How to export animation range

[Somian]

Hi,

I have a bunch of Character Assets with Animations (in an FBX) that are all packed into a single take/timeline.

I would like to export separate FBX files for every section of the animation timeline.

I can export the first animation (knowing the length) by changing the length of the take, but how do I export the second one? Since these are Character Animations, I have a lot of joints with a lot of keyframes. Is there a way to export only the selected portion of the timeline as FBX? (when I select a shorter range and export it, it still exports the entire range).

EDIT: To explain better what I mean: in Unity, you can import an animation timeline and then split it up into multiple animations. (like in the attached screenshot). In this case, I already know the exact start and end frame of each animation.

But what I want in cheetah 3D is to export each animation based on the start and end frame into a separate file.

 

[frank beckmann]

Mmmh - just a wild guess:
1. Duplicate Take
2. adjust timeline
3. adjust new take length accordingly
4. export new Take.

Cheers
Frank

 

[Somian]

My problem is (2.) adjust timeline.

How do I adjust the timeline to move all keyframes X frames to the left?

 

[Helmut]

* Fiddle the slider in the time line. The rendering of an animation need not span the entire length of a specific take but can be manually set to render just a fraction of the take from start (whatever t1) to end (whatever t2).
* Of course, t1 has to be ≥0 and t2 has to be ≤take
* Just click on the left (or right) end bits of the slider and drag the mouse until the visible section of the timeline indicates the interval suitable for rendering a particular asset.

 

[Somian]

That doesn't work, unfortunately.

While the slider affects what is being rendered as a sequence, when I export the file as FBX, it'll still export the entire range.

I made a test scene with a take length of 4 and a few keyframes. Then I changed the range to 2-4 seconds and exported as FBX. The resulting FBX file still contains the entire animation instead of the range I selected.

 

[frank beckmann]

I made a test before I was replying but exported as Collada file, because it's faster to prove via preview.app.
Did you select the right take?

Cheers
Frank

 

[Somian]

Hi,

I attached a video of what I'm doing. Basically, I want some way to only export the portion of the timeline into an FBX.

 

[frank beckmann]

In your example the take length was and is still just 1 sec.
As I wrote in reply N#2 (and I tested again with the AlienWalk.jas example) it works with FBX as well as Collada:
I shortened to 1sec and increased frame-per-sec to 30.

Cheers
Frank

 

[Somian]

Oh, I see.

But how to to export the last part of the animation? When I shorten the length of the take, it'll always cut off the end, even if I moved the slider to the end of the animation.

 

[frank beckmann]

Ok -here´ s to an easier way:
Step-by-step:
1. in the Take-manager: duplicate Take
2. place "cursor" at the point in timeline where you want a new take should start
3. right-click call for "Split" - you´ll receive 2 new takes with new Take lengths
4. Export to FBX. Note: Since FBX is aware of Takes you´ll get 3 Takes with the new exported FBX - delete what you don´t need any longer.

Cheers
Frank

 

[Somian]

Oooh!!! That "Split" thing works!

Awesome, thanks

 

[frank beckmann]

You´re welcome. Glad we got it sorted.
Take care.

Cheers
Frank