The physics tools in Cascadeur are a set of special algorithms that you can apply to your animation. It's a bit like applying filters to a photo.
The result of applying a filter is displayed on a special copy of the character - the physical assistant.
Thus, you can try different settings and immediately see how they will affect the result! If you are satisfied with the result, you can transfer it to your character.
Physics algorithms can be applied separately from each other or simultaneously. As a rule, it is more convenient to add them gradually one by one!
There is a special physical assistant in the program to work with auto physics.
Physical assistant is a copy of the original animation, but supplied with improved physics.
Thus, with the help of physical assistant you can see the result of applying physical filters without affecting the original animation.
- Open the Dracorex walk cycle scene
- Enable auto physics using the button on the interface. The physics assistant will immediately appear in the viewport!
- Click on the physics assistant with the mouse and move it with the manipulators. This way, you can place it wherever you want in the scene.
- Click the Offset Reset button to merge the position of the physical assistant with the character's position. This way you can notice even small differences in animation!
In Cascadeur, characters have a special physical skeleton. It is a chain of ellipsoids that are connected to each other. These ellipsoids are called rigid bodies.
Rigid bodies are not collision capsules! They only show the weight distribution. Each rigid body has a certain weight and size.
Thus, using rigid bodies, the character's overall center of mass can be calculated.
With the information about weight distribution and the trajectory of the center of mass, physics tools make adjustments that can improve the realism of your animation.
For example, the main physics corrector is responsible for the character's balance on the ground, as well as for correct behavior in jumps, etc.
And the secondary motion algorithm can add lag or wobbles to different parts of the body. It can work independently of the main physics corrector, allowing it to be used even for non-physical animations, such as levitating characters.
It is important to realize that physics tools know nothing about a character's anatomy or how they should move in nature. For physics tools, all that exists are chains of rigid bodies and their positions in different frames!
Due to this you can work with any characters: humanoid or not. But sometimes you may need to manually correct some poses.
For example, here's a character holding a heavy sword, and its center of mass has gone far back behind the fulcrum. In real life, it would be impossible to maintain balance in such a pose. The auto physics tool can correct this pose to place the center of mass above the fulcrum.
However, auto physics tools do not change the pose and do not change the position of different body parts, but only move the center of mass!
This way, you can take some adjustments not as final results, but as hints about what you can fix in the animation to make it more realistic.