Overview
TransPosing is the process of applying matrix transformations, First Frame property and Library Item association to target symbol instances, based on the transformation matrices, First Frame and Library Item associations of matching source symbol instances.
In practical terms this means that carefully designed pose presets can be dynamically TransPosed over from a source container to the current animation timeline, where they can be used as stock poses or as the basis for new ones in the process of animation.
Functionality
TransPoser is an interactive panel – the main hub of the TransPoser workflow.
It allows the dynamic transfer of predefined poses or facial expressions from a source, called Reference Symbol (REF) to the current timeline (ANM), where these can appear in any order and be further edited or tweaked to produce the final animation.
TransPosing is based on metadata-linked pairs of symbol instances, where transformation matrices, First Frame properties and Library Item associations are read from the source (REF) and applied to the target (ANM).
The panel provides tools to:
- Set a symbol as Reference (REF)
- Create Thumbnails for the preset poses in REF
- Organize the Thumbnails
- Create an Animation symbol (ANM) based on the REF
- TransPose by clicking on the Thumbnails
- Set special layer-based exclusion rules for added flexibility
Multiple REF symbols can be loaded in the panel at the same time.
TransPosing occurs in the current frame. A Keyframe will be created, if the current frame is not a Keyframe.
Matching instances, tagged with metadata must be present in the current frame for the TransPose operation to be successful. If instances are not present or they lack the necessary metadata (REF info) nothing will happen.
The location of TransPosed instances can be precisely controlled via a Pose Anchor, while scale can be matched by adding a __matchscale suffix to a chosen layer name.
Two other attributes can also be controlled via layer suffixes. Details below.
Suggested use
Character animation, where carefully designed poses or facial expressions are saved as presets and then reused during the process of animating, where they can be timed in any order or used as a basis for new ones.
Where does it work?
Stage, Timeline – current frame
EDAP Tools shortcut
Interactions, Customizations
Click on a Thumbnail to invoke a TransPose operation
Shift-drag a Thumbnail to rearrange or delete (by dropping on the Bin icon)
Drag a Separator from the Separator pool to add between Thumbnails
Ctrl+scroll wheel to increase or decrease Thumbnail size
The size of the Thumbnails can also be set by clicking on the [ ··· ] button at the bottom right corner and then choosing Settings… from the drop-down.
Thumbnail background color for each REF symbol can be set via the dedicated
button.
Buttons and Settings
Multiple REF symbols can be loaded in the panel.
Overview of panel areas
Each REF has a Title bar with its name at the top, and a Tool bar with several buttons at the bottom.
The Title bar has a collapse / expand button on the left and a close button on the right.
Between the title bar and the tool bar are displayed the clickable Thumbnails.
Thumbnails can be rearranged or put in user-created groups.
User-rearrangement done in the panel is for convenience only and will be lost when the Thumbnails are recreated via the Refresh button
.
At the bottom of the panel is the Status bar, where contextual information, such as tool tips, is displayed.
Above the Status bar is the Main tool bar.
The Main Tool bar
Load Thumbnails – When clicked it will pop a dialog with a list of all available REF symbols in the Document, which can be loaded in the panel.
Set as REF – Make the currently open symbol a TransPoser Reference Symbol (REF). This will tag all instances with REF info (metadata) and will create Meta and TransPose folder layers.
Please note: If new elements are introduced / added to an existing REF symbol they will lack REF info. To tag them, run Set as REF again.
Remove REF info – Removes the REF info metadata from selected instances.
Check REF info – Checks whether the selected instances contain REF info.
Separator pool – Drag from the pool and drop a separator between Thumbnails.
Delete Thumbnails – Click to delete the selected Thumbnail or Shift-drag and drop a Thumbnail over the Bin icon.
Please note: Upon Refresh the deleted Thumbnails will reappear. To permanently remove them, remove their keyframe from the Meta > Thumbnails layer in REF.
Thumbnails
Once a symbol has been set as REF and thumbnail positions defined with keyframes on the Meta > Thumbnails layer inside the REF container, Thumbnails can be generated and loaded in the TransPoser panel.
The Meta structure of Groups and Thumbnails in the REF defines how the content is loaded.
Group and Thumbnail keyframes on the Meta layers can be labeled and these labels will be displayed in the panel title bars or below Thumbnails.
Multiple Group labels with the same name can exist, and they will be merged into one group in the panel.
In-panel customizations
Once loaded Thumbnails can be rearranged by Shift-dragging them. They can be deleted by dragging and dropping them over the Bin iconat the bottom.
Separators can be dragged out of the Separator pool in the Main tool bar and placed between thumbnails to achieve additional block customization for specific arrangement.
Thumbnail background color can be set by clicking on thebutton.
New Groups can be created in the panel by clicking on the
button.
All in-panel customizations are for convenience only. They are saved between sessions and will remain intact until the user chooses to refresh / recreate the Thumbnails via thebutton. Then the structure will be reloaded from Meta in the the REF symbol.
Below each Thumbnail is displayed either its label or, if such is not present, the pose's frame number.
TransPosing
Clicking on a Thumbnail, when inside a linked ANM timeline, will invoke a TransPose operation.
The result of the TransPose operation can be altered in advance by choosing several modifiers.
These are:
- The Flip H
and Flip V
toggle buttons in REF Tool bar. - The 3 special suffixes, which can be added to layer names via the [ ··· ] drop-down menu.
- A Pose Anchor snapped to a T‑point will serve as a pin.
The REF Tool bar
There is one REF Tool bar below the Thumbnails for each loaded REF in the panel.
Create ANM – Creates a new TransPoser Animation Symbol (ANM), based on this REF.
Link to REF – Links the current timeline to the REF symbol.
This is necessary only in cases where the tagged instances from the REF were manually copied to a user-created symbol, not a generated ANM. Any symbol can become ANM and multiple REF symbols can be linked to one ANM, so that multiple characters can share a timeline and be TransPosed.
Add to REF – Adds the current pose from the ANM timeline at the end of the REF timeline (reverse TransPosing) for future re-use.
Create new group – Creates a blank new group for in-panel reorganizing of Thumbnails.
Set Thumbnails background color – Opens a dialog from which you can set or change the background color of the Thumbnails.
Refresh – Reloads group structure, based on the Meta layers in REF and recreates the Thumbnails.
Flip horizontally – Toggle button, which when activated will produce horizontally flipped TransPosed instances.
Flip vertically – Toggle button, which when activated will produce vertically flipped TransPosed instances.
[ ··· ] Drop-down menu
When clicked the [ ··· ] button at the bottom right-hand corner will open a drop-down menu with the following entries:
Clear Panel – Closes all loaded REF Thumbnail sets.
Settings… – Opens the TransPoser Settings dialog.
Match Scale – Adds a __matchscale suffix to the current layer's name in ANM. During TransPose operations the scale of the instance on this layer will be applied to the whole pose. Typically __matchscale will be added to the torso or facial oval layers, when the pose needs to have scaling other than that of the REF.
No TransPose – Adds a __notranspose suffix to the current layer's name in ANM. During TransPose operations elements on layers with this suffix will remain unchanged.
No Sync – Adds a __nosync suffix to the current layer's name in ANM. During TransPose operations elements on __nosync layers will not get their First Frame setting changed to match the REF preset. This is useful for mouth or eye animation, where the ANM poses would vary from the REF presets.
Clear Suffix – Removes any of the 3 suffixes above to disable the exclusions.
REF and ANM
The TransPoser Reference Symbol (REF)
The REF is a Graphic Symbol with a mandatory structure, which serves as a container of pose presets.
Any bunch of symbol instances can be tagged with REF info and TransPosed after that.
REF must contain a folder layer called Meta with two layers inside it, called Groups and Thumbnails.
Adding blank keyframes – with or without labels – to these two layers determines the frames for which Thumbnails will be shown in the TransPoser panel, and how these Thumbnails will be grouped.
REF must also contain a folder called TransPose.
The content inside the TransPose folder can be organized in any way the user likes with subfolders, masks, guided layers and so on.
Only instances which reside inside the TransPose folder will be TransPosed.
There can be only one instance per layer.
Any other content, such as backgrounds, notes, sketches and so on can be kept inside REF. As long as it is outside of the TransPose folder it will not be TransPosed.
Classic Tweens without easing are allowed in REF. Poses / Thumbnails can be generated even in the middle of a tween, when such a pose is defined by a blank keyframe on the Meta > Thumbnails layer.
When new elements are added to the REF, Set as REF needs to be run again, so that the new elements get tagged with REF info.
After that those instances need to be manually added (copy/paste frames, layers or instances) to the ANM.
The TransPoser Animation Symbol (ANM)
The ANM is a Graphic Symbol, which contains instances tagged with REF info and is linked to one or more REF Symbols.
The ANM is the target for TransPose operations; the timeline where the actual animation is produced.
It does not need to have a fixed structure and can contain TransPosable elements from multiple REFs.
Usually the ANM is automatically generated via Create ANMbutton in the REF's Tool bar.
For TransPosing to work, ANM must contain tagged instances on the current frame and be linked to the REF.
If the user wishes to merge instances from multiple REFs into a single timeline, these instances have to be copied from the REFs, and the new symbol where the animation will be done linked to all necessary REFs via the Link to REFbuttons in each REF's Tool bar.
Since REF info is instance based, layers inside ANM can be rearranged and renamed.
There is no need for specific folder names. The structure is completely open.
Any pose in ANM can be reverse TransPosed to REF to be used as a preset in the future by pressing the Add to REFbutton. (After the addition of new poses to REF, the Thumbnails will need to be recreated.)
3 suffixes – __nosync, __notranspose and __matchscale – can be added to the layer names in ANM to achieve specific functionality as described above.
TransPosing in ANM can be flipped horizontally or vertically by activating theandtoggle buttons before initiating the TransPose operation.
The position of the TransPosed can also be precisely controlled via a Pose Anchor.
Pose Anchor
Pose Anchor is an EDAPT Object, which can be created via Create TransPoser Objects command or the dedicated button 
in SMR Helpers panel.
There can be only one Pose Anchor per timeline.
Via Smart Magnet Joint `, Pose Anchor can be snapped to a T‑point placed inside an instance.
This activates it and the next TransPose operation will build the pose around the position of the Pose Anchor.
Effectively this works as a TransPoser pin, where the relationship between successive TransPosed poses can be precisely controlled.
Trouble-shooting
If certain instances do not respond to TransPosing, select them and press the Check REF info button .
If the instances are reported to lack REF info, they should be tagged using the Set as REF function .
Then the newly-tagged instances should be copied from REF and pasted into ANM's timeline.
Video demonstration
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Fundamentals
TransPoser workflow
