itsjustme

It took me a little longer than I thought, but, see what you think. Changes in this version: ------------------------------------------------ FK to IK transitions are now smooth. IK hand can be used in FK. IK foot can be used in FK. Bicep rotation is automated in IK now (use the IK elbow controls to correct any twisting of the arms as necessary). ------------------------------------------------

I think he looks cool (the sunglasses really work for me). You should make an evil version for him to fight. Nice first model.

I haven't used distortion boxes, so, that's a hole in my education...I have a few blind spots, unfortunately. I've seen a couple of characters that used distortion boxes to great effect, but I thought that they weren't transferrable between models. I just did a test that proved that assumption wrong. I'm sure it could be done, I just haven't tried it. One thing I'm not sure of is how the distortion would behave with the controls...if the controls don't scale with the distortion it might be hard to control. Definitely worth some experiments, Robert. I also did some tinkering to see about having the FK and IK controls move together and figured out something that should've occurred to me before. Eventually, the controls will go in different directions...I just have to make it easier for the animator to manually get them in the same place for the transition. I think the option of having the IK hand and foot controls doing the orienting in FK will do the trick...I have some strange things that need to be isolated in the IK/FK switchover as well. Oh, I'm full of lots of useless stuff too. Happy to help, Drvarceto.

I think so. What I have seen is that some models have a pose for making the IK controller function as the hand controller in FK...that does make it where you have to manually position the IK controller where the hand is if you want the IK arm to be in the right place when you make the switch though. Not a problem to do that. I think that this would be possible if the FK portion of the rig controlled the IK portion. In Squetchy Thom, I have the IK controlling the FK, but I could try to add another FK layer on top of that (it would be easier than reworking everything, although I would still have to reconfigure some of the scaling stuff). That one shouldn't be a problem. I'll take a fresh look at all of these tonight. Thanks for taking the time, Robert.

robcat (Robert Holmen), I'm still a little confused on these points. Here's what I have seen on some other models...maybe it's not what you're talking about. The other models I checked had a pose slider that made it where the IK hand could also control the FK hand. It did give you one hand control with the option of using two, but there were still two controllers. I can very easily do that. I haven't seen a model that had the IK bones mirror the FK bones movement and have a truly FK option. What I have seen is that when I switched to FK, there were still IK things going on. I'm not sure what rig was actually used since I'm not really that familiar with what everyone else uses...maybe I checked strange rigs, could you point me at a rig that does what you're talking about? I do agree that I could cut it down by at least one control bone in IK by making another hand controller (I would probably make it a null so that it would differentiate it from the FK controller) and could also give the option to use the IK foot control in FK. I'm just having a mental block about some of the other stuff. Also, I think it might aid the transition from FK to IK if I make the visibility of the IK controls an option. -------------------------------------------- EDIT -------------------------------------------- I think I understand now....maybe. If you have the option of using the IK control to manipulate the FK hand in FK, then the IK stuff will be in the right place...am I close?

Very cool, Drvarceto. I think they're better than my first attempt. I'm going to make a five fingered version as well, as soon as I get everything tied up into a neat bow. To set the squetch control back to the origin, just select the control in the Action/Choreography, select the "Object's Properties/Transform/Translate" and set the 'X', 'Y' and 'Z' to "0". For the "hips_lower_controller" you might also have to reset the "Object's Properties/Transform/Rotate" values to "0".

Another update, arms still haven't been updated but I changed the head squetch controls. I don't think I really did a good job with first method, however, I like this better for the job. Changes in this version: --------------------------------------------- Head squetch controls redone (unhide the head/neck squetch controls). Chest orient like hips slider added. --------------------------------------------- I'll try to have something on the arms in the next day or so.

I don't see why it couldn't be done...it's something worth an experiment.

I just realized that I probably misunderstood you, Dhar. Squetchy Thom can be animated as-is...the rig isn't in a condition to be easily transferred to another character though. That's why I'm making the installation version. Sorry about that, I don't always have my brain working.

I'll look at that tonight, David. I'm also thinking that the head squetch needs to be divided into front and back.

No, I have to make some additions in order to make the installation easier...that's not to say it can't be done without them, just that it would be tons easier with them. Maybe a thirty minute install as opposed to three or four hours (not including the CP weighting)...you would also need to know a lot more about the rig without the installation version. Once I get everything nailed down, I'll get the install version posted.

Another stop-gap update while I continue to think about the arms...also, see what you think about the head squetching. To use the original head squetching control, set the "head_aim_at_SQUETCH_target" control to 100%. Changes in this version: ------------------------------------------------------ New head squetching based on Robert Holmen's squetch ball. Fixed hiding the toe controls. Made the hat bone visible in case someone wants to use it. The foot control bone was moved to the back of the foot in one of the previous updates, I just forgot to mention it. ------------------------------------------------------- So, it's only a few things.

Thanks for using Squetchy Thom in your exercises, Ken! It'll help find any problems that I have overlooked. You're off to a good start, by the way. If you put the legs into FK you can rotate the "hips_IK" bone...that rotates the thigh and calf bones as well, but you still have to position the feet once you do that since that won't make them rotate. If that solution isn't adequate, let me know and I'll see what I can do. I'll iron that out in the next version (sometime tomorrow, I hope)...what happens is that there are actually two toe manipulators, one for IK and one for FK and I set them to hide when not in use. Sometimes I get a conflicting "hide" that I have to track down.

Okay, this is just a stop-gap until I get everything worked out. I'll stick with this new odd naming convention for the time being. Changes/fixes in this version: ---------------------------------------------------------- Knees and elbows scale correctly in v12 now. Forearm rolls correctly in v12 now. Foot ball controls combined into one control. CP weighting problem at the waist corrected...and a few other CP weighting tweaks. ----------------------------------------------------------- I'm still thinking about the hand controls and head squetching...next version, hopefully in a day or two. On the foot controls, I only eliminated one by combining both foot ball controls, although I could add the knee rotator to the control...I'm still debating whether to do that. Show of hands? I hadn't been double checking things in v12, I will now. Sorry for any problems this may have caused. In case anyone was wondering, the forearm problem was a percentage on the "aim roll at" constraint on the "forearm_left/right_geom_base" and the elbows and knees problem was a percentage setting in the "scale like" on them. The fixes work in both v11.1 and v12. I'll put my thinking cap on a little longer on the remaining issues.

I've been working in 11.1, I haven't tried it in v12...I'll check that tonight.

Hmmm, could you show me an image, David? Also, how did you manipulate the bones? Here's an image of what I think you're trying to get...this worked without a problem for me in FK. The bicep is rotated 90 degrees on the 'Z' axis using the roll handle, the forearm is rotated about 90 degrees on the 'X' axis the hand is rotated -.05 (X), 53.16 (Y), 97.5 (Z) and the hand is clenched 100%.

Makes sense...I'll have to do some thinking about how best to incorporate a change like that. I'm sure it's doable, I'll spend a little time on it. I'll roll it around in my head a little and see what happens. Thanks for taking the time to give it a once-over, Robert. I should have something in a day or two. Then, I'll update the installation version to match.

I'm not understanding something in this question...the feet controls are separate so that you can isolate each movement, one control for the overall foot position, one for positioning the knee, one for pointing the toe and one for rotating the foot while on the toe. It was the easiest way for me to set it up...the bones your are manipulating are the parent bones of the targeting bones. The arms are a similar setup. One of the things that I tried to eliminate is unintended rotations/movements. Combination controls can be problematic sometimes. It could be done a number of ways...what problems does this way create? Ideally, what would the controls look like to you? Other animators' input is extremely helpful, I want this to be as easy to use and as functional as possible. I could always go back and rework things if this is a deal breaker for everyone. This rig has a lot of unique problems that had to be overcome, my solutions aren't necessarily the best, just what I came up with at the time. I don't doubt it could be rigged in a similar manner...I saw the post, I just haven't looked at the setup. I'll take a look at it tonight. I'm working on the installation version of this rig now...it'll be at least a couple more days until I'm sure it does the job. It's looking like the actual positioning of the bones will be relatively fast once you get used to it...maybe a half hour, the first time will probably take you longer though. The real time is in the CP weighting...that depends on how fast you are at it. It's tough to get everything to work conventionally and squetched (there is only CP weighting, no smarskin on the model)...sometimes I have to compromise unless I want to increase the complexity. I could make the rig more complex, fix it with smarskin, fiddle with the CP weighting some more or a combination of the three. I'll take another look at that as well...maybe a little better job of weighting will do the trick. I probably didn't adequately answer all of the questions you asked, Robert....I'm a little slow sometimes. I'd be willing to try again though. ------------------------------ EDIT ------------------------------ The weighting change did fix the waist squetch problem, Robert...I think I was thinking about the whole torso when I weighted it, but it is better without the chest influence there. I'll have a version with the changes posted late tonight. I'll have to go with "Final_v2" though, just to eliminate confusion.

The foot control bone has it's origin at the center of the calf. You could move it in the bones window to where you want it...I'll take a look at it tonight, it shouldn't cause any problems. The hat has a bone that is the child of the head, you could always change the parenting if you need it to be completely independent.

I found out that I had knocked the right thumb controller askew in the "Final" version, so I had to go back and fix it. I reposted it as the same name because it was dubbed "Final"..."Final_v2" didn't sound very final. Anyway, if you downloaded the final, you'll probably want to re-download it. Sorry for any problems this may have caused.

I went over Squetchy Thom pretty good, I found a couple of flipped normals and an interpolation in the IK pose that needed to be changed to "linear". Other than that, I think he's done. Here's the final on Squetchy Thom. The installation instructions should be finished sometime this week, I made a special version of the rig to try to make it a little easier. I'll post that as well when I'm sure everything works correctly. I'm using the "Loon" for TWO as the test for installation...hopefully, I'll get it posted in a couple of days. Anyway, once again, if you find a problem, let me know. ------------------------------------- EDIT ------------------------------------- I corrected a problem with the right thumb position...sorry for any inconvenience.

Thanks for the info, Gilles! Nice to see you're back. I have the original files, I could dig them up for you if you like. As they are pretty large files, it would probably be easier for me to mail them to you since I'm on a dialup. Send me a message here on the forums with your address if you want me to send them.

The smartskin used in the rig is just for skeletal stuff, Ken. As an example, the on-hand finger curl bones use smartskin to tie the pose slider for curling to the control bone. The actual model geometry is purely CP weighting...I tried to avoid any smartskinning on the actual model so that everything you see the rig do is transferrable. For the most part the CP weighting is enough, if I were to do any smartskinning on the geometry it would be when the arms are scaled to 100% on the slider the elbows look a little strange. It's just careful weighting...moving things to their extremes and adjusting things. That's what I was thinking, it will give me a chance to see how long it would take to transfer the rig to another character. Of course the more times I install the rig, the faster it will go. I'll probably also try it on a more standard looking biped...when I get some time. I haven't tried installing this from scratch completely yet, it's been experimentation and modification thus far, Mike. Now that I have the design worked out, I don't think it would take more than a couple of hours to make the rig. However, the CP weighting might take more time than the actual rig building...I don't use the bone falloff when I'm weighting. Although, the weighting in Squetchy Thom would be a good reference. Actually, it shouldn't be much different from installing the 2001 rig, Bill. The difference though is the layout. I'll be working out a method while trying to install this in a couple of other characters and post my findings.

Okay, I won't call it a final yet, so as to leave me a little time for someone to find a problem. However, here's a version that is the same as the last version except that the bone hiding should be working correctly.

I'll definitely do that...where do I sign up? As has been mentioned earlier in this thread, it would be a good rig for the Loons. I've only seen a couple of the other characters, but it could probably be used in most humanoid bipeds. The finger controls are hidden so that you can manipulate the hand to where you want without them in the way. It's an on/off pose on the "hands" tab of the pose sliders at the top labeled "show_finger_controls". The "hips_IK" bone will move the entire model when translated or rotated...to move the hips independently, use the "hips_lower_controller" bone that points downward from the hips. It looks like you have pointed the "hips_lower_controller" to the character's right...repositioning that should center it again. The squetch controls can move any part of the body independent of the IK/FK setup, so, you can really get things moved around depending on what you're doing. Or am I misunderstanding, Ken? Hmmm, maybe you're having a problem that I had a while back...I was hitting the "force keyframe" button instead of just letting AM auto-key everything. It caused some rotation that I couldn't figure out when I hit that button several times. I'll take a look at the Action later tonight and see if I can isolate what's going on. I'll also go back and nail down the hiding of the controls so that they are hidden when they should be. -------------------------------- EDIT -------------------------------- After taking a look at the Action, I think it's the forcing a keyframe, Mark. If you force a keyframe, set it to key the bone instead of the model...it appeared to work for me that way. Although you might just let it auto key for you. If the "Smart Force Key" is checked in the "Action" tab of the "Options" menu it should set the keys for you for the bones you have manipulated. To set a key on a bone you haven't changed position on, wiggle it and put it back in the same position so that the auto keying will key it as well. Jeff Lew's DVD illustrates this method, it's well worth the money IMHO.