Help exporting pose made in Blender

[DulceDiva]

Hello.So I used the female file provided here: https://blog.machinimatrix.org/avatar-workbench/

Made my pose...exported as BVH file...but when trying to upload the file into SL it says 'Failed to initialize motion'.

Can someone hint out what I am doing wrong please? 🤔 Or am I missing something?

[Sabrina Tamerlane]

Your animation must have at least 2 frames: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/BVH_Reference_Frame

[DulceDiva]

Is there a full tutorial which shows how  to make and export a pose in Blender,like start to end? I am not sure how to make the pose last 2 frames ,I am a newbie to this 🤔

Edited November 26, 2020 by DulceDiva

[Chic Aeon]

11 minutes ago, DulceDiva said:

Is there a full tutorial which shows how  to make and export a pose in Blender,like start to end? I am not sure how to make the pose last 2 frames ,I am a newbie to this 🤔

Blender doesn't work well by itself for poses -- especially if you want Bento poses (fingers and such). You really do need Avastar (a paid add-on).  You CAN make non-bento poses using QAvimator.  The main site is gone but it looks like you can pick it up in a  few places still. There are tutorials for making poses in QAvimator.  A search with Google should give you both download spots as well as some of the tutorials made.  QAvimator exports as bvh files. Avastar exports as anim files. Both work for SL 

 

You can also find a very old (but still pretty valid) tutorial on making poses from Avastar. I can't find the link for that but maybe someone else has it. 

[DulceDiva]

28 minutes ago, Chic Aeon said:

Blender doesn't work well by itself for poses -- especially if you want Bento poses (fingers and such). You really do need Avastar (a paid add-on).  You CAN make non-bento poses using QAvimator.  The main site is gone but it looks like you can pick it up in a  few places still. There are tutorials for making poses in QAvimator.  A search with Google should give you both download spots as well as some of the tutorials made.  QAvimator exports as bvh files. Avastar exports as anim files. Both work for SL 

 

You can also find a very old (but still pretty valid) tutorial on making poses from Avastar. I can't find the link for that but maybe someone else has it. 

Thanks,hun.I do not currently want to invest in Avastar though, as it exceeds my budget,that's why I was looking into a free alternative 🙂

[Sabrina Tamerlane]

1 hour ago, DulceDiva said:

Is there a full tutorial which shows how  to make and export a pose in Blender,like start to end? I am not sure how to make the pose last 2 frames ,I am a newbie to this 🤔

Open your BVH in a text editor and see if the number of frames is greater than one. As for tutorials I think any Blender animation tutorial found on youtube or elsewhere should do...

If you want free that's fine but then you have to provide some work on your side...

[Chic Aeon]

1 hour ago, Sabrina Tamerlane said:

 As for tutorials I think any Blender animation tutorial found on youtube or elsewhere should do...

 

Well I heartily disagree with that. Second Life has it own rules and "generic" isn't enough. I looked for and watched all the animation  tutorials I could find using Blender before finally buying Avastar.

So, if someone actually FINDS one that works, I would really like to see the link appear on this thread :D.

 

EDIT: There are also lots of posts on this same subject on these forums with no actual answer that I have seen :D.  

Edited November 26, 2020 by Chic Aeon

[DulceDiva]

Thanks for your guidance ladies ,I highly appreciate it! 🙂

[Sabrina Tamerlane]

48 minutes ago, Chic Aeon said:

Well I heartily disagree with that.

 

This must be a misunderstanding, I was referring to changing the number of frames...

[Orwar]

40 minutes ago, Chic Aeon said:

You CAN make non-bento poses using QAvimator.

   You can make bento poses as well - there is a QAvimator version for bento. But it's unfortunately unfinished, and only has a male model (although the pose will obviously work for a female avi). Also feels a bit buggy sometimes. But it works!

[Chic Aeon]

1 minute ago, Orwar said:

   You can make bento poses as well - there is a QAvimator version for bento. But it's unfortunately unfinished, and only has a male model (although the pose will obviously work for a female avi). Also feels a bit buggy sometimes. But it works!

Yes knew that. Thanks.  It was pretty bad for me :D.  Would have been nice to have it finished. Website has been gone for quite awhile now.   

[Quarrel Kukulcan]

13 hours ago, DulceDiva said:

Is there a full tutorial which shows how  to make and export a pose in Blender,like start to end? I am not sure how to make the pose last 2 frames ,I am a newbie to this 🤔

I wish I could say "you don't need Avastar", but I've had limited success getting pure Blender animations to import properly all the time.

EDIT: I made a dumb mistake and things actually work without Avastar.

First, I have to work with a rotated model (the method mentioned in this thread: )

And that was basically it. I was able to export frame 1 and import it to get a whole-body locked-in pose, including at least Bento fingers. (I didn't test face or tail.)

If I want my pose to leave some bones untouched, I have to keyframe every bone I want my pose to affect, twice: once in its original position for frame 1 and again in its desired pose in frame 2. (OP: Setting keyframes is a basic animation topic you should be able to find tutorials for.) Then I had to export frames 1-2.

Finally, either way, make sure "root translation only" is checked when you export. (This is in Blender 2.9, but I believe the option exists in 2.8 as well.)

Edited November 27, 2020 by Quarrel Kukulcan
found my major problem.

[DulceDiva]

On 11/27/2020 at 5:28 AM, Quarrel Kukulcan said:

I wish I could say "you don't need Avastar", but I've had limited success getting pure Blender animations to import properly all the time.

EDIT: I made a dumb mistake and things actually work without Avastar.

First, I have to work with a rotated model (the method mentioned in this thread: )

And that was basically it. I was able to export frame 1 and import it to get a whole-body locked-in pose, including at least Bento fingers. (I didn't test face or tail.)

If I want my pose to leave some bones untouched, I have to keyframe every bone I want my pose to affect, twice: once in its original position for frame 1 and again in its desired pose in frame 2. (OP: Setting keyframes is a basic animation topic you should be able to find tutorials for.) Then I had to export frames 1-2.

Finally, either way, make sure "root translation only" is checked when you export. (This is in Blender 2.9, but I believe the option exists in 2.8 as well.)

Tried this tutorial + what you have mentioned,I managed to get a pose but the position of limbs doesn't correspond at all with what i am seeing in blender,although I did the rotation method 😔

[DulceDiva]

On 11/26/2020 at 10:47 PM, Orwar said:

   You can make bento poses as well - there is a QAvimator version for bento. But it's unfortunately unfinished, and only has a male model (although the pose will obviously work for a female avi). Also feels a bit buggy sometimes. But it works!

@Orwar Found Qavimator,but I can't seem to rotate fingers,I downloaded the January 2020 version.Is this the bento one?

Edited November 28, 2020 by DulceDiva

[Chic Aeon]

1 hour ago, DulceDiva said:

Found Qavimator,but I can't seem to rotate fingers,I downloaded the January 2020 version.Is this the bento one?

Never got out of beta and apparently abandoned. I used the original for a decade with good results, but not the new Bento one. Orwar says it "can be made to work" so he is your best bet for an answer.   Maybe reference him in a post to get his attention?  

 

I made a lot of poses in Sansar using Blender and Medhue made a tutorial (and a much improved rig) with 2.8.  But Sansar and SL are different rigs with different rules and it is DIFFICULT to do things here without Avastar now that we have Bento. That's really just the bottom line.   Sorry.   

 

Let us know if you ever get it and we will virtually CHEER for you.  

 

Edited November 28, 2020 by Chic Aeon
spelling

[DulceDiva]

23 minutes ago, Chic Aeon said:

Never got out of beta and apparently abandoned. I used the original for a decade with good results, but not the new Bento one. Orwar says it "can be made to work" so he is your best bet for an answer.   Maybe reference him in a post to get his attention?  

 

I made a lot of poses in Sansar using Blender and Medhue made a tutorial (and a much improved rig) with 2.8.  But Sansar and SL are different rigs with different rules and it is DIFFICULT to do things here without Avastar now that we have Bento. That's really just the bottom line.   Sorry.   

 

Let us know if you ever get it and we will virtually CHEER for you.  

 

Did as you advised hun,thx for the idea ^^ Just waiting on an answer from him now

[Orwar]

9 hours ago, DulceDiva said:

Found Qavimator,but I can't seem to rotate fingers,I downloaded the January 2020 version.Is this the bento one?

   Hm, I have two versions on my computer, one is the regular one and one is the 'beta' version for bento. I went to check on their website and it appears the bento one has been taken down, as that part of the site is no longer accessible.

   That's a shame, I really like how easy and lightweight Qavimator is to work with, never been a fan of using Avastar (Blender's controls being different from SL's, hopping back and forth to adjust a pose and test it in-world feels like a chore). I do remember the changelog's latest entry for a very long time said that the creator simply didn't have time to complete it due to RL stuff.

   The SL wiki page for project bento talks about Maya and Blender primarily, but those will require Avastar or Mayastar - both of which come with a cost (L$11,000 for Avastar, L$9,000 for Mayastar, not sure whether Mayastar is a single purchase or not, but Avastar is a 1 year license, with a cost of L$5,500 per year after the initial purchase). Both of them are made for rigging mesh as well, which I expect is why they cost as much as they do.

   I seldom make bento poses, I have hand and face posers in-world that I use when I set up a shot (I do like the versatility of being able to change those things to re-use a pose with a different getup / feel anyway), the few times I've wanted to make one I used the Qavimator beta (and a few times, played with Avastar, but meh, effort). 

[Sabrina Tamerlane]

@DulceDivaseeing you struggle made me change my mind and I'm going to greatly reduce the price of my DAZ exporter..hopefully it will be affordable for you and others too. I've spent several hundred hours on it so I hope you understand that I can't make it 100% free...

[Quarrel Kukulcan]

13 hours ago, DulceDiva said:

Tried this tutorial + what you have mentioned,I managed to get a pose but the position of limbs doesn't correspond at all with what i am seeing in blender,although I did the rotation method 😔

Which armature did you start with, and are you using only rotations (no bone repositioning or scaling)?

[DulceDiva]

7 hours ago, Quarrel Kukulcan said:

Which armature did you start with, and are you using only rotations (no bone repositioning or scaling)?

@Quarrel KukulcanI started with the bento male avatar file and when adding keyframes I only right clicked and selected Rotation on each limb that I moved for a pose.Tried the pose on my female avatar,it was completely messy

@Sabrina Tamerlane I sucessfully exported poses made in Daz Studio,but I don't have the bento files ,only the old avatar files provided by SL.I don't mind buying the exporter,except I don't know where to get the bento files for Daz Studio.

@Orwar Thanks for the tip.I might invest in Avastar at some point,but for the moment my budget isn't ready for it yet.🙂

 

[Sabrina Tamerlane]

@DulceDivaWhile the exporter can use a Bento model it does not need one because it remaps the Genesis bones to Bento, that way you can use the DAZ Animate pre-made sequences with it...

https://posesandattitudes.com/videos/DS4 Anim Exporter.mp4

I'm still not clear whether I should lower the price or sell a downgraded version, however for the time being I will just lower the price.

 

 

 

[DulceDiva]

6 minutes ago, Sabrina Tamerlane said:

@DulceDivaWhile the exporter can use a Bento model it does not need one because it remaps the Genesis bones to Bento, that way you can use the DAZ Animate pre-made sequences with it...

https://posesandattitudes.com/videos/DS4 Anim Exporter.mp4

I'm still not clear whether I should lower the price or sell a downgraded version, however for the time being I will just lower the price.

 

 

 

@Sabrina Tamerlane Does it include the fingers as well hun? I'd like to be able to move the fingers as I like  

[Sabrina Tamerlane]

Yes the fingers are included but there is room for improvement.. Spreading fingers works fine, bending them does not show the exact same move... Perhaps I can make this better later on... I usually leave the hands and head out of my animations because they are better handled by the body/head HUDs...

[DulceDiva]

2 minutes ago, Sabrina Tamerlane said:

Yes the fingers are included but there is room for improvement.. Spreading fingers works fine, bending them does not show the exact same move... Perhaps I can make this better later on... I usually leave the hands and head out of my animations because they are better handled by the body/head HUDs...

OK hun,I will give this a shot ,I'll see what I can do about the fingers.I don't wanna move them much,just enough so that they don't look robotic  

[Sabrina Tamerlane]

You can save money by going to the preview grid: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Preview_Grid