AnimLib

Function Overview

Modules

Select AnimLib at the top of the main interface to start using AnimLib.

Switching Repositories

You can switch between different repositories at the bottom of the menu bar. These include public, sediment, and project repositories. You can view the models and actions in each repository in Muse Resources after switching. Animlib_02](../img/Animlib/Animlib_02.png)

Switching Portals

Switch between Muse Resources and Local Resources (Muse Resources by default).

Resource Directories

1. For the Local Resource portal, you can select a folder path in the resource directory on the left to view resources. “3037 Butcher” is the file name and 7 represents the total number of Max, Maya, and MotionBuilder resources in the path.
2. You can search for resources at the top of the Resource Directory.
3. Right-click on a blank space in the resource directory. (1) Hide All: Hides all folders, only keeping the folder you originally selected. (2) Expand All: Expands all folders. (3) Loading Status: Select "Load All" to load all resources in this folder and subfolders; select "Load Current" to load only the resources in this folder. (4) Refresh: Refreshes the current resource directory and checks whether there is an increase or decrease in resources. If there is, automatically corrects the number of resources.
4. Right click after selecting a folder. (1) Expand All: Expands all selected folders. (2) Hide All: Hides all selected folders. (3) Loading Status: Select "Load All" to load all resources in this folder and subfolders; select "Load Current" to load only the resources in this folder. (4) Refresh: Refreshes the current resource directory and checks whether there is an increase or decrease in resources. If there is, automatically corrects the number of resources. (5) Viewport: (a) Select a folder. The default setting is front view, but this can be modified to other views. (b) Reload the icons in the resource display area after modifying the view to the selected view. (c) If you change the view of a parent folder, the view of all subfolders will be changed. (d) Viewport settings for different folders at the same level do not interfere with each other. (e) After modifying the view of a folder that is open (being displayed), you need to double-click on the folder to import it again. (6) Open the current folder: Opens the currently selected folder. (7) Download GIFs: Downloads the icons for all resources in the selected folder, as well as the icons for resources in all subfolders.
5. If resources are added or removed from the folder being displayed, you can double-click on the folder on the right to refresh the content.

Resource Lists

1. Switch between action resources and model resources at the top of the display area.
2. Category Filters Resources are categorized and filtered by category so that you can locate resources faster.
3. You can switch pages at the bottom of the display area. Definitions: Previous Current Total Next Number of 3ds Max, Maya, and MotionBuilder resources in this folder. Jump to a specific page Customize the total number of resources per page.
4. The resource list supports resource name search, for example, searching for all resources containing "103"
5. Click the icon button in the upper right corner to select the icon size (large, medium [default], and small).
6. Hover over each icon to play or enable GIF auto-play (Tools -> Animation Settings -> Enable GIFs). Double click on the resource to preview it on the right.
7. Resource Selection You can use Click to Select, Check to Select and Box Selection methods to select resources. Click: Click a resource icon and a red box will appear around the icon showing that the resource is selected. This is currently used for selecting single resources. Check: After clicking a file, there will be a small circle in the upper-left corner of each file. Click the small circle to check the file. Supports batch selection. Box Selection: Similar to windows, drag to select. You can select multiple resources by holding the Ctrl button. Selection will automatically scroll down when you box select to the bottom.
8. A right-click menu has been set for each icon. The main functions for local resources are as follows: download, re-rendering, format conversion, file path, uncheck all (when resources have been checked), custom bone mapping, modification as model resources, deletion. The main functions for Muse resources are as follows: download, format conversion, uncheck all (when resources have been checked). (1) Download: Includes downloading GIFs and downloading original resources. Supports single selection and multiple selection (click or check). (a) Download GIFs (Muse and local resources) Muse Resources Click to download the GIF and select the path you want to save it to. After the download is complete, a pop-up window will appear. After confirmation, select the downloaded icon on the file explorer that pops up. (a) Local Resources Click on the pop-up window to select the icon quality (high, medium, or low). Muse resources are not supported. After selecting the path, a download progress bar will appear. A prompt will pop up when the download is complete. After confirmation, select the downloaded icon on the file explorer that pops up. (b) Download Original Resources (Muse only) Click to download original resources. Fill in the resource usage notes, then click Confirm. After selecting the path, a download progress bar will appear. A prompt will pop up when the download is complete. After confirmation, select the downloaded resources on the file explorer that pops up. (2) Re-render (local resources only). Single and batch selection are supported, except for when in the preview window view. (a) Update Resources: If the source file has been modified, the resource can then be updated. For example, if you add a weapon to the source file, the Update function can be used to reload the resource, allowing you to see the weapon on the generated icon. You can also see the weapon by double-clicking the resource to preview. (b) Preview Window: Modify the viewport of the icon to match the preview window. (You cannot use this function if the selected icon is not the same as the preview. You can also access this function at the top of the preview window.) (c) Viewports: top, bottom, front (default), back, right. and left. (d) Tracking and Fixed Cameras (default): Tracking Camera enables the camera to track within the icon. Double-clicking to preview will also retain tracking. (e) Set Rendering Time: Generally used when larger files fail to load as GIFs (time can be set between 40s and 300s). Icons will be re-imported after successful configuration. (3) Format Conversion: NeoX (files smaller than 5000 KB) NeoX Export Path: Used to save NeoX resources converted from DCC. Must be under the res path and must not contain Chinese. NeoX File Name: The generated NeoX resource name can be customized, but it cannot contain Chinese. The name of the source file will be used if you don't fill in a custom name. After conversion, select the generated file on the export path that pops up. (4) Format Conversion: Messiah (batch conversion supported) (a) Single Resource Conversion Packages and Repositories: Relates to the location where Messiah will be saved after export. You can configure these yourself or keep the default settings. Messiah Skeleton File Path: Choose a file path under the Package folder that contains the ani folder. Cannot contain Chinese. Messiah File Name: Can be customized ut cannot contain Chinese. After conversion, select the generated skeleton file on the export path that pops up. (b) Batch Resource Conversion Messiah Skeleton Path: Select a skeleton resource. Choose a resource path under the Package folder that contains the ani folder. Action resources will be generated in the corresponding ani folder. (5) Current File Path Quickly locates the local path of the file. (6) Uncheck All Unchecks all resources. (7). Custom Skeleton Configuration When exporting, it is common that skeletons do not match, so we can use the Mapping function to reconfigure the skeleton in the file. Once executed, you can export the skeleton files you want. (8) Modification as Model Resources Switches from the "Action" interface to the "Model" interface. (9) Delete (local resources only) Select one or more resources, then right click and select Delete. A prompt will pop up to warn you that this may delete local resources. Selecting Confirm will delete the resource icon and the source file in the corresponding local path and refresh the resource directory.

Other Functions of the Main Interface

1. Set Temporary Path Click Tools -> Animation Settings -> Temporary File Path Settings -> Local Resource Temporary Path Settings in the upper-left corner. The following box will pop up. You can change the temporary path and clear the previous temporary path according to your needs.
2. Max Version Settings Click Tools -> Animation Settings -> DCC Software Version Settings -> Max Version Settings in the upper-left corner. The following box will pop up. Max 2017 is used for batch rendering by default. When this version is unavailable, the highest version of Max installed will be automatically selected for conversion instead. If you are not satisfied with the default settings, you can change them.
3. Maya Version Settings Click Tools -> Animation Settings -> DCC Software Version Settings -> Maya Version Settings in the upper-left corner. The following box will pop up. The highest version of Maya installed on your computer will be selected by default for batch rendering. If you are not satisfied with the default settings, you can change them.
4. Enable/Disable GIFs Click Tools -> Animation Settings -> Enable GIFs in the upper-left corner. Click to start playing all icons of the current resource display list. Click Tools -> Animation Settings -> Disable GIFs in the upper-left corner to stop playing.

Muse Resources Portal

The "Muse Resources" portal on the left side allows you to view resources on the Muse website and to preview, redirect, and export to DCC. For now, we can take the resources in the Muse public repository as an example. If you don't have access to the Muse repository, you will receive the prompt: “No resources on this account” and will need to apply for permission to view them.

Local Resources Portal (import resources)

You can load local resources and perform operations such as previewing, redirecting, and exporting to DCC in the "Local Resources" portal on the left.

Loading Local Resources

Go to Menu -> File -> Open -> Local Resources, or use the shortcut: Ctrl+O The following pop-up box will appear, select your own resource path in the Action Library column to load it. Added resource paths will be recorded. There are two types of loading: background loading and direct loading. (1) Direct Loading After selecting the action library path, click Load Directly. The local resources folder will appear on the left. Double click the folder to import resources. The display area shows the resource name and the loading circle, which means it is being imported. DCC resources must be converted to FBX files before being converted to GIFs, so you need to wait for a while. When importing, if the page is changed before the import is complete, resources on the new page will be imported first; if the path is switched to import other files before the import is complete, the folder after the switch will be imported first. (2) Background Loading (user can perform other operations) After minimizing the window, the user can perform other actions. Once loading is complete, you can see the content as shown below. The resource directory is on the left; the resource icon is in the middle; and the resource preview window is on the right.

Preview

You can check the preview window (grayed out when no resource selected). The main interface is shown in the following figure. 1) There are some hover-over buttons at the top of the preview window with the following functions: : Skeleton View : Default Rotation (left button: rotate; middle button: pan; scroll middle button: zoom) : Default Pan (left button: pan; middle button: pan; scroll middle button: zoom) : Default Zoom (left button: zoom; middle button: pan; scroll middle button: zoom) : Default Settings (left button: rotate; middle button: pan; scroll middle button: zoom) : Restore Default View : Tracking Camera : Combine : Re-render (reload the viewport of the icon to be the same as the viewport of the preview window) : Light Direction Switch (light direction can be rotated through 360°) : Show Background (enable: show background; disable: hide background [enabled by default]) : Show Mesh (enable: show mesh; disable: hide mesh [enabled by default]) : Switch Display Mode (update resources to the selected display mode) (2) Some Muse resources from external sites display a hint in the preview, as well as the word "external” in the lower right corner of their GIF. 3) Below the preview box is the playback control area, showing (in order): first frame; previous frame; pause/play; next frame; last frame; current frame/total number of frames; progress bar (draggable). (4) Below that is a more advanced preview, showing (in order): speed adjustment; perspective switching; animation layer switching; skeleton display switching. Multiplier: After sliding, the number inside the right box will change. You can also change the number directly to modify the multiplier. Camera: Shows (in order): default, top view, bottom view, front view, back view, right view, left view. Animation Layers: Some action resources have multiple animation layers, which can be switched between here. Skeletons: Shows skeletons in the preview area when checked. Tags: Currently Muse resources are tagged in line with the Muse website. Local resources are not tagged. (5) At the bottom is the property display area. Only Max file properties are currently supported, such as version number; material information; mesh vertices, and surface number.

Combine (redirect)

Redirection in ArtLib means that the action, model, and shot can be combined. Combining means that an action or shot can be mapped to a character or a character can be mapped by an action or shot. Muse resources and local resources can be combined. Combining Process: 1. Double-click the action resource to preview, the resource appears on the right-hand preview screen. Attention: First select the model/action/lens resources. Here, we first select an action resource (model or lens resource operation is the same, except that the second selection is the action resource). 2. Click the Combine button on the preview screen, then switch to the model resource. 3. Double-click a model resource. The preview screen shows the result of redirection (combination). 4. Switch to the lens library. You can double-click a lens resource and then add the lens combination effect. 5. Also applicable to Muse resources.