably. Motions are canned animations that we drag and drop onto characters. Animation in this sense refers to manual manipulation of a character or prop by the user. These manipulations create keyframes that drive the animation. It depends on the context of the conversation or usage to distinguish between the two.

Summary

The addition of Animation Layers brings us a tool that is extremely easy to use while providing more control over our characters limbs when adding more animations to the base layer. These layers can be turned on or off so you can make several of them to test different techniques or styles and only use the ones that suit your needs. Animation Layers are another great tool for the animation toolbox and can help beginners to create custom animations on top of base layer motions for a new hybrid motion.

MD McCallum – WarLord

Digital Artist MD “Mike” McCallum, aka WarLord, is a longtime iClone user. Having authored free tutorials for iClone in its early years and selected to write the iClone Beginners Guide from Packt Publishing in 2011, he was fortunate enough to meet and exchange tricks and tips with users from all over the world and loves to share this information with other users. He has authored hundreds of articles on iClone and digital art in general while reviewing some of the most popular software and hardware in the world. He has been published in many of the leading 3D online and print magazines while staying true to his biggest passion, 3D animation. For more information click here.

Warlord’s Workshop