itsjustme

Nice roll Robert! I made a face rigging tutorial that shows some CP weighting and how to use nulls and such in it...it's located here. In the next few weeks I'm hoping to get a couple more tutorials done that are Squetch Rig specific but that will have more CP weighting and a few other odds and ends thrown in. As for IK/FK switching, this tutorial gives a good example.

Looks good so far, just some CP weighting issues at the shoulders, elbows, knees and hips that I saw. The Squetch Rig is located in this thread. FACE is in the rig and there's a series of tutorials being put together for it in this thread. There are a few other tutorials being put together that should be finished in the next couple of weeks.

Unfortunately, the install plugin will only work in v12 & v13, so in v11.1 you would have to manually re-parent the bones (which is what the plugin does). The bones' parenting is in the name of the "install" bones in the hierarchy. For instance, a bone named "left_hand_INSTALL_base_bone" has children that are children of the "base_bone". Most of the bones have really long names because of the depth of the hierarchy, so it's a lot of reparenting. Any of the bones with "INSTALL" in the name can be deleted once they don't have any children, they are only there to make positioning during installation easier. In v13 you get a few extras that aren't possible in earlier versions, like the "Key Groups" addition and the IK/FK switch (the switch works somewhat in v12, but it's more work). I will have to go back and make a specific v11 version of the rig when I get some time, but it would still require manually reparenting everything and the IK/FK arms and legs would have to be done differently. I still have to go back and update the v12 version as well...I've been pretty busy lately, I wouldn't be able to guess how long it will take me to get to it right now, but I haven't forgotten.

Nice!

Looks great so far, Lazlo! Good luck on the project.

Good spline placement and bias tweaking, Steve. I still can't get as clean as some of the modeling I've seen lately...it takes a lot of practice. Nice start on your model.

Very cool character, Dale! Good luck on the project!

This page on the ARM has some helpful tutorials.

Here's new version...it fixes some arm/elbow issues. This is just a v13 update at this time, as soon as I get out from under what I'm doing I'll get to the others. I updated ten models last night...I think I only have four or five left to update.

I haven't forgotten, I'm just neck deep in work at the moment. I'll get an 11.1 version done as well. As soon as I can breathe a little. Sorry it has taken so much time.

Here's an update that fixes something I found when the elbows are rotated to extremes...it would probably affect it on less extreme movements as well. I only have time at the moment for the v13 versions, but, I'll get a v12 version posted in the next couple of days. and another and another

I have asked David Seymour if he could make a "how to animate with the Squetch Rig" video...once I get the elbows updated it will be able to be made. Right now the only character with the updated elbows is Squetchy Thom, but that's what I'm working on on the TWO characters. David has shown an adeptness with the rig and can also show off his "Key Groups" addition to the rig in making the video. I think the video will help the animators a lot. I have thought about making a "how things work in the Squetch Rig" for anyone who wants to tear it apart...there is also the FACE installation videos being put together by Mark Strohbehn. Mark's video will show the FACE installation using muscle, I'm thinking about making one using bones. There's a lot to do. At the moment I'm working my way out of being buried, but it will all get done. I'm updating the rigged TWO models' elbows, rigging TinWoodsman's face, making an installation version of the quadruped version of the Squetch Rig, double-checking installations, addressing issues as they come up (along with Mark Skodacek) and I'm planning on rigging the Hippogiraf and making the FACE installation video for bones. There are a few other things that slip my mind at the moment...but they'll get done too.

Of course about an hour after posting, I found a couple of bones that didn't get hidden...I think four people downloaded that version. Sorry I missed it, that's the only difference in the two versions. The "a" in the zip name is just to differentiate between the two files. Once again, if anyone finds anything, let me know.

Here's the latest update. Changes in this version: -------------------------------------------------------------------- Elbow controls are changed, they are now like the knee controls. The "Key Groups" have been separated in order to allow for compensate to work correctly during installation. It is now supposed to be added after everything else is set up by importing the key groups model included in the v13 zip. Key Groups will not work for v12. Installation instructions have been updated ---------------------------------------------------------------------- If there are any problems, let me know and I'll fix them as fast as I can.

I thought of a sponge...if you start somewhere close to finished and scrolled back and forth in a small area it's similar to a squishy looking sponge. Very nice.

Kapsules just keeps getting better. Very nice stuff.

Just when I think it can't get any better. This is getting scary!

Just a heads up that there will be an updated rig posted shortly. The elbows will be changed in both v12 & v13 versions. The v13 installation will have the instructions added to and the "Key Poses" split out from the rig. What happens is that with the "Key Poses" as part of the rig it makes compensate not work properly, so that needs to be added last. If you are having problems installing the v13 rig, delete the "Key Poses" and then add them back when you are done setting everything else up. It makes sense when you think about it. We are asking the software to do a lot of contradicting things. I learn something new every day.

This is just a test for Bob to look at...it would change the elbow control in IK if it's what happens.

I haven't had any problems using 512 MB of RAM...it will slow down if you have extremely large decals and realtime display of hair or simulation data though. It will work fine with 512, but more is always better.

There's a Mac version, Rodney...actually, Open Office is available for Windows, Mac, Linux, FreeBSD and Solaris. Audacity is also available for Windows, Mac and Linux. The Windows only software I listed would be Virtualdub, CamStudio and HTML-Kit. I've been thinking about trying Cinelerra for video editing by way of a "live" CD like dyne:bolic...it's a lot more of an editor than anyone would need for making tutorials, but for hardcore projects the practice might pay off. With a live CD, you wouldn't have to install it or the operating system (Linux). You would just boot using the CD...I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be able to access Windows drives. I'll let you know how my experiments come out.

For video tutorials, I have used Camstudio with the framerate set at 5 frames per second to conserve file size. I went with 720x480 so that it would be standard television size and also to save file size from the 1024x768 full screen capture. I found that there was a problem with the audio while capturing, so I went with Audacity to record audio at the same time. I then used Virtualdub to combine the audio and video and edit down the captures...which I did in segments to reduce audio drift and to reduce the amount I would have to re-do if a problem occurred. Once I had the tutorial like I wanted it, I used GIMP to make the title graphic and used Virtualdub to edit it in. Lastly, I took the final uncompressed AVI and imported it into Quicktime Pro to save it as a Quicktime MOV so that it would be more cross-platform friendly. The final product is not as clean as some other tutorials because I was mainly concerned with keeping the file size down. I ended up getting just a little over 1 MB per minute...I think it's around 1 hour and 50 minutes long and weighs in at around 120 MB for both parts. For Adobe Acrobat (PDF) tutorials, I have used just a notepad-like HTML editor to make the pages (it's called Quikpage, but I don't think you can get it anywhere now), opened it up in Open Office and exported as a PDF out of there. The original HTML could also be used as a straight web page. For a free HTML editor, you might try something like HTML-Kit...you could probably do it all from within Open Office though. An example of the video tutorial is here and an example of the PDF I don't have anywhere online except that I used the same method for the installation instructions for the Squetch Rig, here. Total cost of software is $30 for Quicktime Pro...so that's a plus.

Here is a very good leg tutorial...it doesn't have any nulls in it, but all you would do is replace the foot control bone with a null. This arm tutorial has a null for the IK control...it's a good tutorial as well. This page has those tutorials and several others you might find useful. I made a face rigging tutorial that has some nulls in it here. It has a basic overview of constraints at the beginning as well. Hope those help.

Nulls are like bones except you can't assign geometry to them. They are used as targets and controls. The legs of characters generally have a chain of bones that have a kinematic constraint on the end bone of the chain with the target being a child of the foot control null. There are more constraints applied, but that is the general idea. Hope that helps.

The setup sounds very nice, now it'll take putting in tons of time and effort. Good luck with the project.