Moho Animation Forum

I animated a bird walking 2 steps. I then made those steps cycle using the "additive" option. For some reason, however, the bird's feet begin sliding on the ground after the initial 2 steps. I expected the cycling animation to be exactly the same as the original steps, so I am bewildered. Does anybody know how I can fix this problem?

Did you hold shift while translating to constrain it to one axis? Looks like there's a little y-axis translation that accumulates.

Thanks for the reply. I did hold shift while I tracked the camera.

I just copied/pasted the root bone keyframe from frame 2 onto the final frame of the cycle, thinking maybe the root bone was the problem, but that didn't help.

I noticed that the sliding problem affects one leg worse than the other.

You did an additive cycle on the camera?

No additive cycle on the camera. Only on the bird.

I just extended the bird's walking time from ten seconds to twenty. The longer it walks, the worse the sliding gets. The bird should be walking on the top edge of the yellow rectangle in this screen cap taken at around 19 seconds.

"Sliding" usually describes the characters feet sliding along the ground, like they were skating. The problem you show would be better described as "floating".

Probably have to see the file to diagnose the problem.

Ah, thanks for explaining the jargon.

I noticed that the bird's legs start acting screwy after several steps, no longer moving like they did in the original loop. Also, the farther the bird walks, the worse the legs move.

Below is a link to the file for anyone who wants to take a look at the problem (ASP 11 to open).

https://www.dropbox.com/s/h0mtypoq02iwv ... anime?dl=0

First thing to do...on the bone angle cycle keyframe (for all bones), disable the additive cycle checkbox. This will help most of the floating.

Next...select the root bone (B1), go to frame 1 and copy the Y position from the transform bone tool. Go to frame 37 and paste that into the same Y position field on the transform bone tool.

The additive angle on the root bone made the character slowly float up as it went, and the slight y-axis difference between the first keyframe and the cycle made it slightly lower as it went (but not enough to exactly counter the floating).

I did both of the solutions you provided, synthsin75. The problem was solved. Thank you!

I consider solving animation problems gratifying, if not fun, but this particular one had me stumped.

Hoptoad wrote:I did both of the solutions you provided, synthsin75. The problem was solved. Thank you!

I consider solving animation problems gratifying, ...

That's why I like helping here. I like problem solving.

Glad I could help.