Smooth Trajectory

This tool smoothes the Center of Mass trajectory by making it more even.

For convenience, Smooth Trajectory behavior is influenced by the Physics Corrector tool:

- If the Physics Corrector is disabled, the tool would simply smooth the trajectory, ignoring ballistics and such.

- If the Physics Corrector is enabled, the tool would take into account collisions and ballistic intervals.

How to Use

To smooth a trajectory:

1. Enable AutoPhysics

2. Go to the AutoPhysics tab on the Physics Settings panel.

3. Enable the Smooth Trajectory option

4. Use the slider to set how much the tool should influence the trajectory.

Settings

The Smooth Trajectory tool can be adjusted using a set of parameters found on the Physics Settings panel:

Normal weight
This parameter controls how much the tool will try to keep the center of mass trajectory normal component close to the original values in the animation. Normal is taken relative to the collision surface.

The default value is 0.01.

Tangent weight
How much the tool tries to keep the position projection to the tangent plane (orthogonal to the normal) close to the original animation.
The default value is 10.

Also keep in mind that these settings are in the opposite proportion than in the physics corrector. There the Tangent weight is much smaller, then the normal weight.

Frame weight
This value defines how much the character’s pose on a frame influences the AutoPhysics simulation.
The default value is 1.

Key frame weight
This value defines how much the character’s pose on a keyframe influences the AutoPhysics simulation.
The default value is 10.

Normal ballistic weight
Preserve normal in the ballistic first and last (start and end) frames
By default, the value is set to 1000.

Tangent ballistic weight
Same, but for the tangent in the first and last ballistic frames.
By default, the value is set to 1.

First/last weight
Preserve in the first/last frames where autophysics is active.
Its default value is 1000,

Kinematic constraint weight
Set how much the algorithm should try to preserve a parabolic trajectory
When the Physics Corrector tool is enabled, Smooth Trajectory generates a ballistic trajectory for non-fulcrum keyframes.
Its default value is 100.

Geometrical constraint weight
Sets how much the geometrical constraint is taken into account. Geometrical constraints are the limitations imposed by the rig structure. E.g. by the length of the character legs.
Its default value is  also 100.

Jerk constraint weight
Sets how much the limit for the allowed change in the Center of Mass acceleration influences the smoothed trajectory.
It too is set to 100 by default.

See Also

AutoPhysics

AutoPhysics Settings

Trajectories

Center of Mass