Poses, joints and action clips
Arrange standing, sitting, riding and motion as distinct choices.
On this page
What this helps you do
Arrange standing, sitting, riding and motion as distinct choices.
When to use it
A character needs to sit, stand, walk or receive a pose correction, and pose changes must be distinguished from travel.
Before you begin
Use the desktop app and check the edition requirement: Pro / active trial. The current published version is shown above. Confirm the selected item and playhead before changing anything. This audit does not verify a physical Windows device.
Step by step
Screenshots: Mac v1.6.0 Follow each step with the real app interface below. Select an image to enlarge the marked area.
- Under Scene objects → Characters, choose the block, cylinder, box-body or wooden mannequin. The first three can be added in Basic; the wooden mannequin and pose editor require Pro or an active trial. Without entitlement, a product preview offers the upgrade entry.
Figure 1 The four character choices and the Pose button beside the wooden mannequin. - The block and wooden mannequins share height, build, pose and joint settings. Check standing, sitting or riding contact with the floor and seat. Cylinder and box-body mannequins have no joints: they lean as a whole when walking or running and cannot use joint poses.
- 1Base pose
Figure 2 Block and wooden mannequins share base poses; basic mannequins have no joint editing. - Choose Pose beside the wooden mannequin to open its 3D editor. Inspect and adjust a pose, then save a new custom pose. Built-in poses are read-only; custom poses can be added, edited and removed. Check facing and contact after applying a pose.
Figure 3 The actual Mac 3D pose studio: defaults are read-only and can be saved as custom poses. - For travel, use Blocking & performance to arrange idle, departure time, route, walk/run and timing, followed by arrival heading and an optional action. Preview segment is temporary; Apply performance commits it. Inspect departure, travel and stopping during playback.
Figure 4 Blocking & performance groups walk/run, timing, preview and apply controls.
Cylinder and box-body mannequins expose no joints. Their whole-body lean is stronger when running. The wooden mannequin’s nose indicates its front. Custom poses do not overwrite the read-only defaults.
Changes in 1.6.0
04 Blocking & performance follows 03 Position & orientation, with Before departure, During movement and After arrival subpanels. Changes update a temporary preview; Apply performance commits the whole segment. Replacing an existing manual path requires explicit consent. After action can Keep pose or Return to standing. Keep pose retains the last sampled pose before the action ends until the chosen endpoint; it does not automatically find the lowest crouch pose. Old data defaults to standing.
Settings and edit scope
| Control or concept | Meaning and boundary |
|---|---|
| Base pose | Standing, sitting and riding describe a pose; action clips operate over their own time ranges. |
| Joints | Use angles to adjust joints. Inspect how current pose corrections, action clips and existing pose keys interact. |
Check the result
The pose makes sense and the action plays at the intended time without confusing a walk cycle with movement through space.
Troubleshooting and recovery
Walking in place usually means no position change was arranged. Check sitting or riding poses before adding travel to avoid sliding a seated character.
If the result is unexpected, stop playback, check the selected item and time, and use Undo before making another change. Keep a backup rather than repeatedly overwriting the project.
Keep learning
Include your app version, operating system and the error message. Never include your license or API key.