Hi Ari,

I appreciate that it is difficult for you to provide full support.

I'm continuing to try to automatically create a properly setup character based
on an ASF file, and the further I go the further it seems like big changes will
be needed. When an ASF/ACM is read in as a motion, then that char converted to a
simulated character, most of the joint information is lost. Even once I got the
limits to read from the ASF, it seems all of the axes information was lost from
the joints (ASF files specifies the axis for each joint, which I think is often
redundant when you have the direction and length, but when it comes to, say,
which way the elbow bends then this is important). Also if the character isn't
zeroed with the legs pointing straight down, none of the 3 knee joint rotations
rotate a knee as it should (i.e. it is rotating on global axis, not the axes of
the joint).

I just want to check that I am not doing something massively against your
method. Have you never used ASF files to create a simulated character that
responds exactly as the motion characters would?

Thanks
Joel




--- In dancedev@yahoogroups.com, "shapiroari" <shapiroari@...> wrote:
>
> Hi Joel,
>
> Thanks for the code fixes.
>
> These days I work full time for a visual effects company (Rhythm & Hues) and
can only work on DANCE outside of work when I have time (plus, I just had a new
baby girl born last month, which is also taking up a lot of my time),
>
> I am finding some time to incorporate all the code fixes that my users are
reporting into the code base, and am trying to release a new version on a fairly
regular basis. However, this is a far cry from being 'actively' supported and
developed.
>
> If there is a commercial or noncommerical entity that would like to partner to
improve the product (or to license the code), I would be happy to discuss that
(You can email me directly if you are interested: shapiroari@...). Right now,
the license on the software is for non-commerical use.
>
> Regards,
>
> Ari Shapiro
>
>
>
> --- In dancedev@yahoogroups.com, "Joel Horne" <joel@> wrote:
> >
> > Hi Ari,
> >
> > I am currently evaluating DANCE to see if I can use it for my research
project, so I'm looking for more permanent solutions. It certainly has a lot of
features, but seems to have quite a few holes and bugs. Are you still intending
to support it or are you doing something else?
> >
> > For example, the cube orientation problem was something to do with the
strange way the cubes were being created. You had them being scaled in varying
directions using a 'whichdim' method. A simple change that just created the
right length cube scaled to bone length in the z dir then rotating it to the
joint orientation seems to work OK.
> > The capsules were also at the wrong rotation, as a result of this around
line 400:
> > q.rotateAxis(capsuleAxis, boneAxis);
> > which I think should be
> > q.rotateAxis(boneAxis, capsuleAxis);
> > as this actually works.
> >
> > In the same class, I don't know if this is intentional but you have:
> > double curVolume = lengthX * lengthY + lengthZ;
> > which should surely be
> > double curVolume = lengthX * lengthY * lengthZ;
> > ??
> >
> > So what is the status of support on this program? fixing it up as I go along
takes time, but it's probably faster than trying to write my own, and despite my
complaints there is a lot of good code in there too :)
> >
> > Joel
> >
> > --- In dancedev@yahoogroups.com, "shapiroari" <shapiroari@> wrote:
> > >
> > > For the problem with cube orientation, you can try selecting the
particular piece of geometry (which is named the same as the bone) and then use
'Rotate X/Y/Z' in order to orient the cubes to better align with the bones.
> > >
> > > Regarding the large hands/writst, I'll have to look at the code to see
why. The code is in:
> > > $DANCE_DIR/systems/ArticulatedObject/AutomaticSettingsWindow.cpp
> > >
> > > Again, the temporary solution is to find the offending geometry object and
scale it down.
> > >
> > > Ari
> > >
> > >
> > > --- In dancedev@yahoogroups.com, "Joel Horne" <joel@> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > Hello,
> > > >
> > > > I am interested in using dance to create controllers that track MoCap
data. To do this, I want to generate geometry for the character based on the
MoCap data. However, when I tried to do this with several different sets of
asf/amc MoCap data, the geometry for the legs is attached at completely the
wrong angle is cubes or spheres are used. The links look right and capsules come
out OK but cubes and spheres fail on several different examples of motion data.
Also when capsules are used, the hands are huge and I'm not sure why.
> > > >
> > > > Any ideas?
> > > >
> > > > Thanks,
> > > > Joel
> > > >
> > >
> >
>