BioVision Hierarchy Import Options (Available with 3D Canvas Pro)

The BioVision Hierarchy (bvh) file format is used to store animation information that was created using motion capture. It provides information such as the length of each limb of the person/animal who's motion was captured. It does not describe the appearance of the person/animal itself. This information is used by 3D Canvas to create a skeleton.

In addition to creating a skeleton, 3D Canvas also creates a pedestal for the imported skeleton. This is simply a flattened cube that indicates the start position of the animation sequence. You can reposition and reorient this pedestal to reposition and reorient the animation for your scene. Once you have your scene as you would like it, you can delete the pedestal.

You can choose the start time for the imported animation sequence by entering animation mode and selecting an initial frame with the animation slider.

Import Style

There are three possible import styles available. You may choose to create a skeleton made up of Limb Placeholders, Standard 3D Canvas Bones, or Rounded 3D Canvas Bones. If you are planning to use a jointed model you will want to use Limb Placeholders. If you are planning to use a skin you will want to use one of the bone formats.

If you choose one of the bone types, limb placeholders will also be created to aid in positioning. Once you have oriented the placeholders to match your skin you can delete the placeholders.

Note that no matter what style you choose the skeleton created will not be an Inverse Kinematics capable skeleton. BioVision's techniques for recording skeletal information does not provide information that is entirely compatible with 3D Canvas' Inverse Kinematics, and does not provide information such as joint range of motion. Importing of BioVision Hierarchies is simply a way to add life-like animation to 3D Canvas scenes.

Key-Frames/Second

The number of Key-Frames per second the animation is recorded at is provided by the creator of the file and automatically entered here. If you want to make the animation run slower you can increase this number. If you want to make the animation run faster you can decrease this number.

Percentage of Original Size

Once an animation is imported there is no practical way to change the size of the skeletal structure. Since the skeletal structure is simply the position and orientation of joints at various time intervals it would require repositioning the joints of the skeleton for each key-frame in the animation.

Some trial and error will be required to get the correct import size. It is generally easier to change the model to fit the animation information, but that may not always be possible.

Repetitions

You can choose to repeat an animation sequence. Some animation sequences such as walking or running work well with this option.

Include Keys

You can enter a key-frame range to import a sub-section of an animation sequence. This is particularly useful if you are doing trial imports to determine the correct scaling factor for your model.

Include Relaxed State

Selecting this option will result in the inclusion of the relaxed state for the skeleton as the first key-frame in the animation. Note that not all BioVision Hierarchy files contain a truly relaxed version of the skeleton.

Include X-Axis Movement/Include Y-Axis Movement/Include Z-Axis Movement

You can use these options to select whether to import the actual XYZ movement of the skeleton. Normally you will want to include at least the X and Y axis movement since these are critical the realism of the animation. Joint orientation is always imported no matter what the values of these options.

Hierarchy Components