Repositioning the Biped

The method you should use to reposition a biped depends on which tools were used to animate the biped.

• If the biped uses freeform or footstep animation, use Move All mode.

  This is also the easiest way to move a biped that is not animated.

• If the biped uses freeform animation and IK attachment (that is, there are keys where IK Blend is greater than zero), then you need to use a dummy object.
• If the biped is animated with motion flow, use the Start Position spinners.

Procedures

Note: The procedures in this topic assume that you have already selected the biped and gone to the Motion panel.

To reposition a freeform animation (with no IK attachment) or a footstep animation:

1. On the Biped rollout, turn on (Move All Mode).

   The biped's center of mass is selected and displayed in a larger-than-usual size. On the main toolbar, Select And Move is turned on.

   Move All mode is a convenient way to select the biped's center of mass, and to reposition the biped. Use it when the biped is not yet animated, when the biped has freeform animation with no IK attachment, or when it has footstep animation.

   Note: The alternative way to move a biped with footstep animation is to select all of its footsteps, rather than its center of mass.
2. Move the biped.

   The Collapse button on the Move All dialog box allows you to reset the position and rotation values in the Move All dialog to zero, but does not change the position of the biped.

3. Turn off (Move All Mode).

To reposition a biped with limbs attached to an Object Space object (IK attachment):

1. Create a dummy object and position it near the biped's center of mass.
2. On the main toolbar, use (Select And Link) to link both the Object Space object and the biped's center of mass to the dummy object.
   Attention: Make sure you link both at the same frame.
3. Move the dummy object to reposition the biped.

To reposition a biped with limbs attached to world space (IK attachment):

A biped with limbs in world space has an IK Blend setting of 1.0 for each limb, with no Object Space object specified. For example, when you plant the feet of a biped so its knees will bend when you lower its center of mass, or you plant the hands of a biped doing pushups, typically you do not specify an Object Space object.

1. Create a dummy object near the biped's center of mass.
2. On the main toolbar, use (Select And Link) to link both the biped's center of mass and the biped part with planted keys to the dummy object.
   Tip: To be on the safe side, you can double-click the upper limb and link all of the limb to the dummy.
   Attention: Make sure you create all links at the same frame.
3. Move the dummy object to reposition the biped.
   Note: Depending on the animation, at some of attached object's keys you might need to set IK Blend back to 0.0 . Otherwise, the limb can get “stuck” in a posture.

To reposition a biped animated with a motion flow script:

By default, the biped's position at the beginning of a motion flow script is the position specified by the first BIP or STP file in the script.

1. Turn on (Motion Flow Mode).
2. On the Motion Flow rollout, use Start Position X, Start Position Y, and Start Position Z to change the XYZ position of the biped.
3. Turn off (Motion Flow Mode).

To use layers to reposition a biped with freeform animation:

Using layers and Auto Key when you reposition a freeform biped gives you some editing choices, as described below.

1. On the Layers rollout, click (Create Layer).
   Note: If the biped uses footstep animation, the (Move All Mode) button will become unavailable.
2. Turn on (Auto Key).
3. Reposition the biped as described in the previous procedure, To reposition a freeform animation (with no IK attachment) or a footstep animation.
4. Turn off (Auto Key).

   You now have these aids to animation editing:

   • Lower layers show the biped's original position, as does the red stick figure.
   • Clicking (Snap Set Key) on the Layers rollout snaps the biped to its position on the previous layer, and sets a position key. The animation is blended between the biped's new position and its previous position at frames where the key is set.