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Wheelchair Animation In Daz3D

Ok rock stars, here is our Flex design wheelchair animation in Daz3D. With a few quick steps you can have fun creating your own wheelchair animation in Daz3D at home for free. Download a free version of Daz 3D from their website. Previously I showed how to import 3D models and figures, set colors, textures, clothing, pose the figures and so on. Now let’s have some 3D anim movie fun.

Wheelchair Wheel Rotation

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To setup your wheelchair wheel rotation open Daz3D and click the Pose & Animate tab. 1) Import your wheels to the zero point. 2) Set X Rotate to 720. 3) Set Y Translate to 31. 4) On the timeline set 91 frames, a range of 0 to 90, and drop the frames per second (FPS) to 20. 5) On frame 90 set Z Translate to -389.36. Render to see if your wheelchair wheel rotation is correct and matches the distance. 

[flv:flex-wheel-anim-720.flv flex-wheel-anim-720.jpg 620 465]

It might be worth explaining how I calculated wheel rotation and distance. 2 PI R equals the circumference of a circle. Imagine wrapping a string around the tyre then laying it out flat, we want to know that measurement to sync the wheel rotation to distance. PI is 3.14 and R (radius) is 31. So 3.14 x 31 x 2 = 194.68 for one full wheel rotation. Times 2 again for two wheel rotations and we get 389.36.

Posing Disabled Wheelchair Model

Now the wheelchair animation is looking good we start posing disabled wheelchair model Michael. Sit him in our flex wheelchair at frame zero and on frame 90 set Z Translate to -389.36. Then add key-frames and adjust his chest, arms, hands etc to give the illusion he’s pushing the wheelchair. Take a few renders going back and tweaking to achieve a realistic motion. Here’s our paraplegic hunk Michael in motion.

[flv:flex-wheelchair-anim-mike.flv flex-wheelchair-anim-mike.jpg 620 465]

Sweet, all we do now is set a scene add a few lights and drop in a background. Indoor lighting can be a bit tricky in Daz3D so I won’t bore you with all that here. Just know in Daz3D you need raytracing on at least one light to get a realistic shadow effect. Here we have the sunlight (distant light) coming through the window and four down lights (spotlights) all set with raytracing on.

[flv:wheelchair-animation.flv wheelchair-animation.jpg 620 465]

And with that I’m off to watch The Lorax.

3 thoughts on “Wheelchair Animation In Daz3D”

  1. I just want to say that is sooo cool!!! Now, my math skills make me wonder if I will be playing w this at home but I love the entire concept (Michael doesnt hurt the eyes either)

    Thanks for all the hard work!!

  2. I have a question for you: How can I import a 3D Model into DAZ? I use SketchUp for modeling. I am trying to bring a wheelchair into DAZ, like you did. What formats are compatible with DAZ? I knoe SketchUp will not be one of them, but from there I can export as a 3DS, OBJ,etc…
    Can you plaese help?

    I love your work and it has inspired me to try to do the same.

    Thanks in advance!

  3. Hi Jaime, I use Daz3D 4.6 Pro. It can import bvh, dae, fbx, pz3, pz2, cr2, li2, cm2, pp2, fc2, hd2, hr2, mc6, pzz, p2z, crz, liz, cmz, ppz, fcz, hdz, obj, obz. I would export as obj from SketchUp in parts. The frame, wheels, front castors, footplates etc as separate obj. Then it’s easy to change colors, sizes, move components and animate to suit your Daz3D characters. I’d like to see your stuff and happy to help if I can.

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