Sim Animation IK Rig

[Mixa97sr]

This is a custom IK rig for use in animation import for Avatar Tool in Volcanic. Custom showcase animation is included in the file.


Get it here: https://simfil.es/1641297/

HOW TO USE
Starting out:

First thing when you open the file will be to preview the animation included. After that, if you want to start anew, you will need to delete the existing keyframes. To do that, you will select the armature, go to Pose Mode first and then bring up Timeline or Dope Sheet as a separate workflow window, which is where you can see all the keyframes.
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Select all bones with A to show all keyframes for all bones, then select every keyframe in dope sheet except the first frame, and finally delete them.

(delete these )​

Now you can start out with the rig. There are few main bones to be familiar with before starting. To see these, select the armature and in armature options ( ) check . After that is done among all others, these ones will also show up:

• ROOT bone serves for rotating whole mesh or moving whole mesh on X-Y plane.
• L_LEG_IK and R_LEG_IK serve for moving the legs while keeping a natural bend. Rotating them rotates the foot.
• L_LEG_P and R_LEG_P are leg POLE bones. They are used to control the direction of the legs/knees.
• L_ARM_IK and R_ARM_IK serve for moving the arms while keeping a natural bend. Rotating them rotates the hands.
• L_ARM_P and R_ARM_P are arm pole bones. They control the direction of the arms/elbows.
• HEAD_TARGET makes the head follow a path, creates an effect of a sim looking at something.

It's important to note that you need to SAVE the file BEFORE Baking the Animation if you plan to continue work on it or you will lose IK rig !!!

Baking Animation:

So you've played with the rig, made some silly or beautiful stuff and now you want to export it and see it happen in game? WAIT! Not so fast. There are few steps before exporting an animation with this new rig that are required in order for the animation to even import back in the game. One of them is animation baking.
Baking an animation is necessary because IK bones will be discarded/deleted before export which is why all the animation info has to be transfered to old, non-IK rig. Here's how to do it properly:​

• Some bones are hidden for cleaner workflow so Unhide them by clicking Alt+H in pose view
• Select all the bones in pose view by clicking A
• Find Bake Action function either by using blender search (space) or from Pose>Animation menu
  
• Choose your start and end frame and Bake Animation with these settings:
  

Delete IK bones:

This step is fairly easy. You just need to either unparent (select the bone and click Alt+P) or entirely Delete the IK bones that are listed in the first part of this tutorial (EXCEPT the ROOT bone). This is only possible in Edit Mode, so change from pose mode to edit mode.
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Name Animation:

To name your animation you need to change back to Pose Mode and have a Dope Sheet window open. Then have Action Editor workplace selected.
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Once you are in Action Editor, just rename the current animation you are on (given that it's the one you want to export) in this field here:

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I named this one a2o-stand but you can name it whatever you want, just be sure to use "-" (without quotations ) instead of space between words or the name won't show up properly after import.

Export:

Final step is to export the animation. Go into Object Mode and select both the armature (bones) and sim model. Then select File>Export>glTF 2.0 and choose a name for your new animation file.​

Be sure to have export settings menu look like this:

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After that is done, you will have successfully exported a game ready animation.

Congrats! You can now make animations with sims 1 rig. Have fun with it

EDIT:
You'll notice that the rig was updated with some quality of life changes that allow for easier use and more control.
!!! You'll also notice NEW BONES shaped like X in the scene. These are HELPER bones and since they are parented to the main rig, once the animation has been BAKED just DELETE them, together with all the other IK bones, before export !!!