FAQ

Yes, it is in our plans. You can check our Trello roadmap to see how this is going.

1. Please make sure that your computer meets the minimum requirements.

2. If the requirements are met, please send your log and dxdiag files to our technical support team.

Please check that the hierarchies are identical and that all the bones and joints have identical names.

It is possible to do this on the prototype level.

Make sure that both parts of the rig are created manually (you can’t attach anything to the mirrored side) and follow our instruction.

1. Add the sword

2. Make the sword prototype

3. Attach the sword to the parent

Our neural network for autoposing was trained using our in-house animation from the Shadow Fight 3 game. That’s why at the moment it will not work on any other models, except our native models from the game.

We do plan to expand the capabilities of our tool in the future though, so it can work with other models too.

Unfortunately, it’s not possible at the moment, but we are looking forward to expanding the capabilities of our autoposing tool by cooperating with companies that have a large amount of animation data to feed the neural network.

Not at the moment, but in the release version, we plan to implement an option to write custom plugins using Python.

Yes, you can import and export both animations and stand-alone models in widely popular FBX and Collada (DAE) formats.

There is also an option to export animations into video files.

Cascadeur is a software for creating believable and realistic 3d action animations

Unlike other animation software, character rig in Cascadeur includes physical objects. When you animate your character, you animate movements of rigid bodies as well. Then, our tools use this informnation to calculate, visualize and, if necesary, improve physical characteristics of the pose or animation of the character.

This greatly simplifies animation process and makes it possible to create complex action scenes without relying on motion capture and with no stuntmen involved.

We also aim to make Cascadeur as convenient and user-friendly as possible, so it will be easy to use even if you are not a professional animator.

For everyone interested in realistic character animation.

Physically accurate animations are not easy to make. Even something as simple as a falling dice requires a lot of effort. The purpose of Cascadeur is to make it possible to create physically accurate animations with only key frames, without relying on simulations or motion capture. If you are interested in realistic animations, this is the solution for you.

But even if you are not, Cascadeur is still very much capable of creating traditional character animation.

For a long time, Cascadeur was our inhouse project. Over the years, we’ve used Cascadeur for our games such as:

• Vector 1 and 2
• Shadow Fight
• Shadow Fight 2
• Shadow Fight 3
• Shadow Fight Arena

While working on Shadow Fight 3 we implemented numerous new features and revised many of the existing ones. It was then when we realized that the software has evolved and matured enough to be used outside of our studio.

We have a lot of plans for future improvements and new features.

We plan to release a fully-fledged version some time in the future. There will be Graph Editor and tools for creating custom physical rigs, while existing physics tools will be improved upon.

To learn about upcoming features, see our roadmap

You can check our social network accounts:

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/cascadeurEN/

VK page: https://vk.com/cascadeurcom

YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/channel/UCwF6yYbIFJmB5ynAkzq9Psg

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Cascadeur_soft

Discord: https://discordapp.com/invite/Ymwjhpn

You can also check our community forums at forum.cascadeur.com

Not directly, but you can exchange data with third-party software using export and import features. Currently, FBX and Collada (DAE) formats are supported.

We are also looking forward to implement it as a plugin for popular engines, as we see that there is a demand for this. For now, however, we can’t promise anything.

Cascadeur is currently available for Windows and Linux.

MacOS version is also in the works.

Even if you’re a novice, it shouldn’t be hard to start.

While 3d animation is not an easy subject, we are aiming to create an instrument that will significantly lower the learning curve. So you won't need any specific knowledge to start creating animations in Cascadeur.

You can learn the basics by watching our Tutorials.

For more detailed topics, check our text-based tutorials

And if you’d like to know more about user interface and tools included in Cascadeur, you might want to check the Documentation.

We can’t give any exact answer at the moment. But we plan to have an indie version of some kind (either free or reasonably priced)

In order to be properly exported from Cascadeur, character models should have zero transforms.

This is how the Transform tab on the Object Properties panel should look for a mesh or several meshes that make up the character (but NOT for other elements). Otherwise, there will be issues.

Oftentimes transforms are zeroed during the process of creating the model, right before rigging. However, if this is not done, there will be distortions when you try to export such a model from Cascadeur.

In the future versions transforms will be zeroed automatically during export. For now, you’ll need to zero them manually before skinning (before exporting the model to Cascadeur).

How exactly this should be done depends on the software you’re using.

For example, in Blender you should:

1. Select the character’s skeleton.

2. Use Object → Apply → All Transforms.

While in Maya:

1. Copy the model.

2. Freeze the transformations.

3. Copy the skin from the old mesh.

4. (optional) Delete the old mesh.

In Cascadeur, the Y axis is always directed up; Cascadeur units, which are equal to centimeters, are used as measure units.

Neither of these can be changed at the moment. Because of this, models imported from software with different coordinate systems and/or measure units might end up with incorrect scales or rotations.

To work around this issue we recommend to take into account the configuration of coordinate axes and measure units in the software you are using for creating the models. Most of the 3d solutions provide options to change the corresponding settings either in the scene itself or during export.

In Blender, for example, if you are using FBX export, the corresponding settings can be found under the Transfor tab:

For the AutoPosing tool to work correctly, the additional points on the elbows and knees of the character rig should be placed as shown on the image on the left:

Left: the correct placement of the controllers; right: the incorrect placement.

Pay attention to this as you create a rig for the character.
You can learn more about rigging the character’s limbs on the Hinge Connections page.

The example is provided by the user Montana from Cascadeur Discord channel.

This problem appears when the AutoPhysics tool is applied to a stay-in-place animation, such as a walk or run cycle. In animations like these the character’s legs slide on the ground.

AutoPhysics uses fulcrum points to calculate physically accurate motions. If the character’s leg (or other body part) doesn’t change its spatial position across several frames, it is considered a fulcrum point.
But when legs slide on the ground, like in our case, the system does not recognize them as fulcrum points. Instead it assumes that the character is in mid-air, and alters the animation accordingly.

Currently, the tool is not suited for working with stay-in place animations. However, if you still want to use it for such animation, you can do the following:

1. Create an animation with a character moving.

2. Apply AutoPhysics to it.

3. Squeeze it into a stay-in-place animation.
See the Stay in Place Animation page to learn how to do this.