itsjustme

Here's the latest test version of Squetchy Sam...he has an updated arm and leg rig that includes soft IK. I've done some testing, but I'm sure I haven't tried everything, so I figure someone else might find things I've missed. Give him a test drive and see where he breaks. I have nearly finished updating the installation rigs for the biped installation...I'm hoping to get those finished and then update the Quad installations over the next couple of days. If everything works out, I'll get a release put together for the biped rig in the next week or so. I want to get the tail rig update done before releasing the Quad version, so that will be delayed a little. ---------------------------- EDIT ---------------------------- An updated Squetchy Sam is in the next post...this version was deleted.

Here is a clip with both of the previous leg clips side by side...the difference is pretty subtle, but that is without adjusting anything. A few of the earlier clips in this thread show a stronger setting on the soft IK. The clips in this post show a little stronger setting and there is a post with the arm test rig attached here...it's the same thing that is in both the arms and legs of this test version of Sam. My main concern with this test was to see if the transition between forward and backward bending could be smoothed out. If it wasn't possible with the present controls, I had a tweak I was going to do some testing with. leg_comparison_04_14_2010.mov

I did some testing to determine if I needed to add a tweak to the soft IK to smooth the change from forward bending to backward bending. After messing with it a little, I decided that the present controls would do the job. Here are two clips showing the results. The soft IK settings are set up so that the percentage slider equals the length of the arm/leg at 100%. The math used doesn't like anything at 100%, so, "off" is 99.99% on the slider. The position of the slider determines the point at which the soft IK begins to kick-in...if the slider is set to 75%, it will start at 75% of the length of the limb. For this leg test, I set the slider to 98.75% and didn't adjust it...I'm thinking it looks pretty smooth on the transition and still provides a little softness to the IK at that setting. 04_14_2010_no_soft_IK.mov 04_14_2010_minimal_soft_IK.mov

Yes ma'am, it's a switch. The test rig I used for the arms is here...both the arms and legs are pretty much that setup which I'm adapting to the Squetch Rig in Sam.

The legs in Sam have been corrected, now I just have to run a bunch of tests before adding the updates to the installation rigs...so far, I haven't run into any problems. Here are a couple of quick clips with and without soft IK on the legs. 04_13_2010_legs_no_soft_IK.mov 04_13_2010_legs_with_soft_IK.mov

Looks great, Carl!

I like that one the best so far, Jake!

I think I've got Sam's arms updated correctly...still have to run more tests though. I've got the legs updated as well, but there's still at least one more thing to track down in them. Here are a couple of clips showing a test of Sam's arms with and without soft IK. If I had spent a little more time on it, I could have made the transition from front bend to back bend smoother in the soft IK clip, but it'll do for a simple test. Sam_04_09_2010_elbow_no_soft_IK.mov Sam_04_09_2010_elbow_with_soft_IK.mov

That has got to be the adding of a paretheses thing...I didn't double-check in v15, doh! I've been doing all of my testing in v13t. I'll see if I can fix it quick and repost it. Thanks, Mark! ----------------------------- EDIT ----------------------------- Okay, I went back in and added some paretheses in the Expressions, did a fast check in v15 and then posted the updated model. Sorry for my bone-headedness...it should work fine in v15 now (unless I missed something else).

Hmmm, when does it happen, Mark?

Here's the arm rig I've been using for testing. I still have more testing on the Squetchy Sam that has this installed...I'll do some of that tonight. ------------------------ EDIT ------------------------ Updated the posted rig...Thanks again, Mark! arm_rig_04_09_2010b.zip

I actually had a little free time yesterday and got a few things worked out on the arm rig. I've got the resizing worked out, did some overall tweaking and then put it into Squetchy Sam to do some more testing. Tomorrow, I'll do some more testing on the arms and see if I can get the legs updated as well. Here is a quick example model that shows how the exponential decay equation will soften the IK...this version isn't adjustable, it slows the movement of "Bone1" once it reaches 80% of what would be the length of the test arm. Since the test arm is ten inches, it will start to delay/decay at about eight inches. Once I get things roughed-in a little better, I'll post a more complete setup. exponential_decay_example_04_08_2010.zip

Fantastic work, Stian!

Fantastic work, Mark!

Happy B-Day, David!

Another cool demonstration, Robert!

Very cool, Mark!

Extremely cool, Robert!

Every version has been great, Mark!

Whiz lines like the "Road Runner"...that would do the trick, I'm thinking.

I like it Jost! I think it could benefit from something that gave the impression of movement on the characters as they fly a little more though...like a fluttering banner/scarf/whatever. The speed lines do some of that, but I'm thinking that a human character would have some movement in their hair or something, which, robots wouldn't have. Good luck on the project!

Congrats on 100, Mark!

Another winner, Myron!

I love the look, Robert! Congrats on finishing the book.