Something I noticed a while back: Too much Jitter Removal can make your motions look worse.

I had a few shots where characters needed to be standing nearly still. I did not want to remove all the motions as this would look too static but I wanted to minimize as much 'wiggle' in the motion capture data as possible.

My first thought was to simply crank up the Confgurable Jitter Removal settings for all body parts to maximum. However, this resulted undesireably 'jerkiness' to the motions.

More pleasant results were achieved by setting the Torso to medium (2) setting and adjusting the arms and legs to a high (4 or 5) setting.

Additionally, if you really need to smooth the motion, you may turning up Trajectory Smoothing much higher, and even try disabling Shoulder Tracking and retrack (Shoulder Tracking isn't really noticeable when the character is not moving anyway.)

Now my 'still' characters look motionless but alive, where previously they stood or sat like they we're wearing 'itchy underwear'. :)

When I'm finished with my project (after October,) I'll return to this thread and post video examples to illustrate.

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Greenlaw
Artist/Partner - Little Green Dog | My Demo Reels (2013,) (2015,) (2017,) and (2019)

Watch a one minute excerpt on Vimeo now!

Correction: On closer examination, I think too much Trajectory Filtering can make the motion look more 'wiggly'. I'm not sure how to correctly describe this but 'wiggliness' is different for jiggling, it's a smoother looking artifact that you will also want to avoid. You might want to leave Trajectory Filtering down to 2 or lower if possible.

G.

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Greenlaw
Artist/Partner - Little Green Dog | My Demo Reels (2013,) (2015,) (2017,) and (2019)

Watch a one minute excerpt on Vimeo now!

Thanks for this tip

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Cra0kalo
Offical Machinima.com Director
http://youtube.com/user/cra0kalo

Lead of Operation Reaper
http://projectreaper.com

so what settings do you use for trajectory filtering now then? i kept mine on 1 so far.

Jitter Removal which works on tiny frequency changes and Trajectory Filtering is more of a global smoothing effect that works on the entire character animation. TF also works above JR, so if you apply different JR settings throughout your motion, you can use TF to smooth out the 'pops' that can occur between the JR changes. To do this, 'bump' TF to another setting and return it to your desired setting after you've done your Jitter Removal.

BTW, TF is a non-destructive realtime process so you change it anytime without reprocessing and see the results immediately. JR, of course, needs to be processed.

Ideally, you will want to leave TF at 1 or 2. You can turn it up higher but at some point the motion may start to look unnaturally smooth and 'lifeless'.

My typical workflow is to do my tracking corrections first, save the file, and then then a run a light application JR over the entire motion (higher setting in the legs and lower in arms and torso usually looks best.) Then, I'll examine the motion and apply a stronger application of JR (or lighter as the case may be) to regions on the timeline where I think it needs it. Finally, I'll 'bump' Trajectory Filtering to smooth out where the different JR settings were applied.

BTW, there's no 'one-size-fits-all' formula for this. You just have to experiment and, after a while, you'll develop a feel for what's needed to make the motion look right.

Hope this helps.

G.

_________________
Greenlaw
Artist/Partner - Little Green Dog | My Demo Reels (2013,) (2015,) (2017,) and (2019)

Watch a one minute excerpt on Vimeo now!