armature animation problem

Hi guys,

As I've been struggling with keeping my visualization as compact as possible, I've also shortened the animations to max 24 frames each. As a result of that, one of the animations goes wrong. The animated object seems to be jumping (or scaling up/down - don't know which) while rotating 360 degrees around its Z axis (see attach.). This happens both in the viewer and when running the application. As 24 frames is too short a time for the object's rotation, I've slowed the animation in javascript with m_anim.set_speed().

My first thought was that the armature was not in the center, but actually it was dead center and everything looks fine in Blender when you run the animation there. I then tried to increase the number of max frames so that the object rotates 360 degrees in 36 or 48 frames instead of 24. The jumping effect is barely noticable in 36 frames and non-existent in 48 frames. So it looks like it has something to do with the length of the animation in frames.

At this point I think the only solution is to increase the max number of frames to fix the problem, or do you have other ideas?

Cheers, Harri

My first thought was that the armature was not in the center, but actually it was dead center and everything looks fine in Blender when you run the animation there. I then tried to increase the number of max frames so that the object rotates 360 degrees in 36 or 48 frames instead of 24. The jumping effect is barely noticable in 36 frames and non-existent in 48 frames. So it looks like it has something to do with the length of the animation in frames.

At this point I think the only solution is to increase the max number of frames to fix the problem, or do you have other ideas?

Hi. Why you used bone animation instead of simple object animation? Can you attach a simple blend file with this objects and animation on it?

Hi Mikhail,

Hi. Why you used bone animation instead of simple object animation?

That's because I need to treat it as one selectable object, where part of it (the plate and arms) rotates and the rest of it (the base) stays put. I figured this was the way to do it, so that when selected the whole object is highlighted appropriately. If the whole object rotated, the object animation would do fine.

Can you attach a simple blend file with this objects and animation on it?

You know what? When I appended the object and its armature to a new blend file, the problem disappeared altogether! It works just perfectly there! What is going on here? In the complex scene it causes problems but on its own all is fine. Go figure! Anyway, there's no point sending you that sample file since it's working.

I'm a bit baffled to say the least. I already (accidentally) deleted all the animations from my scene and had to put them in place again, so there can't be anything wrong there. However, I noticed there are couple of really sticky keyframes that hang around in the timeline but won't show up in the dopesheet at all - not even with the ghost button (show hidden) on. I think they could be some of the original ones I had before I decided to make the animations shorter, and this plate object was one of the first ones I animated. This might be really far fetched but is it possible that they affect the scene for some reason? Where can I find / delete the sticky keyframes if they are not in the dopesheet?

Cheers, Harri

This might be really far fetched but is it possible that they affect the scene for some reason? Where can I find / delete the sticky keyframes if they are not in the dopesheet?

Glad that our problem solvet but if you can reproduce the issue it will be helpfult for us to find a bug or a problem in that incorrect animation.

They may be on hidden bones. Try to open Graph Editor and hide than unhide all abjects keys and then click A in Graph Editor aria and Del may be there some lsot keyframes somewhere out of animation range.

Glad that our problem solvet but if you can reproduce the issue it will be helpfult for us to find a bug or a problem in that incorrect animation.

Yeah, well, the problem still exists in the actual scene and I really don't know why. It just doesn't appear when the object is in a separate file with its armature (see attach.) I checked the Graph Editor but it didn't help. The sticky keyframes still appear on the timeline.

I'm about to finish the project this week, just finalizing things really, so I don't have time to delve into this much longer. If I can't find the solution for the wobbliness I leave it there. I think I try first those 48 frame animations and see how much it will affect the initial loading time (which, by the way, was reduced to 30 secs instead of nearly 60 secs, thanks to your material tips! ).

Cheers, Harri

Just to let you know, I set the max number of frames to 48 and changed the four armature animations I have to match that. Now the plate animation doesn't wobble anymore like it did with the earlier 24 frame animation. Fortunately, it didn't affect the loading time at all so everything's fine now. And I'm really, really happy! Still don't know what exactly caused it but it doesn't matter now, problem solved.

Cheers, Harri