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UI Explanation

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Tyler Fox edited this page Mar 29, 2017 · 2 revisions

Simplex Structure

Example Simplex UI

The Simplex system is broken down into Shapes, Sliders, Combos and Groups.

Shapes

Shapes are the individual shapes in a blendshape. These are the things that an artist would sculpt. Looking at the example UI above, eyesClosed_L_25 would be a shape.

Sliders

Sliders are the values that an animator will directly control. A slider can have many shapes grouped under it, and each of those shapes will have a corresponding value. So, for instance, when the slide value of eyesClosed_L is 0.75, the shape with the value of 0.75 (in this case eyesClosed_L_75) will be fully activated. Sliders always have an implicit rest shape with the value of 0.0.

Sliders with only one shape other than rest will not be expandable by default.

Combos

Combos turn on when some combination of sliders are on. A combo is selected in the UI image above, and there are 3 slider/value pairs under it. When each of those sliders is at their respective values, the combo will fully activate. Those values are user-defined and can be set to any value that the slider can reach, including values between 0 and 1.

  • Note: The combo is (internally) a special type of slider, and therefore it can also have multiple shapes grouped under it. None are shown in the image above.

Groups

Groups are Simply organizational objects that can hold sliders and combos.

Simplex UI Overview

The simplex ui is broken into panels.

  • System control at the top
  • Slider control on the left
  • Combo control on the right
  • Base actions along the bottom
  • Settings hidden panel at the very bottom

System Control

System Control

Object

  • Get Selected loads the first item in the current selection into the UI. If there are any Simplex systems built on the current object, they will be loaded into the dropdown box in the System panel to the right.
  • You can also type the name of the current object into the Current Object: textbox

System

Choosing a system from the Current System: dropdown will load it into the UI.

  • New will create a new blank system on the current object.
  • Delete will delete the currently loaded system
  • Rename will allow you to rename the current system
  • Update Allows advanced users to reload a manually edited system into the UI

Panels

User Interaction

  • All values in both hierarchies are editable by double clicking.
  • Groups of selected numerical values are editable with a middle-click drag.
  • A branch of the hierarchy can be recursively expanded or collapsed by ctrl+click
  • The filter textboxes use wildcard notation to limit what is shown. If an object matches the filter, it, and all of its parents, will be displayed. The small X button to the right clears the filter
  • In the right click menu, there is also an "Isolate Selected" option. This will remove all unselected items from the panel, and an "Exit Isolation" button will display at the bottom, next to the filter.

Slider Panel

Slider Panel

Slider Buttons

  • Group: Create a new group for the currently selected sliders

  • Slider: Create a new slider with a default shape

  • Shape: Add a shape to the selected sliders

  • Delete: Delete the Shape, Slider, or Group and all of its children that you have selected

  • Zero All: Sets the slide value of all Sliders to 0. The object should be at its rest shape after pushing this.

  • Zero Selected: Sets the slide values of the currently selected Sliders to 0

  • Select Ctrl: Selects the control object where all of the sliders live in the package you're using. In Maya, this is just an object with custom properties. In XSI, this is a Property on your object containing custom Parameters.

Combo Panel

Combo Panel

Combo Buttons

  • Show Dependent

    • Any: Show combos that depend on any of the Sliders selected in the Slider Panel.
    • All: Show combos that depend on all of the Sliders selected in the Slider Panel

  • Combo Active: Create a new combo using the current non-zero slide values from the Slider panel

  • Combo Selected: Create a new combo using the currently selected Sliders in the Slider panel. They will all be given a value of 1

  • Group: Create a new custom group. Note Combo groups are auto-created for their depth. For instance, combos that depend on 3 sliders will automatically be created in a group called DEPTH_3

  • Shape: Create a new shape that the Combo can slide over.

  • Delete: Deletes the currently selected combo

  • Select Sliders: Selects all Sliders in the Slider panel that influence the current combo selection

  • Set Slider Values: Set the values of the Sliders in the Slider Panel so that the current combo selection is fully activated.

Edit Buttons

Edit Buttons

  • Extract Shape: Create meshes representing the currently selected Shapes
  • Connect Selected Shapes: Look for meshes by name in the scene to connect to the currently selected Shapes or Combos in the Simplex UI. Commit the changes into the system, and delete them.
  • Connect All Shapes: Search the scene by name for all extracted shapes, commit the changes into the current system, and delete the extracted shapes from the scene.
  • Connect From Scene Selection: Connect by name, and delete any objects in the Scene selection.
  • Match Shape: Force a single selected shape to match a single selected mesh, regardless of name
  • Clear Shape: Return the selected shape to rest. This shape will no longer cause any deformation

Settings Panel

Settings Panel

The settings panel allows for some extra control over Shapes, Sliders, Combos, and Falloffs.

  • Slider Name: A textbox for editing the current slider name.

  • Group: A dropdown for the groups that contain all currently selected sliders and combos.

  • Falloff Types: Choose what falloffs will be applied to this slider when it is eventually split.

  • Weight Interpolation: Choose how a slider progresses through it's child shapes. The default is a Catmull-Rom Spline.

  • Shape Name: A textbox for editing the current shape's name.

  • Split Falloff: A dropdown containing all of the falloffs in the system.

  • New: Create a new Falloff

  • Duplicate: Duplicate a Falloff. Many falloffs share values, so it's easier to duplicate

  • Delete: Delete the currently selected Falloff.

  • Type: The type of falloff. This is either "Planar" if the falloff happens across a local-space plane. Or it is "Map" if it uses a hand-painted weightmap.

  • Planar

    • Axis: Which axis are we splitting.
    • Minimum: How far to the left the blend will go. Everything to the left of this will have a falloff value of 0.0
    • MinHandle: How far the minimum Bezier handle goes to the right
    • MaxHandle: How far the maximum Bezier handle goes to the left
    • Maximum: How far to the right the blend will go. Everything to the right of this will have a falloff value of 1.0
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