itsjustme

Have you read this tutorial? There are also some descriptions of the functions here that might be helpful. Also, there's this tutorial, in case you haven't seen it. Hope those help, Ramón.

Have you tried using the GetTime() function, Ramon?

Okay, here's a test project, Ramón. I used surface constraints, which I think will give you the abilities you're looking for. This is a very crude example, so it needs a lot of improvement, but maybe it will help point you in the direction to solving your problem. Scrub through the Action and see if it's what you're looking for.

I hate posting an update this quickly, but, I changed the way the individual eye controllers work and figured it would be better sooner than later. After rolling it around in my head a little, I decided that Dhar is right (thanks, Dhar). So, I made the eye crossing controls into the "left_eye_control" and "right_eye_control", set them up to control both the 'X' and 'Y' rotation of each eye using the same rotations on the controllers. I also made the manipulators "rotate only" on those controllers and the "EyeAimerBone". The face setup instructions are still here and the instructions for using the BVH data from Luuk Steitner's "Zign Track" software is here...the instructions haven't changed. Mark will post the Posable installations as soon as he gets a spare moment. ----------------------------- EDIT ----------------------------- These files have been deleted, the next release is located here.

Are you using OpenGL or DirectX for your realtime rendering? Whichever you are using, switch to the other one and see if that gets rid of the problem.

Sorry it has taken me so long to get back to this, Ramón. I'll try to mess with it again tonight.

There are no limits on the eyes in this update, Nancy. Of course, if you roll the eyes inside the head it would be best to turn off the automatic eyelid movement. Try Squetchy Sam and see if that fixes the problems you have encountered.

The two bones that currently control the eye crossing are positioned above the "EyeAimerBone"...they are using the 'Z' rotation for rotating the eyes inward/outward. I was thinking about another set of bones just above the eye crossing controllers that also used the 'Z' rotation, but to rotate the eyes up/down. Or it could be a control that is just two bones that rotate like the "EyeAimerBone", that would make it have the same number of controls that it currently has, but they would be controlled differently. Me, I lean toward the 'Z' rotation set of controllers, but I'll make it whatever way is deemed the best. This addition would be very easy to add, it wouldn't cause any problems. I'm sold on adding the control, now it's just a debate on how the control should work in my mind, Dhar.

No David. I don't think you should add it now that I know about the "Show_Eye_Targets". That'll do very nicely I don't know, Dhar...the more I think about it, the more I want to add it. It would make things less messy when trying to keep track of what the eye targets are doing and make unhiding them extremely rare (probably just for having them "translate to" something). It would add two more controls over the EyeAimerBone, but I don't think they would hurt anything. What do you think? Once I get the Quad rigs posted, I've got a spine update that I want to work on...I could add the extra eye control to the "to-do" list.

Squetchy Sam is free and you can use him for anything you like as far as I'm concerned, Dennis. I'm using him as my "test bed" for the rig, so he's always going to have the latest updates in him.

In cartoons, you often see the eyes rotate in different directions (like after the character is hit hard by a pan). Is it possible to allow for complete control over the rotation? I could add that, although there is still the ability to use the individual eye targets by unhiding them using the "Show Eye Targets" Pose in the "FACE Interface" folder. Do you think I still should add it, Dhar?

I haven't figured it out yet, Ramón...but, I found out that GetTime() worked. Just so I understand completely, what is it you're actually trying to do? Maybe there's another way to do it. I'll have to look at this some more tonight/tomorrow.

Here's the next update... Changes in this version: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- fixed hiding of left_bicep_fan_geom in the "show_geom_bones" Pose added "sleeve_squetch_like_bicep" Pose corrected compensates sheet errors added euler limit on thumb controller's 'Z' rotation changed the "roll like" on the wrist fan bones to an "aim roll at" did some re-parenting in the installation models for making the bicep_fan, bicep_base and thigh_base bones neater fixed a toe problem when going from IK to FK and back to IK added "ear_right_manual_movement" and "ear_left_manual_movement" Poses "lips_to_jaw" Pose renamed "lower_lip_to_jaw" added "Maxilla_to_LowerTeeth" Pose (for keeping the lips together when needed) increased the accuracy of the eye aiming made the "eyes_aim_at_Master_EyeTarget" Pose an on/off Pose so that it could be like an IK/FK switch...the "Master_EyeTarget" will follow the other set of controls when not in use (the v11.1 version doesn't work the same). added some controls to control eye-crossing...there is a bone for each eye located above the "EyeAimerBone" that rotate on their 'Z' axis to control the inward/outward movement of the eyes. added support for the BVH output of Luuk Steitner's facial motion capture software "Zign Track" re-worked the face setup so that Pose sliders could be used to set limits and enforcements made hips null always have a 0,0,0 rotation during installation in the Posable installation rig --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Posable installations will now have an added final step of importing a model that has the setup Expressions for the face in it...the Expressions didn't play nice with the installation Poses. There is a text file included in the Posable installation ZIP that lists the changes in the installation method. The face setup has changed quite a bit...hopefully, everyone will find it easier (that's the goal, at least). The "face_setup_11_12_2007_instructions.zip" contains a PDF file with a step by step explanation. The location of the origin of the cheek bones has changed, they now have their origin near the bridge of the nose...look at Squetchy Sam's rig for an example. There is a quick PDF tutorial in the "Using_Zign_Track_with_FACE.zip" that explains how to use the output from Luuk Steitner's "Zign Track" motion capture program with the FACE controls in the Squetch Rig and standalone FACE installations. I included as much as I could in each ZIP file...I had to separate out the instruction PDF's so that I wouldn't have ZIP's larger than 2 MB. The "InstallRig" plugin is included in each installation ZIP, the DLL's necessary for the "InstallRig" plugin to work in v11.1 are included in the v11.1 ZIP's. Thanks to Robert Holmén, Dhar Jabouri, Ken Heslip, Jeff Bolle, Rusty Williamson, Luuk Steitner, Mark Strohbehn and Mark Skodacek for their help with these improvements. If anyone finds a problem, let me know and I'll fix it as fast as I can. Mark Skodacek will be posting the Posable installations very soon. I'll try to have the Quadruped versions posted in the next day or two. ---------------------------------------------- EDIT ---------------------------------------------- In the list of additions, I forgot to mention that there are now fan bones for the mouth and eyelids (another great idea from Mark Skodacek). These will eliminate the need for any SmartSkin on the eyelids for me...there may still be an occasion where SmartSkin is necessary, but this will make it more rare. ---------------------------------------------- EDIT ---------------------------------------------- The next update is located here...the rigs in this post were deleted. The Zign Track instructions haven't changed, so they are still here.

I'll take a look at it late tonight.

Could you post a simplified Project with some instructions for how you are getting the error?

I'm sorry, I've been pretty busy as well, Jeff. I saw the post, but I didn't get around to responding. The change in the shoulder looks a lot better.

Where are you looking? If you are looking in the User Properties of the model, right mouse click on the Pose and select "Edit Relationship". If you're looking in the PWS (Project Workspace), look in the "Relationships/User Properties Relationships" folder. No. Seriously? You have the option of building your own rig from scatch, building a rig following Barry Zundel's tutorial (I hear it's very good), using the 2001 Rig, using TSM or rigs built by other users. The Squetch Rig is still moderately difficult to install. If this is your first installation, I would recommend the 2001 Rig...there are no compensates to reset in that rig. How are you trying to assign control points? Have you watched any tutorials on how to do it? There are several...there is a "Tech Talk" on this page and there's a quick tutorial here. There are others if those don't do the job for you. As for installing the 2001 Rig, have you watched the "Show Some Backbone" tutorial on this page? If you just want a simple rig, I would recommend the 2001 Rig. Hope that helps.

Any model can be rigged with any rig, but, if the character is already rigged it will take less time to just work with the installed rig rather than install a different one...unless the installed rig can't handle what you need it to do, then you would just end up fighting with the installed rig. Hope that helps.

The Squetch Rig is a rig that has squash and stretch built into every joint along with built-in controls for the face, limb bowing, IK/FK switching for seamless transition from IK to FK (or the other way around), an optional single-bone hand control (Steves Hand Gizmo) and a lot of other built-in stuff that would make for an extremely long list. The Squetch Rig is what is being used in TWO (TinWoodman of Oz) and has continued to be worked on throughout it's production (there's going to be another extensive update soon). The installation method differs from the 2001 rig and is more difficult...it will get easier, but for now it is still moderately difficult. If you are new to rigging, I would recommend the 2001 rig to start. Once you get a good handle on rigging, the Squetch Rig will make more sense you you. In my signature, there is a link to the Wiki. There you can find links to example videos, installation versions of the rig and Squetchy Sam. If you want to do some messing with a character rigged with the Squetch Rig, Squetchy Sam is kept up to date with each release. Hope that helps.

There are stomach_IO and chest_IO bones that are for the in/out movement on those areas...weight those last if you're going to use them (the other stomach and chest "geom" bones are the main ones and should be weighted before transferring any weighting to the IO bones). The eye socket geom bones are so that the weighting can allow for the eye sockets to move and rotate...there are videos here and here to illustrate what the eyes should be able to do when the weighting is finished. The thigh fan bones is to smooth the weighting between the lower torso and the thighs. The sleeve bones can be ignored if your character doesn't have short sleeves. Hope that helps, Jeff.

Congrats Tom and Rich!

I don't understand what you mean by the above comment. I did this -- I think, and couldn't tell what bones were assigned to what because of all the cp weighting. I then removed all the cp weighting, but it looks like the bones are now assigned sort of randomly -- as in their assignment doesn't make sense to me. Thanks for the help and on the smoking, only that's been just a few days. Hopefully it sticks. I'm probably not understanding what you're asking, Jeff...not unusual. If you can take another stab at explaining the problem, I'll take another stab at it from my end.

13 MB is a pretty big file...how long is the animation?

Before resetting the compensates it's going to be pretty ugly. You're going to want to reset those before doing any serious weighting. The rig should end up looking exactly the same as it does in Bones mode when you open an Action once all of the compensates are reset. Sam's rig isn't any different after weighting...weighting just assigns the CP's to the geometry bones. So, to see him before weighting, you just click on an empty area of the model window in Bones mode and then select all of his CP's. Congrats on quitting smoking, Jeff! It's an extremely hard habit to break.

You'll have to reset compensates on both sides...the MirrorBones plugin won't do that. In the Posable installations, you'll only use the MirrorBones plugin for copying weighting. Hope that helps, Jeff.