A:M Rigging
Rigging & Relationships
Subforums
-
- 4.9k
- posts
-
- 40
- posts
573 topics in this forum
-
- 5 replies
- 883 views
hi all, i want to know if it´s possible to do something like this with a:m and only expressions on bones and nulls: http://www.sukio.de/gallery/AutoBug.htm hope any of you have maybe ideas.
Last reply by strohbehn, -
- 17 replies
- 2k views
Hi Hashers!!! No keys / all automatic animation, is constructed on expression (were used only Sin () and Cos () functions) USER GUIDE 1) To load the project walkdesigner2.prj ( link below) 2)!!!! To switch off the button "Animate Mode" (on the top panel " Manipulator " 3) To select model WALKER in chor window and to switch on a panel of sliders (pose sliders panel – “Alt-4”) 4) Press Play the button Moving sliders we have an opportunity to adjust parameters of gait in Riltime. If you switch on the button “Animate” and will to operate sliders You will write down animation keys. Further, by completing a complete skeleton with automatic…
Last reply by Willi, -
- 1 follower
- 2 replies
- 532 views
After a couple of posts about rigging a character I started over with one. I guess I need to go back to the basics. I used the 2001 rig and added several items. My question is this. With all the characters provided on the cd all the relationships and contraints are built into the models. When you place them in an action or chor window the relationships follow. My problem is I don't know how to build all these constraints and relationships in the rigging process. Is there a good tutorial or is someone willing to walk me throught this. I have bought all the training cds and pulled them out to watch but most of them are giving examples or what is possible. I guess I…
Last reply by Shelton, -
- 18 replies
- 1.2k views
Hello there! I'm working on modelling/rigging props for my next short animation and I ran into a snag: What would be a reasonably well done way of rigging a backpack strap - i.e. the ones my character will pick that backpack up and put around his shoulders..? I have a model tha has a belt (i.e. flatened cylinder) creating a loop there and have created some cross sections for it to bend a bit. Bit I need a few pointers as to how to set up bones to suppor the animaion. I don't want the straps to look like they are "cast iron"... Anything that saves me from hand-animating every control point is helping. Thanks in advance, Atkelar
Last reply by Atkelar, -
- 4 replies
- 822 views
hi all, i have a question. i have a model with two poses (pose1=percentage, pose2=percentage). now i created a pose3 with pose1=100 + pose2=100. now i want to make pose3 absolut, i mean i want to bake pose1+pose2 in pose3. is it possible? when i grab all the cp´s and move them back and forward then i get a relative position of pose1 and pose2, but i want them absolut. what about bone poses. can i bake the cps from that bones? please help.
Last reply by itsjustme, -
- 5 replies
- 763 views
I'm getting to the point where I just about have one character completely rigged. The other one hopefully won't take as long because I'm using the TSM2 rig on it. Soon I will need to set up some facial rigs for the characters. I assume at a minimum, I will need controls for the eyes, eyelids, mouth, cheekbones, eyebrows and forehead. Is there anything else I am forgetting?
Last reply by Fuchur, -
- 1 follower
- 2 replies
- 3k views
I've been dabbling a little bit with creating rigs from scratch, building fan bone structures, and bone relationships, and I've recently been curious about how to create an effective and flexible squetchy limb (arm, leg, flower stalk, etc.). I've enjoyed following tutorials on basic IK relationships but haven't been able to find information on how to get started with building squetchy "cartoony" rigs. I know I can achieve some passable results with deformation cages but I was wondering how to squetch a single limb. It there a good entry point/tutorial for learning this or a simple model I could pick apart and study? Thanks! Chris
Last reply by SplineSoup, -
- 5 replies
- 1.1k views
I am confused about reusing a rigged model with relationships built in a new pose for multiple actions. When I create a new action the default "use model" option just lists the models I've rigged before setting constraints and smart skins. How do I go about saving the model with it's constraints and smartskin edits intact for multiple actions and choreographies? Thanks, Chris
Last reply by cribbidaj, -
- 6 replies
- 1k views
What would be a good rig to start with for starting to play with character animation? I have the 2001 rig that came with AM but I also see the Squetch which sounds like maybe it's the new thing. I would like to learn the right way so figured I'd ask here, Should I just make my own rig instead? I couldn't find any stickies really explaining what "Squetch" is, only updates and other threads that assume that I know what it is. Maybe I'm not looking hard enough though. thanks all! -Tim
Last reply by KenH, -
- 4 replies
- 813 views
It started with wanting to animate a fish licking his chops after consuming a tasty morsel. The fish model had no tongue. Seeing as how I've become friendlier with splines and CP's, I thought no problem. Wrong. I'm running into the same problem that I had with the pump hose that I did a couple of weeks ago. I obviously don't understand kinetic or inverse kinetic constraints. With this fish tongue there are a total of nine bones in line. I want to be able to grab the end of the bone at the tip and more or less drag it into position, with the bones acting like links in a chain. What would be the constraints and relationships from bone to bone that would help me to a…
Last reply by itsjustme, -
- 10 replies
- 1.5k views
I've noticed that Ben and I kinda made it hard to find the latest version of our 'Fisheye Lens' so here it is with a little more revision to it and instructions for use in V15... IMPROVEMENTS: I just turned all the options to 'OFF' in the model so upon render it will not tend to 'cast shadows' -'receive shadows'- 'cast reflections' or 'cast occlusion' so now it might render a little faster. INSTRUCTIONS: (Note: This is a V15 model so it may not open in previous versions...) 1- Open BensLens4.mdl and drag it into your choreography 2- Right click on it's shortcut in the PWS and select 'New/Constraint/Translate To' and select the camera as the target... 3- In…
Last reply by photoman, -
- 1 follower
- 3 replies
- 519 views
I have finished installing the squetch rig into the character ( thanks David). After three times of messing the rig up I have learned a valuable lesson in progressive saving. Anyway, what is the best way to remove the creasing in the shoulders and elbow areas. This will aply to the face areas as well. I have tried smart skinning the area but as I move the arm in differnet movements it seems to be worse after smart skinning. And as i try to weight the area i seem to mess up the nice features built into the squetch rig such as the bicep movement. Any way any help is appreciated. Steve
Last reply by Shelton, -
- 4 replies
- 701 views
So I'm working on another alien design and I could use some advice from folks that have more experience with TSM. Here's the character. He's a trilateral design so ,kinda like a starfish, you could divide him into three equal sections. So there's three arms, three legs and all of them are tentacles. What would be the best way to rig all those limbs? All of them as tails? Arms? And, for example, would it be best to have a left arm and back arm and after flipping have three or just make three and skip the flipping? Before I start testing I thought I should ask the experts. Thanks in advance for any and all help.
Last reply by Joe Gamblin, -
- 0 replies
- 553 views
Hi Hashers! My new design: http://www.bee-s.com/~gggg/tut/bdc/bdc.avi Cdec Tech Smith (http://download2.techsmith.com/tscc/TSCC.exe) http://www.bee-s.com/~gggg/tut/bdc/bdc.prj http://www.bee-s.com/~gggg/tut/bdc/bdc.rar
Last reply by serg2, -
- 2 replies
- 802 views
Hey, So I'm wanting to make it so that when one bone is moved, say, up or down in the Y axis, another bone moves the same(or a relative) distance in the X or Z axes. Move like doesnt work, and I've evn tried reorienting the bone coupled with the percentages in each respective axis (if that makes ANY sense). Either way, I think this would make it terribly easy to make a model lean one way to fix balance when it lifts it's foot- constrain the head bone to move in the x axis when a foot is lifted, which will in effect 'lean' the whole model to the one side. Any ideas? I feel like i've gotten it to do every other thing under the sun except this one... hope thats fo…
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 6 replies
- 1k views
Hi everyone, I need to model, rig, and animate a bird wing. It needs to be a rather dramatic, scary thing (vulture) that will be attached to a human actor to create a mythical Harpy character. I've searched the web for anatomical resources about bird wings and flying - and although I have a good idea of how the skeletal bones work, i've yet to find an examble of how feathers fold and overlap through a full range of motion - from folded - through open - and flapping - flying. I assume that the feathers can be linked to the main bone via bones and rotation contraints? I am contemplating taking my old 12 gauge "blunder buster" out in the back yard to bag a "r…
Last reply by Scottj3d, -
- 1 follower
- 18 replies
- 3.5k views
https://www.youtube.com/embed/5WT7_F5wsQk Saw this video from Animation Mentor about an upgraded version of their "Bishop" character. It has a bunch of switches and controls to allow it to change the character (al la Poser) into a multitude of characters. It occurs to me that we could possibly make a similar character in A:M using the examples of Mechadelphias "Saucy" Rig and the pose based action objects shown by Shelton and Mouseman.... Thom 2.0?
Last reply by Rodney, -
- 3 replies
- 499 views
A model I'm working on has an IK spine and an FK spine. A 'geometry spine' is to blend between the two according to a pose slider. Blending the position and orientation of the spine bones works fine. However, the IK spine stretches some bones, and I'm at a loss for how to determine the blend bone scaling. For example, to blend the orientation of a bone I use two 'orient like' constraints - one to the FK bone, the other to the IK bone, with the enforcement scaling from 100% to 0% or 0% to 100% accordingly over the slider range. This doesn't work for 'scale like' constraints - it looks like the results are multiplied, so that at each end of the pose range the s…
Last reply by Stuart Rogers, -
- 0 replies
- 665 views
If you have a bone in your model that you will only want to turn or move in certain directions, Manipulator Options in the bone's properties can make the bone present only those axi when you use the Rotate or Translate manipulators. This video uses a gun (swings only up and down) on a tank turret (turns only side-to-side) as an example case. link in Post #14 Other examples of things that typically rotate in one axis only would be fingers, knees, elbows, eyelids, wheels, gears, doorknobs, levers... Examples of things that translate in only one axis would be sliding doors, pistons, curtain hooks, double-hung windows, telescope segments... Note that …
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 8 replies
- 816 views
Hi, Me again. I have been working with a Model I design and Once I started changing the mouth, the Bone position got stuck in an upward position whenever I put it under the head, Anyway, I was hesitant to do so, but I am posting the model hoping somebody knows how to fix it. The broken Bone is Bone 5 and is located under the Head Bone. It is positioned fine until It's put into an action or choreography. Edit: Fianlly added it by copressing it to a zip RoverN1.zip
Last reply by itsjustme, -
- 7 replies
- 953 views
Hey- searchin' the forum- but I don't even know what I am looking for... is it possible to have an audio file be the basis for a bones rotation... or general movement? Seems I saw something about this here once... Thanks!
Last reply by johnl3d, -
- 2 replies
- 596 views
What exactly is the purpose of the "Bone to Spring" constraint? Are there any examples of it being used? Is it obsolete now that "cloth" is a "material" and no longer the result of the "cloth wizard" (Which I think no longer exists in A:M?) The cloth wizard created a grid of springs to simulate cloth. There seem to be spring creation tools in the A:M toolset but in what situation do they become enabled?
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 3 replies
- 758 views
I just realized that there are options for bone weight "falloff" this shows "cubic", "linear" and the customizeable "channel" options fallofftest.mov potentially powerful, although hard to wrap my head around.
Last reply by nimblepix, -
- 5 replies
- 809 views
I have imported several models into the chor window. I aligned them while in chor mode. When I switched to model mode they were out of alignment, so I moved them. But when I switched back to chor mode the bones had not moved. So I had to spend a lot of time repositioning them. Does anyone know why the bones didn't move? Thanks.
Last reply by bubba, -
- 3 replies
- 660 views
Hello, Everyone: I hope this doesn't belong in the Newbies section (and if so, I can move it), but I'm having a problem with the 2001 skeleton rig. I have modeled my character and imported in the bones according to the manual. I'm being careful to use only the translate methods for moving, rotating, and scaling the bones to fit my model. I assigned the eye control points to the eye bones and before going further I thought I'd test them. I opened a new Action and then I see eyes are sunken in. But the problem is that the whole skeleton is lower. I guess once all the CPs are assigned, then it might be okay; or I could move the skeleton up a little in th…
Last reply by babreu, -
- 3 replies
- 903 views
My bones aren't working properly. Maybe i am doing something wrong, does anyone have a video tutorial on how to properly make bones so they don't completely mush up my model into destruction. I would also like to know how to make the eyes rotate like real one's, but whenever i try they mush up like always. An example model would be great also. Thanks in advance
Last reply by itsjustme, -
- 1 follower
- 4 replies
- 853 views
I'm still very new to AM and all, but I can't grasp how bones work. Watched several tutorials where the 2001 bone rig was used on a model, adjusted and animated. Tried this my self and after several tries, it still doesn't fully work like in the tutorial. The model twist and turns getting all messed up when trying to move bones around. Some times they don't move correctly and many other problems. So I'm pretty sure I'm breaking the 2001 bone rig when I'm adjusting it to fit the model I'm trying to put it in to. But don't know when nor can't tell when I'm breaking it. I scaled the model over the bone structure with out moving around the bone rig and that se…
Last reply by dblhelix, -
- 11 replies
- 1.7k views
There are two things I'm considering doing with the model I'm working on in my Hit-and-Run work-in-progress, but I don't know if they will give me problems when it comes time to rig the character. First is trying to do something other than the standard T pose. I find the T pose makes it a lot harder to position bones correctly for the shoulders, and slightly harder for the elbows. The normal approach is a cylinder for the body, and then cylinders coming out for the arms using 5-point patches to match up the cylinders. I was instead thinking of having a T with only the shoulders, and then the arms descending from the shoulders; sort of like a cylinder for the b…
Last reply by Gerry, -
- 4 replies
- 1.2k views
Hey Hashers, I just wanted to take a moment to intro myself here. My name is Mike Fitzgerald and I'm pretty psyched that I get to be the Mod. for the rigging section of our Favorite App on such a great forum! I definately want this to be an active area of the forum where people can come to learn about rigging, but to also share what they know about rigging and everything related. How you ask? Well, I'm not too sure but I'd like to hear from people on what they'd like to see this section of the forum contain. Off the top of my head I'm thinking that the standard stuff, like posting relavant topics pertianing to rigging, in the form of a question and also in…
Last reply by itsjustme, -
- 1 follower
- 7 replies
- 1.8k views
Greetings Oh Great Wise Ones: Got a problem giving me a headache, have been ReRigging a model following'Barry Zundel' training. All is well until I get to the Elbow. In an action the elbow moves to the from NOT the back. Any suggestions on how to get it to go the right way.
Last reply by Walter Baker, -
- 3 replies
- 657 views
Does someone have an idea regarding what is happening here? Here are the evidence and facts in the mystery... Three attached files tell the story: 1. Really Broken.prj --- Look in Chor and you should see just the red plate go around and the others moving but v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y. 2. Working Action.prj --- This Chor does what it should: all plates go around the path of the tread. 3. Good and Bad Action.wmv --- Knowing how demos go, here's a video showing what I got. The catches: The project with the broken Chor was working at one time (even after multiple opens and closes) Both Chor's in both project files were built in an identical fashion. Lo…
Last reply by A:M Dave, -
- 6 replies
- 879 views
Here is an interesting challenge: Make a complex rigged model out of smaller rigged models by importing the smaller models into a new model. Like a cut and paste operation, it could enable you to rapidly build complex abstract or natural looking models (like trees) to be animated in fascinating ways. Iterative operations like this could get you into trouble, but done right it could make for some amazing possibilities! I don't know if it will work, especially importing models with constraints and relationships applied. I would think that all the parts, constraints, relationships, etc. would need to be renamed to be unique each time prior to being imported. (I've t…
Last reply by williamgaylord, -
- 2 followers
- 21 replies
- 1.2k views
A video tutorial for building a simple animation rig. Part 1 29ed4da8c3d3f5a3ae7c Part 2 d452035300f18b984988 If you have trouble playing these movies, you may download them here: Building Your First Rig
Last reply by John Bigboote, -
I tried a bvh file on my model a while back now every time I open the project there is another biovision BVH file in the model open project 10 times 10 biovision files weather I load anything new or not ,ver 14,15 and 16 beta 3 win xp pro sp3 any thoughts or advice are appreciated
Last reply by HomeSlice, -
- 1 follower
- 10 replies
- 1k views
I am kind of stuck on this. I can't quite figure it out. I have a cable connected to the base of the head of my terminator model and it needs to be flexible with a chain of bones and connected to the bottom of the neck/top of the chest at the other end. How would I go about setting this up? It is a flexible cable... but a little stiff. It isn't limp. To create the "stiffness" I'm only using 3 bones in the chain... this keeps the cable from flexing too much... but I still need to keep both ends locked to different bones or parts of the skeleton that move independently. I started out with a single chain coming down from the top at the base of the head. the last bo…
Last reply by heyvern, -
- 20 replies
- 3.1k views
I started using Lightwave3D and combine AM rigging ability with Lightwave3D. AM still has the best smart bone rigging system, However its weakness is driving a high patch count model with rigging. We have a weight transfer plug-in for AM model. That's almost like a cage driven system. I wonder if having a plugin that allows you to rig a lo rez model and animate it, then link that mesh to a hi rez model and animate it? Basically what I am working on now is to rig a cage mesh in AM and then export the action file thru MDD, and then use the mdd file to drive the hi rez model in Lightwave3D by way of lo rez cage model.
Last reply by 3DArtZ, -
- 47 replies
- 5.6k views
Perhaps you've heard that Hash is starting a movie in 2006. One thing we'd like to have is a standard rig that can be used on all the characters. If you've developed a rig that serves you well, the animation directors for Oz would like to see it! Particularly ones that offer solutions to common problems. Or maybe you've made some stunning advance in the art. Post sample rigged characters in this thread. Of course, they will need to be non-proprietary rigs. I'm not a rigging expert, so I'll be looking at them from the POV of someone who'd have to use one to do shots in Tin Woodsman of Oz. And I invite all the other A:M animators to check these rigs ou…
Last reply by mouseman, -
- 6 replies
- 2.1k views
I have an effect I would like to try, like a video/slide projector projecting imagery onto 3D geometry from it's unique perspective... only then rendering this scene from a 2nd camera. I've read the manual entry called 'Front Projection Maps'(page 546 in mine) and it shows how I need to specify the target for the projection (like the screen) and I can see the effect working- but once I jump to a 2nd-alternate view camera I lose the effect. Wondering if instead of a camera, I should use a light? ... or is there a way?
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 1 reply
- 560 views
Is there an easy way to move the "All" tab that show up in my poses window so that it is the leftmost tab rather than showing up in alphabetical order? I could rename the tabs that precede it (because they have initial numerals in their name) but I'm wondering if I could just move that "All" tab.
Last reply by mtpeak2, -
- 1 follower
- 7 replies
- 935 views
what exactly are nulls and how are they used? I can't seem to figure out when, where, why and how I would go about using them for, say, constraining a bone movement... Any help would be much appreciated. risk
Last reply by amarillospider, -
- 7 replies
- 858 views
This facebok user asked this question 'can someone one walk me through on how to add kinematics on human character!=)' I was hoping that maybe people here can help since you guys always seam to rock it!
Last reply by Meowx, -
- 13 replies
- 872 views
Is there a way to set a switch for turning a relationship on and off in the chor? Cory
Last reply by cory, -
- 9 replies
- 890 views
Hi, I'm working with AMV14c I can't seem to be able to create a pose (off/on or percentage) to had a bone!? I've done this before but now 'j' won't hid the bone and if I expand the properties and select the bone and click on the 'eye' it won't turn off!!?!! Any one have any ideas???? Thanks, Rusty
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 0 replies
- 670 views
I downloaded v15.0j and it seems fine except in the Action window I can't select bones. I did a test with six bones and there wasn't even a list in the target field. I went back to v 13 to test and it was a little wonky but worked fine, as far as selecting target bones for a constraint. EDIT: Never mind, it has to do with the parenting apparently.
Last reply by Gerry, -
- 1 follower
- 3 replies
- 637 views
Built a cog group. Selected the Cog and its six children in PWS. Hit N for translate mode. When I pulll on it, it just drags the centers. I am in Bones mode. I am NOT seeing a little bounding box, like I do when I am modeling. Help, Help.
Last reply by msfolly, -
- 1 reply
- 710 views
any way to have lights ( as in head lights) on a model turn on/off in a pose slider ( and how) Thank-you
Last reply by trajcedrv, -
- 1 follower
- 85 replies
- 11.8k views
I figured this would be the best place to put this...it is an illustration of something I mentioned in another thread. It's a very simple car suspension. Don't critique me to death, I realize it needs a lot more. My only aim was to illustrate how to keep tires on the road using the same method that is in an IK leg. The example was made in v13. I hope this is helpful to someone. car_suspension_example.zip
Last reply by mtpeak2, -
- 1 reply
- 526 views
The tooncar latley brought me to try to rigg a simple car myself. Following the lines of the bone-tut of Rodger Reynolds , I managed to set up the steering. But when I made a second action for the wheels rolling, in the action only one wheel is rolling, and even that seems to be stopping brievly at the starting-point.. in the chor even none. What have I done wrong? I constrained the other wheels with a roll like constraint. The car is constrained to a path. How can I slow it down a bit to watch its movement better? I enclose the project for anybody interested to help to have a look. Thank you ;>) Jake Something like a rigging -machine for ca…
Last reply by mtpeak2, -
- 4 replies
- 687 views
Then I finished my model... I'll use it as my entry in the next contest... What rig should I use ? We have 3 wonderful tools : TSM2 / AM2008 / SQUETCH. What the pros and cons of each tool ? My model have a human structure....
Last reply by robcat2075, -
- 1 follower
- 3 replies
- 682 views
I don`t know, if this is the right place to post this topic. I want to insert some headlights, brake-and turninglights into my carmodell, that can be turned on and off. What is the best way to do this? Are there any examples to investigate available? Jake?
Last reply by John Bigboote,
