itsjustme

The Smurf model wasn't embedded in the Project, so I couldn't check it for you, Remy. If you use "Project/Embed all" and then save the Project, the model should be included. If you are trying to use the rig that is in the Rabbit, it is the 2001 rig. Instructions for installing it are in the "Show Some Backbone" video on this page. Hope that helps.

Better and better, Carl!

Very cool, Robert!

Fantastic, Stian!

Great looking robot, Ludo!

I like it a lot...a lot more efficient, adjustable...just plain smarter all the way around. It'll be a great improvement. Thanks for spending time on this, Mark!

That looked great, Gene!

Thanks, Mark! I'll take a look when I get home tonight.

Looks and sounds great, Mark! Thanks for spending the time on this.

If you weight to a single bone per segment, then you lose what I'm talking about. I think we're thinking two different things, Mark. Maybe I'm not understanding, I'll check out the example when you send it. Thanks for spending the time on this. --------------- EDIT --------------- I think I'm understanding now...it took a while to wake up, I guess. It would still require at least two geometry bones per segment though...you would need a base that doesn't roll at all to weight against, I'm thinking.

I agree that the average user would probably be confused...I'm hoping to answer any questions with the installation tutorial that I'm crawling at a snail's pace toward. I'm not sure about your solution, my head isn't working very well at the moment. I know there is still a slight disconnect in my thinking, but I'm not able to put my finger on it yet. The difference I see in your solution is that it would make the roll more adjustable, since at present the fan rotations are predetermined, but I'm not understanding how it would make the weighting easier. Maybe it'll be clearer in the morning...I'm up way too late, again.

I'm no expert, but it looks like it would do the job, Gene. Very cool

Oh, I misunderstood, sorry about that, Mark. What you're saying makes sense...the neck and head bones should probably be moved more toward the back. Each of the four bones in the bicep/forearm are set to a certain amount of rotation, the first number in the name is the location and the second is the rotation. So, the "00" bone is located at the base of the bicep/forearm and rotates with the least amount of rotation. Then, the "03" bone is located in the same place, but has the most rotation set on it. This allows you to weight the CP's with the rotation of say the fourth bone while being in the location of the first bone. Normally, that is ridiculous...unless you need the arm to bow, then it makes sense. You can weight each section of the arm in whatever way you need to get the rotation and bowing required. -------------------------- EDIT -------------------------- I think a better description for the extra bones would be "Z rotation fan bones" because they move the same on the 'X' and 'Y' axes.

The neck and spine don't have to be connected...they can be if it is installed that way though. The reason I did it as separate pieces is so that the squetching would look right. If I angle the spine, it will squetch at an angle. An FK/IK switch for the neck is an easy addition. The arm does a lot of twisting that the leg doesn't. I added bones that rotate at different percentages so that you could use them to do things like have the third bone rotate like the first bone and still have the limb bowing work correctly. Is that on Sam? There are probably a few places his CP Weighting could be tweaked. Thanks for taking a look at it, Mark!

If you go through the list of tweaks, you were involved in several...it's just taken me a long time to put together a release. A multiple rigged JD would be cool, sounds like a great project.

The biped update for the Squetch Rig is posted here...lots of improvements, it's been long overdue. If you get an opportunity to double-check to make sure I didn't miss something, please do. Next, I'm going to update the Quad Rig to match the biped rig. I also have to update the videos I made outlining how things work in the rig, get the installation videos done (finally), see if I can figure out the problem I had with the tail rig update, knock out a tutorial or two and see if I can get some odds and ends started back up on Bertram. I think if I can start doing a little bit in all of those directions, I'll get more done...we'll see.

Here's the next update for the biped Squetch Rig. There are a lot of tweaks in this version...here's a partial list: As always, huge thanks to Mark Skodacek for his help throughout the work on this update...which has been quite a while in the making. Also, thanks to Chris Dailey for getting me to work on adding soft IK. I've done a lot of checking, but considering the number of things that have changed, I probably missed a few things. So, if anyone finds an issue, let me know and I'll fix it as quickly as I can. Next, I'm going to update the legs in the Quad Rig. ---------------------------- EDIT ---------------------------- The next version of the biped rig is here. The next version of Squetchy Sam is here.

I'm going to guess...onion skinning? Looks great, Mark!

Jeff Lee's Really Cheap Targa Motion Blur might prove useful. Hope that helps.

Happy Birthday, Steve!

There are some good tutorials at Jeff Cantin's site called "Basic Splinemanship" that will help you quite a bit. Here is from the first one: Hope that helps.

I just posted the test version of Squetchy Sam I've been using here. Knock him around if you get the time...there are probably some things I missed. I nearly have the biped installations updated, next I'll work on the Quad installations. If things go well, I'll release a biped rig update in a week or so...I want to wait on the Quad update until I get the tail rig finished, so that will be delayed.

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