Maxon Computer Cinema 4D - 9.5, Cinema 4D - 9.0 Installation Manual
MOCCA
MOCCA
Programming Team Christian Losch, Philip Losch, Richard Kurz, Tilo Kühn, Thomas Kunert,
David O’Reilly, Cathleen Poppe.
Plugin Programming Sven Behne, Wilfried Behne, Michael Breitzke, Kiril Dinev, Per-Anders Edwards,
David Farmer, Jamie Halmick, Richard Hintzenstern, Jan Eric Hoffmann,
Eduardo Olivares, Nina Ivanova, Markus Jakubietz, Eric Sommerlade,
Hendrik Steffen, Jens Uhlig, Michael Welter, Thomas Zeier.
Product Manager Marco Tillmann.
QA Manager Björn Marl.
Writers Paul Babb, Rick Barrett, Oliver Becker, Jens Bosse, Chris Broeske, Chris Debski,
Glenn Frey, Michael Giebel, Jason Goldsmith, Jörn Gollob, Sven Hauth,
Josiah Hultgren, Arndt von Königsmarck, David Link, Arno Löwecke, Aaron Matthew,
Josh Miller, Matthew ‘Mash’ O’Neill, Janine Pauke, Marcus Spranger, Luke Stacy,
Perry Stacy, Marco Tillmann, Jeff Walker, Scot Wardlaw.
SDK Docs & Support David O’Reilly, Mikael Sterner.
Layout Oliver Becker, Harald Egel, Michael Giebel, David Link, Luke Stacy, Jeff Walker.
Translation Oliver Becker, Michael Giebel, Arno Löwecke, Björn Marl, Josh Miller, Janine Pauke,
Luke Stacy, Marco Tillmann, Scot Wardlaw.
Copyright © 1989-2004 by MA XON Computer GmbH. All rights reserved.
English translation Copyright © 2004 by MAXON Computer Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Contents
1 MOCCA Layout and Palette ...............................................................................5
2 Introduction to IK ..............................................................................................9
3 MOCCA IK Tag .................................................................................................. 13
Attribute manager settings ................................................................................................................. 14
Tag Properties ................................................................................................................................. 14
Constraint ....................................................................................................................................... 20
Limit................................................................................................................................................ 24
Rest ................................................................................................................................................. 28
MOCCA IK Commands......................................................................................................................... 30
Setup IK Chain ................................................................................................................................ 30
Add Anchor .................................................................................................................................... 30
Add Root Goal ................................................................................................................................30
Add Tip Goal................................................................................................................................... 30
Add Up Vector ................................................................................................................................ 31
Set Chain Rest Position ................................................................................................................... 31
Set Chain Rest Rotation .................................................................................................................. 31
Auto Redraw................................................................................................................................... 31
Auto IK-Lock ................................................................................................................................... 32
4 Bone Tool .........................................................................................................35
Attribute manager settings .................................................................................................................36
5 Bone Mirror Tool .............................................................................................. 41
Attribute manager settings .................................................................................................................42
6 Claude Bonet Tool ............................................................................................ 47
Attribute manager settings .................................................................................................................48
Further usage advice ........................................................................................................................... 52
7 Cappuccino Tool............................................................................................... 57
Cappuccino dialog settings ................................................................................................................. 57
8 KeyReducer Tool...............................................................................................65
9 TimeWarp Tool ................................................................................................. 69
10 PoseMixer Tag ................................................................................................ 73
Attribute manager settings ................................................................................................................. 75
11 P2P Library and Manager ............................................................................... 81
Pose2Pose manager settings ............................................................................................................... 82
Attribute manager settings .................................................................................................................84
12 Quaternion Tag...............................................................................................89
Attribute manager settings .................................................................................................................90
13 Motion Blending ............................................................................................95
Testing motion blending ..................................................................................................................... 95
Setup Motion Blend Tracks .................................................................................................................. 97
Show Transitions.................................................................................................................................. 99
Attribute manager settings .................................................................................................................99
Motion Blend Properties................................................................................................................. 99
Detail Properties ........................................................................................................................... 104
Transition Properties..................................................................................................................... 105
14 Retarget Tag................................................................................................. 109
15 Clothilde ....................................................................................................... 115
Cloth NURBS .......................................................................................................................................115
Attribute manager settings .......................................................................................................... 120
Basic Properties ....................................................................................................................... 120
Tag Properties .......................................................................................................................... 121
Forces....................................................................................................................................... 126
Dresser ..................................................................................................................................... 131
Effects...................................................................................................................................... 139
Expert ...................................................................................................................................... 143
Collider Tag........................................................................................................................................ 147
Attribute manager settings .......................................................................................................... 147
Basic Properties .......................................................................................................................... 147
Tag Properties ............................................................................................................................ 147
Modeling Clothes .............................................................................................................................. 150
Procedures for Animation............................................................................................................. 152
Index.................................................................................................................. 157
MOCC A
INTRODUC TION 1
Introduction
You can easily animate any
character using MOCCA’s
powerful yet simple to
understand tools, from a comic
book superhero to a squirrel
juggling burning nuts.
Character animation — a constant in the world of 3D and the ultimate discipline.
MOCCA‘s initial release was the rst complete CINEMA 4D module developed
solely to address the wants and needs of character animators.
Since MOCC A‘s initial release we have been able to improve the module by
collecting and evaluating your comments, new ideas and suggestions.
This new release of MOCCA now offers you the possibility to create professional
character animation even faster and easier. A variety of new functions have been
created to assist you and even do some of the work for you!
Here is an overview of some of the most important improvements:
Motion Blending
The new motion blending process allows you to transfer animations from one
character to another. In other words, you can animate a character and use its
motion data information for another character sometime in the future. Even the
use of motion capture tools is made easier.
Hard IK
MOCCA now offers improved Hard IK functionality in addition to its extensive
Soft IK functionality. The Hard IK algorithms forgo the Soft IK “frills” and offer
much faster calcutation and response. Using the MOCC A IK tag you can select
which kind of IK you want to use and can even mix Hard IK and Soft IK in the same
character rig!
IK FK Blending
One of MOCC A‘s most powerful new features is its ability to mix IK and FK.
Animate your character as you wish using IK or FK and simply use the sliders to
easily blend IK and FK. The days of basing the method with which you animated
your character on how its rigging had been set up are over!
Motion Retrageting
You have already created several nished animations using a particular character
and now your client needs a larger character? You‘re working with motion capture
but the proportions of the recorded motion don‘t quite t your character?
Don‘t worry – Motion Retargeting can help. Simply transfer the animation of
one character‘s rigging onto another and MOCCA will take care of the scaling!
Whether your entire character‘s dimensions change or only individual proportions,
Motion Retargeting will rescale them. You just sit back and relax.
Pole Vectors
Many additional changes, new features and improvements have made their way
into MOCCA that will make your 3D life easier, such as pole vectors.
1 MOCCA Layout and Palette
MOCC A
MOCCA
Layout
and
Palette
Although you can access
all of MOCCA’s commands
from menus, you may nd it
quicker to use the MOCCA
palette and MOCCA layout.
You can ope n the MOCCA pal ette
and inte grate it a nywh ere in
MOCC A LAYOUT AND PAL ETT E 5
Reach MOCCA commands quickly and save time using the predened MOCCA layout
and MOCCA palette. The MOCCA palette is integrated automatically into the MOCCA
layout. On this palette you’ll nd commands and tools from the Plugins > MOCCA
sub-menu as well as some of the most commonly used CINEMA 4D tools: move, scale,
rotate and the selection tools.
To use the predened MOCC A layout, choose Window > Layout > Mocca.l4d. You
can, if you wish, create your own layout for MOCCA. For details on how to do this,
please see the Conguration chapter of your CINEMA 4D Reference Manual.
the GUI .
If you want to open just the MOCCA palette rather than load the entire MOCCA
layout, choose Plugins > MOCC A > MOCCA Palette. The palette then appears as a
freestanding window, which you can integrate anywhere in the CINEMA 4D GUI. To
learn how to congure the GUI, please refer to the Conguration chapter of your
CINEMA 4D Reference Manual.
2 Introduction to IK
MOCC A
INTRODUC TION TO I K 9
Introduction to IK
MOCCA and Soft IK offer a
completely new approach for
animating characters. Almost all
possible movements are handled
via soft constraints. These enable
you to go beyond the world of
strict constraints.
With Fo rward Kinematics ( left ),
each bo ne must b e rotat ed in
order t o move the a rm. With
Inverse Kine matic s (right), you
can move t he hand freely and
the other bone s in the arm will
move and r otate automatically
to ensure that th e bones remain
conne cted to o ne another.
Inverse Kine matic s helps you to
pose ch aracters qui ckly.
You have probably heard the term Inverse Kinematics (IK) before; it has become quite
a buzzword in the 3D world, particularly when it comes to character animation. The
main difference from the so-called For ward Kinematics (FK) is the direction in which
something is animated. Take an arm, for example.
Using FK, the arm would be animated from the shoulder downwards. This means that
you rst rotate the shoulder, then the upper arm, the lower arm, hand and nally the
ngers pointing to a specic location. The obvious disadvantage is the difculty of
trying to get the hand in a certain position in your 3D world, since any move of the
shoulder will require readjustments of all limbs that follow in the hierarchy. Having a
hand grab a cup of tea, lift it to the character’s mouth and place it back on the table
would involve a large number of rotations and adjustments, particularly because the
position and rotation of the cup and hand have to be synchronized at all times.
Inverse Kinematics offers an elegant solution to this problem. As the name suggests,
the direction of the animation is inverted. This means that moving the hand will force
the other joints between hand and shoulder to reposition in order to remain in contact
with the hand. A simple expression could lock the hand to the position of the cup,
allowing you to animate just one object, the cup, instead of two.
Inverse Kinematics has been a key part of the application since CINEMA 4D XL R5.
MOCCA IK offers a completely new approach. Almost all possible movements are
handled via constraints. Imagine a constraint as a force that always tries to nd an
equilibrium with other such constraints, just like an array of magnets that levitate a
metal sphere within their common magnetic elds.
10 INTRO DUCT ION TO IK
MOCC A
The following example of earlier IK systems is familiar. You drag a bone target object
from one position to the next and the IK chain practically jumps into place. IK systems
that limit the freedom of rotation of each bone often create dead spaces. These,
sometimes large, spaces are created by overlapping rotation limits. The larger the
limits are for each bone, the bigger the dead zones. This can escalate to the point of
producing completely unmovable IK chains.
The new IK solution in MOCCA has been created with precisely this problem in mind.
By allowing the software to extend beyond these boundaries, it enables you to leave
behind the world of strict constraints.
How does this work?
The programming within Soft IK means that the more you stretch your constraints, the
more a dynamic counter-force will try to return the object to its initial rest position.
A basic example would be a comic character that grabs a heavy weight, which pulls
his arms and upper body to the oor. As soon as he lets go of the weights, the arms
will return to a more comfortable position, in other words, his rest position.
This animation is handled by what are called ‘tip effectors’ (control objects) that
attract the bones of a character. A lot of the work that needs to be done in character
animation involves a proper constraint setup, based on constraints for the angle
and position, which should facilitate animation later on. Just as in real life, these
constraints are soft. A constraint strength of 100% will not eliminate the other forces.
The object is still inuenced by all forces in the setup, making dead zones a thing of
the past. Careful placement and setup of these constraints will result in much more
elegant-looking animations that would otherwise be very difcult to achieve with
older IK solutions.
Some features in MOCCA might seem familiar, such as the Dynamics function in
Soft IK . However, MOCC A is not an addition to the CINEMA 4D Dynamics module
— it is an independent toolset in its own right. It has nothing to do with actual
dynamics, which are realistic simulations of physical events that give you enormous
control over all aspects of an environment. Naturally, those simulations also require
more processing power, the more realistic you want them to be. On the other hand,
MOCCA is a completely new technology, which emphasizes speed and reliability
above all else. Ultimately, it is the result that matters most.
3 MOCCA IK Tag
MOCC A
MOCC A IK TAG 13
MOCCA IK Tag
MOCCA IK tags add a great deal
of control to your bone setup.
In these pages you’ll nd a
description of each setting in the
MOCCA IK tag.
The MOCCA IK tag helps make CINEMA 4D’s standard bones more powerful. Once
the tag has been assigned you can make full use of MOCCA for optimal control over
your bones.
You can assign the MOCCA IK tag by clicking on the object with the right mouse
button in the object manager. Not only has the MOCCA IK tag’s functionality been
improved but it also offers several new visual aides in the Object manager. Hence the
look of your IK tag will be different depending on if you activate the Anchor option
or if you add Limiters, for example. The MOCCA IK tag can look as follows:
Standard icon and with Anchor option
These are the standard icons after a MOCCA IK tag has been assigned (left) and
the icon after applying the Anchor option (right).
Once a Limiter has been applied
Once a Limiter has been applied to a bone the icon will look like this.
Once a Limiter has been adjusted
This icon will be used if the Limiter‘s values, within which the bones should move,
have been changed in the Attribute manager.
Limiters and altered values
And last but not least this is the icon that will be shown when Limiters as well as
altered values for Limiters in one MOCC A IK tag have been assigned.
14 MOCCA I K TAG
MOCC A
Attribute manager settings
Tag Properties
Use UK
This option activates or deactivates IK for the bone chain. The option can be found
within every MOCCA IK tag of the IK chain. Note that the entire chain is linked to this
command. Turning it off for one tag will deactivate it for the entire chain. The same
applies to turning it on again.
Anchor
An anchor is the root of any given chain. A classic anchor in a 3D character would
be the hips. Most of the time, this is the root element for the character bone setup.
Normally, you wouldn’t want the hips to jump out of place when dragging the goal
target of the left leg, thus twisting the entire character. Placing the root at a certain
point will tell the chain that the leg has to be held in place at its root, in this case
the hips.
The icon in the Object manager changes as soon as the Anchor option has been
enabled in the Object manager:
Anchor disab led (left) and
enabl ed (rig ht).
MOCC A
MOCC A IK TAG 15
Hard IK
This option is only available when Anchor is enabled.
This option lets you control the bone’s movement and behavior. MOCCA uses Soft IK
from the previous version by default to control bones. As the name suggests, Soft IK
is ideal for use on “soft” bones because it exhibits a certain dynamic of its own. This
makes it prefect for cartoon characters or body parts that require a softer movement.
Hard IK, on the other hand, is less dynamic in its movement but is therefore faster
and does not exhibit its own dynamics.
Strength
This option is only available when Anchor is enabled.
This parameter modies the strength with which the skeleton will be held together.
It affects all movements and a high value results in precise, but harder animation.
You’ll quickly notice how, as the strength increases, the distances between each
bone in a stretched chain become smaller. High values will take additional time to
calculate though.
Dynamics
This option is only available when Anchor is enabled.
The dynamics parameters modif y the dynamic movements of the bone chain. The
dynamics settings affect an entire bone chain, whose root bone has this option
enabled. Since dynamics inuence the alignment of your chain, the effect becomes
more obvious if few constraints have been added. If you want to experiment with the
settings and get direct feedback, make sure you avoid setting constraints.
How do all these parameters interact?
There is no easy answer for this, since they affect each other. High Drag will cause
stiff joints, therefore limiting the effect of the other parameters. This makes drag an
ideal regulator for dynamics. On the other hand, Speed does not necessarily make
the movements of the chain faster. Test the different settings of the dynamics and
you’ll soon develop an intuitive understanding.
To switch dynamics on, enable the Dynamics option. You can then adjust the dynamics
of the bone chain using the following parameters.
16 MOCCA I K TAG
MOCC A
Gravit y pulls the bone s down,
in the dir ecti on of the world
syste m’s negat ive Y-axis.
Speed
This option is only available when Anchor is enabled.
Controls the speed at which the dynamic simulations are played back. The default
value of 10% initiates a slow reaction. Experiment with this setting. A small, light
character might move more quickly than a large, heavy one for example. The trunk
of an elephant would require slower movements and therefore lower values.
Drag
This option is only available when Anchor is enabled.
This parameter controls the resistance of the child bones toward the reaction to the
movements of the root bone. Imagine draining the lubricant from a joint mechanism
– the joint will become stiffer the more lubricant is removed. Similarly, the bones will
not move with the root as freely when using a higher percentage value. A word of
caution: Drag very much affects the other dynamic parameters and could seriously
dampen the whole dynamic movement.
Gravity
This option is only available when Anchor is enabled.
This parameter denes the strength of gravity that acts upon the bones. Higher values
result in a stronger bending of the chain on the Y-axis, downwards. Here again, small
characters might require lower values than large, heavy ones.
MOCC A
MOCC A IK TAG 17
The lines conne cting the rst a nd
last bones are d isplay ed yell ow
in the viewpor t by defa ult.
Inertia
This option is only available when Anchor is enabled.
Inertia controls how much of a root bone’s movement is translated into torque for
its children. Torque is the force that causes rotation. Moving a bone chain around
will make torque affect the angle between each of the bones. Low values won’t
cause too much disruption in the chain, whereas high percentage values will jiggle
the chain more and more.
Color
This option is only available when Anchor is enabled.
Here you can set the color of the lines connecting the rst and last bones of your IK
chain as they are displayed in the viewport. The default color is yellow.
IK <-> FK
One of MOCCA’s most powerful new features is the ability to seamlessly switch
between IK and FK animation. Until recently you had to base the way you animated
your character on how it’s rigging had been set up. The respective situation will
dictate whether you move a leg by positioning the foot using IK or simply rotate the
shinbone using FK. The problem we would encounter, though, is that a rig that has
been set up using IK would lose its control object associations if a single bone in the
hierarchy would be selected and rotated independent of its IK control object.
18 MOCCA I K TAG
MOCC A
Three contro l objec ts ass igned to
a typical bon e setup for a foot .
Let’s take a look at an example of this in the following images.
The image shows a typical bone setup which will be controlled using IK. Three control
objects have been assigned for the foot (see blue arrows). Now the bone will be
bent to the rear.
In the past one could only bend the leg by moving the control objects using IK.
If you were to bend the leg by rotating the shin bone using the rotate function, the
control objects would retain their positions and it would be practically impossible to
animate the leg further using IK (see following image).
With the shin rotated, furth er
animat ion of the leg using IK is
almost imposs ible.
MOCC A
MOCC A IK TAG 19
MOCC A can now move the
control objects with your FK
rotat ions.
Now MOCCA lets you reach your goals any way you want. MOCCA will recognize
any control objects connected to your bones and move them with your FK rotation
(see image).
Display In Editor
You can use the Display In Editor option to control the display of visual aids in the
viewport. For example, this allows you to have the connection between the rst and
last element in an IK chain displayed as a thin line. If you don’t want these visual aids
to be displayed, disable the option.
20 MOCC A IK TAG
MOCC A
The Constrain t settings allow
you to con trol th e bone chain
with other objects in the scene.
Constraint
This page is shown only if Anchor is disabled on the Tag Proper ties page.
The Constraint settings dene the controls that force the IK chain into another form
or direction; they allow another object to be used to move the bone chain.
Here’s a more precise explanation: the goal constraint uses the origin of virtually any
object in the scene to enable you to force the IK chain towards the position of that
object, assuming that the other potential constraints in your scene do not counteract
this. Since the IK chains follow the goal constraints, the bone angles will also be
modied. Therefore this is useful for setting up different poses, since all you have to
do is move about individual goal constraint objects.
If you want the chain to point at a constraint, you will have to work with a tip effector.
In other words, a null will be placed at the end of a chain and linked to a goal constraint.
This works similarly when you use the Set Up IK Chain command.
Goal
Drag an object from the Object manager into this box. This object will then serve as a
goal constraint. You can remove an object from this box by clicking the small triangle
next to it and choosing Clear from the drop-down list that appears.
Add buttons
These buttons allow you to add a root goal or up vector.
Strength
Imagine setting the ‘muscular’ force at which the constraint pulls on the bone. If you
have used several constraints with different strengths in your scene, the ones with
the higher values will be preferred by the chain.
MOCC A
MOCC A IK TAG 21
Pole vectors r epre sent th e planar
surfa ce bet ween these three
points.
Use As Pole
You can very easily obtain control over unwanted bone rotation using the option
Use As Pole.
Pole vectors represent a planar surface between the following three points (see
image) of a pair of bones:
1 The beginning of the rst bone.
2. The end of the rst and beginning of the second bone.
3. Around the end of the second bone.
The result is that the bones cannot be rotated independently of each other; the
rotation of the two bones is now controlled by the pole vector.
Use As Pole only has an effect when used with a root goal; the option has
no effect when used with a tip goal. This is down to the way that goals are
created — root goals are attached directly to the bone they should affect,
whereas tip goals are assigned an extra Null object.
22 MOCC A IK TAG
MOCC A
Chopsticks e nable you to rot ate
the chain around the value of
Distance
the Dis tance s etting.
The behavior of the Distance setting depends on the Chop Sticks setting. If Chop
Sticks is enabled, this parameter sets the length of the chopsticks (see below). If
Chop Sticks is disabled, it denes the distance between the tip effector and tip goal
constraint within the bone chain.
Chop Sticks
This setting, when enabled, allows you to move your character as if the joints were
connected to sticks, like shadow puppets. When using chopsticks you can pivot
around a point connected to an arm, just like the wheels of a locomotive train. Set
the length of the chopsticks using Distance (see above).
Set
This button is only available when the Use IK option (on the Tag Properties tab) is
disabled. When using chopsticks the Distance parameter allows you to change the
distance from the control object to the bone. To do this, switch off the MOCCA IK,
move the control object to the desired position, click Set and switch the MOCCA IK back
on. The new value for the distance will appear in the Distance box automatically.
Up Vector
Here you can drag and drop an object from the Object manager. That object will
then be used as an Up Vector object. Delete the Up Vector by clicking on the small
triangle next to it and selecting Clear.
Up Vector constraints let you orientate the axis of a bone towards a control object.
In this case, not the position, but the angle of the bone will be modied.
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