Movement of skeletal animated character

How character must be advanced in virtual environment? I have some progress with skinning and animation of skeletal models, but, as in all known for me tutorials, this is all done “in place”. When i put character into world and try to move it i gets clear that linear motion not enough for resonable result. But can’t find how to resolve this issue. Maybe you know?

Your skinned character is based off a “root” node, which is typically either the pelvis, or some node that the pelvis links off of.

When you create your walk animation in the animation package, make sure you create it in world space, so that when the character walks, it actually moves in the window. Make sure the feet don’t slide on the “ground” but are firmly planted (Character Studio does this pretty well I think, but I’m no artist).

When you import your animation into the program and play it in reaction to pressing the forward button, you have two choices:

  1. Look at the translation of the root node from each (fractional) frame to the next, and update your sense of “where you are” based on that. This lets the animation control the actual speed of walking.

  2. Given the distance traveled, forward the animation by some number of (fractional) frames such that the root node moves as far forward, then display that frame. This lets world physics determine the speed of walking, and “pulls” the animation along.

If you find you still have problems with feet sliding, you may need to pin feet in place when they touch the ground, a la the footstep gizmos in Character Studio.

This method extends to turning, different walking speeds, climbing stairs etc by blending between different animations.