Cannot merge tracks from the motion library

[SharonfromMD]

 

I am a composer who animates music for children. I love the Motion Library. However, I have a ton of tracks with dance movts. I cannot seem to figure out how to move them to one track. I can do it visems, by merging, but can't do it with the motion Library. Any ideas? 

[dtull-adobe]

The merge tracks command currently only works on discrete/simple data like visemes or triggers.

The main reason it won't merge tracks for motion data or dragger/camera takes is that those kinds of data support blending and it wasn't implemented to fully translate the results of blending take data together. Also, visemes and triggers can be edited and viewed after being merged, whereas those other take types are somewhat opaque. (so it would be hard to tell where the "action" is after you've merged the take)

In your case where it doesn't have blends (or even overlapping takes), I suppose it could handle merging that data without a lot of extra work, but for now the only workaround is to collapse the take group so it shows up as though it were one take in terms of timeline vertical space. Another option if you wind up re-using those composed sets of takes is to turn them into replays so that they timeline is trigger recordings of those replays intead of raw motion library takes.

Hopefully that helps. (at least to understand why and the alternatives even if it doesn't let you use merge)

[SharonfromMD]

Thank you. I've been away from this for a few years, so I am new to motion
library.

I have no idea how to collapse a take group. What I'm a bit concerned about
it the amount of data that is being transmitted-hoping to simplify it.

I want to replay the dance but at different tempos. If I create a replay
can it be edited?

Thanks.
Sharon

[j-saito]

Assuming the question is about the motion library

> I want to replay the dance but at different tempos. If I create a replay can it be edited?

You can embed the playback speed with the motion library's "Speed" parameter. It is better to plan out and decide the best speed to create a take (e.g. with the "Record One Motion" button) and a replay. The speed parameter cannot be changed once recorded.

Alternatively, you can take full control over the motion library playback speed by keyframing both "Manual Playback" and "Playback Dial" under Motion Library > Advanced. This can override the recorded speed parameter with full flexibility. You can achieve cool effects like time warping if used correctly but is very tricky to use (reason why it is under Advanced).

[dtull-adobe]

I have no idea how to collapse a take group.  

The little arrow widget between the behavior name and the Parameter/Group name will toggle between expanded and collapsed state. Note also that the takes do still support basic editing of position, duration, and blends when in. the collapsed state. It actually makes it a bit like a merged and editable track of triggered animations.

You can edit replays (new in 23.6!), but I suspect based on your elaboration above that the collapsed group shown above might be a better fit for what you're doing right now.


Since you asked, though, here's a bit more info on replays:
If you find yourself using the same exact compositions of several motions multiple times, replays can be a way to capture those in one place for easier re-use (instead of copying and pasting all the takes multiple times). All the uses share the replay, so you can't change the tempo of just one use of the replay. An edit will update all the uses of the replay.

The Edit option is in the right click menu in the Replays panel if you decide to give it a try. Note that a replay packages up a whole set of takes that can be triggered, so editing opens a temporary scene to edit those in isolation.