Walking and Running Actors

One of Anima’s greatest strengths is the ability to place animated people in any 3D environment very quickly and easily, and that’s largely thanks to the Path tools.

The Path provides an easy-to-use and intuitive method to add moving actors to your 3D scenes. It works by defining a series of path points that the actors will follow, using advanced collision and avoidance simulation algorithms to create believable interactions. It gives you exceptional control to get the exact distribution of characters you need for your scene. Each actor can also be adjusted individually to fine-tune the distribution and help you get a perfect result.

There are 2 different types of Path tools.

Crowd Path – Creates a walkway powered by our new neural network animation engine for Rigged actors. A large number of people can be easily generated on them in a procedural way. Meant to be used at mid-long distances from the camera.

4D Path – Creates a walkway that can be used by our new 4D walking actors. Each actor must be individually placed in it. Meant to be used at short-mid distances from the camera.

Both can be accessed directly from the left toolbar of the 3D viewport.

Both tools have the most basic and intuitive workflows in common, like the creation and edition of the path points, segments, and the definition of their respective widths.

Let’s see in more detail the process behind those basic workflow procedures.

To add additional path segments to the start, end, or in-between points of an existing path:

Using the Select tool , click on an existing path by clicking it in the 3d viewport or selecting it from the Project Properties panel.

Click or select any Path Point at the start, end, or interior of the path.

Select the Path Tool again .

Click in the 3d viewport to add new Path Points.

Right-click to finish drawing.

To adjust the width of the entire walkway, either:

Without anything selected, move the mouse pointer over the light blue edge of a path until the cursor changes to resize mode and the border is highlighted in yellow.

Click and drag to adjust the width of the path.

As an alternative, select the path in the 3d viewport or from the Project Properties panel.

Go to the Node Properties panel and, in the Path Properties section, enter a new Width of all path points value or drag the slider bar.

To adjust the width of individual path points to create a path with varying widths, either:

Select the path in the 3d viewport or from the Project Properties panel. With the path selected, move the mouse pointer over the light blue edge of a path section that you want to modify, until the cursor changes to resize mode and the border and segment are highlighted.

Click and drag to adjust the width of the path at the selected path point. Each segment can be adjusted individually to create paths of nearly any shape.

Or to edit the width of Path Point from the Node Properties panel:

Select the walkway in the 3d viewport or from the Project Properties panel.

Click the path point you wish to resize.

Go to the Node Properties panel and, in the Path Properties section, select the path point that you want to modify and enter a new Width value or drag the slider bar.

When creating a path, after a few points are made, if you click on the initial point of the path and it will automatically become a loop (closed path).

As you can see in that video, it is also possible to open or close a path after it is created with a right-mouse click over a path while having it selected:

Or by dragging one extreme of the path over the other extreme.

Another alternative is using the Path loop mode parameter of the Path Properties panel.

4D Path Properties

To access the 4D Path properties, select it in the 3d viewport and open the Node Properties panel.

Path Loop mode – Controls whether the walkway should have open edges or a closed shape making a loop.

Path direction mode – Defines the direction that the actors travel on the walkway.

Stair direction rules – Controls the side-direction rules for actors climbing stairs

Width of all path points – Defines the width of all the path points of the selected path.

Body radius – Defines the minimum distance the actors will be from each other during the simulation.

Collision response – Defines how quickly an actor will be pushed when it enters another actor’s body radius.

Yield factor – Defines how much the actors will slow down when colliding with other actors.

Transform – Position, and rotation in the world space of the path.

Crowd Path Properties

To access the Crowd Path properties, select it in the 3d viewport and open the Node Properties panel.

Generate actors – Click Generate or update actors using the current distribution settings. If characters have already been generated, clicking this button again will create a new random distribution.

Delete actors – Click this button to delete all the automatically generated actors, the ones with an (A) above them. The manually positioned actors (M) will be kept.

Convert to Manual – This button will convert all the models autogenerated (A) into manual mode (M).

Keep positions and Rotations – When this is set to No, clicking Generate will create a completely new distribution. When set to Yes the Position and Rotation of current actors will be retained but motions, color variations, and phase control will be randomized.

Crowd Presets – Click the buttons to use the built-in crowd placement presets. Options include (from left to right): one group in single file formation, multiple small groups, evenly distributed actors, and one group in marching formation.

Crowd List – Contains a list of all the actors to be distributed on the path. Drag selected characters from the library panel and drop them into the list. If left empty, random models will be used.

Actor Count – The number of actors to create.

Socialization Random – Used when square areas and walkways intersect. This value determines the likelihood that an actor will leave the walkway and socialize with other characters in the square area. At 100% nearly all the characters move the square area, at 0% none of them do.

Animation Phase Random – Defines the range of motion clip phase offset that will be randomly applied to each actor.

Cross Distribution – Defines the position range in which characters can be placed on the lateral axis of the walkway.

Longitudinal Distribution – Defines the position range in which characters can be placed on the longitudinal axis of the walkway.

Spacing Random – Determines the distance that characters socializing in square areas will stand to one another. Larger values create a sparse distribution, low values create a dense distribution.

Side Path Tendency – When the walkway Path Direction Mode is set to Both, this parameter controls how many walks are on the sides. At 0% of characters walking in both directions use the full width of the walkway. At 100%  forward and backward walking characters use half the walkway each. At 200% characters walk only along opposing outer edges of the walkway. Using negative values reverses the sides.

Speed Variance – Defines the range of random speed variation applied to characters.

Grouping percentage – Defines the tendency for characters to form into groups. The higher the percentage the higher the number of groups created with respect to the non-grouped actors. At 100%, all actors walk in groups.

Group size – The number of people in each group is controlled by the Groups size range. In the example above, the range was between 2 and 4 members.

Group shape – Controls the distribution shape of characters grouped together using the clustering feature.  Negative values create distributions that stretch longitudinally, positive values create distributions that stretch laterally.

Group social distance – When using the clustering feature this range controls the randomized distance between characters in groups. Large values create groups that are dispersed and small values create groups that are tight-knit.

Path loop mode – Opens or closes the path.

Path Direction Mode – Defines the direction the characters travel on the walkway, options include Forward, Backward, or Both. The direction is represented by a blue preview arrow on the walkway so that you can easily see which way the characters will travel.

Stair Direction Rules – Controls the side-path rules for characters climbing stairs. Options are left down/right up, light down/left up, or no stair rules.

Width of all Path Points – Defines the width of all path points in the selected path.

Body radius – Defines the minimum distance the actors will be from each other during the simulation.

Collision response – Defines how quickly an actor will be pushed when it enters another actor’s body radius.

Yield factor – Defines how much the actors will slow down when colliding with other actors.

Position – Position of the pivot of the path in world space coords.

Rotation – Rotation of the pivot of the path in world space coords.

To access a Path Point’s properties, first, select a walkway in the 3d viewport and then click a path point and open the Properties panel.

Width – The width of the walkway at the selected Path Point.

Position – Position of the pivot of the path point in world space coords.