I’m trying to think of some tools that my animators would consistently use day to day that don’t already exist in animbot, studio library, etc. I made them a tool that’s a hub for all the constraints they make in the scene after they receive the rig that has a space switcher + matcher and they aren’t really into it. On the current project they aren’t making complex animations that require blend shapes or other complex deformation systems.
What I had in mind was some sort of export script/scene healer pre-export, but I’m not sure what kind of stuff it should check for.
I have, theyre the ones who suggested I ask haha. theyre more attracted to using their old methods since theyre familiar with them. Which is why they’re not comfortable taking on my tools (by their own admission). I use pyQT to make UIs, but I guess making them even more user friendly is a start.
Is ML something it’s time to dig into., even though they/I don’t need it? There’s only 2, so are USDs overkill?
sit down with your animators and ask them why they are not using your tools:
is it because the ui is not working for them?
is it too hard to use?
do they need tutorials or other methods to start incorporating the tools into their pipeline?
asking random people on a forum might get you to work on tools, but if your animators then wont use them it would be a waste of time, or it seems like they just want to keep you busy.
in this case you need to work on the most important thing: UX
I frequently find that people are unaware of how much their workflow can be automated. Thus they simply don’t think of tools they might benefit from. Also, people are very quick to adapt a workaround for a rough spot in the workflow that is really just failures in the tools & pipeline. Sit with them an observe their workflow, have them teach you how to do it - that may expose to you areas for improvement.
In the words of Rob Galanakis “any task that does not require a human to make a judgment call not only can , but should be automated”
Look for the tedious stuff that may not be directly considered animation. Are there places where the animators have to carefully type in /select a file path? that can probably be automated. Are there fragile naming conventions to follow? that can be tooled up (or better: replaced with attributes ) Do the materials get messed up as you go from one software package to the next? probably could be managed with tools. Is there engine metadata they have to hook up? Maybe there are automation opportunities there.
The sort of stuff I mention usually falls on individual human responsibility in a small studio. People make human error mistakes and then fix them themselves, with out ever communicating the frictions they deal with. In my experience, once you tell them “I could make a button for that” They are very receptive.
thanks guys! I asked them what you said, “what is a button you want” and they said a button that converts their playblasts into MP4s and compresses them. With a little ffmpeg it was pretty easy. I then gave them 4 panel mosaic outputs of their anims and they’re loving it.