NEW in 2023 The Very Powerful mcjCycleFilter 2023 which adds Transfer of curves between properties and nodes
https://sites.google.com/site/mcasualsdazscripts10/mcjcyclefilter2023
The old version on this page here will also be upgraded
keyframe display
new Synthesizer functions
increased mouse editing precision
Introduction
mcjCycleFilter was initially created to filter/smooth cyclical animation curves.
then were added the ability to
use your mouse to directly edit the curve
synthesize the curves from mathematical functions
repeat, slow down, speed up or delay an animation
Version History
October 12th 2020 version named mcjCycleFilterV2 has a suggested phase display
January 4th 2013 fixed crashed-inducing problem when a figure's root node was selected
march 17th 2012 fixed for daz studio 1.8 compatibility ( no prop.isSelected() )
Jul 27, 2011release
Installation
A Zip file containing the script(s) can be found at the bottom of this page, in the "attachments" section
Unzip this file in your Daz Contents folder, typically this means c:\program files\daz\studio\content.
Once installed you will find the script in your library, in Studio/scripts/mCasual
mcjCycleFilterDS2.ds is for Daz Studio version 1.8 and 2
mcjCycleFilter.dsa is for Daz Studio version 3 and 4
Usage
mcjCycleFilterV2 posted october 12th 2020 has a displayed value named "autophase"
if you type this value in the "phase" field, the synthesized value at frame 0 will match your
initial value for frame 0
important note: mcjCycleFilter is a script, not a plugin.
Like all scripts it tends to do its work rather slowly.
So you will want to use it on short animations.
It was created for cycles, like walk cycles and dance cycles
Select a node in your scene, example, i selected Aiko3's right foreArm
Set the PlayRange (Timeline tab ) to a short span of time, ex: frames 0 to 30
Launch mcjCycleFilter by left-clicking on its icon in Studio/scripts/mCasual
VIewing / editing the "Current Values" curve
in the upper right corner, select one of the properties of the foreArm, i selected Bend
in the lower left corner of the screen you can see that the source selected is "current values"
in the lower right corner of the screen you can see that the Input Range covers frames 0 to 30
all this means : the red horizontal line shows us that Bend is currently at 0 degrees and stays 0 degrees from frame 0 to frame 30
the red square indicates that Bend has a keyframe at frame 0
in the upper left corner you can see "Bend - Current [-1 1]"
so for points on the curve at the bottom of the plot Bend is at -1 degree and for those at the top Bend is at +1 degree
when "Source Selector" is set to "Current Values" you can use your mouse's right button to add key-frames and you mouse's left button to delete them.
Time-shifting and Time-stretching a curve
in figure 2, the selected source is still in current values
Input Range goes from frames 0 to 30
we can see that the Bend angle varies from 0 to 90 degrees,
Aiko is bending and unbending her arm,
this all happens in 1 second since the frame rate is 30fps.
but this time the Output Range is not identical to the Input Range, instead i typed new values so that it covers frames 30 to 90
if we press the "Apply" button, mcjCycleFilter will do its magic !
Notice that after i pressed Apply, i changed Input Range to [0...90]
and we can see what happened
the animation curve that existed from frame 0 to 30 was copied ( time shifted ) to frame 30 and was time-stretched to cover 60 frames or 2 seconds
Filtering / smoothing a curve
In mathematics, our animation curves are called functions. Example, Aiko's right Forearm's bend angle is a function of time.
In the 1800's Joseph Fourier discovered that any function can be expressed as a series of sinewaves, of various frequencies, phases and amplitudes;
By removing some of the fastest moving sine-wave components and re-synthesizing the function, we obtain a smoothed curve
Filtering is turned on by check-marking the "Enabled" check-box in the "Filter" group.
The "harmonic cutoff" slider lets you specify which sinewave components are excluded from re-synthesis.
Smaller values give smoother curves.
An added benefit is that the curves now smoothly loop.
Example: in red, we see a jittery animation, and in blue, the smoothed/filtered curve we obtain with a Harmonic cutoff of 3
Before filtering
After filtering
The built in synthesizer ( mathematical functions )
Instead of working on the existing animation curve you can build one from scratch using mcjCycleFilter's built in synth.
Turn it on by clicking "Synth" in the "Source Selector" box.
the func drop-down-list lets you chose a mathematical function
Available functions in this version
Sine
Abs(Sine)
Cosine
Abs(Cosine)
Triangle
Sawtooth
Square
Random
Constant
Parabolic
Peak
Smooth Step
Oval
Trapezoidal
Min and Max let you specify the amplitude of the swing. For Aiko's right ForeArm, we could use Min = 0 and Max = 90
angles are reversed for the left ForeArm, so we could use Min = -90 and Max = 0 or Min = 0 and Max = -90
Phase lets you shift the curve while maintaining perfect looping. A Phase of 90 degrees shifts the curve by 1/4 of the curve's width.
A Phase of 360 degrees shifts the curve by the full width of the curve ( and is in fact a waste of time )
Cycles will make the function repeat a number of times.
example:
The first func in the list is named "current" allows you to shift, amplify/attenuate or duplicate the existing animation curve
things mcjCycleFilter was meant to do
Many natural character movements use the sinewave function.
Circular movements
By using different values of phase you obtain circular movements
example
Aiko's right Shoulder's
property: Front-back
function: sinewave
Min: 0
Max 60
Phase -180 degrees
property: Bend
function: sinewave
Min: -50
Max 30
Phase -90 degrees
result: the arm traces a nice oval
also, the hand moves at a constant speed
Follow-through / movement that propagates through the body
Starting from the hip and ending at the head, we apply sinewaves with decreasing phase values
example
Aiko's hip
property: ZRot (side tilt )
function: sinewave
Min: -15
Max 15
Phase 120 degrees
Aiko's hip
property: XTrans (side movement)
function: sinewave
Min: -12
Max 11
Phase 120 degrees
Aiko's abdomen
property: side-side
function: sinewave
Min: -20
Max 20
Phase 90 degrees
Aiko's neck
property: side-side
function: sinewave
Min: -20
Max 20
Phase 30 degrees
Aiko's head
property: side-side
function: sinewave
Min: -20
Max 20
Phase -30 degrees
Note that the legs animation was done using the mcjAutoLimb script available here
result:
Here we phase-shifted the sways of the dress relatively to the body sways
