itsjustme

Looks great, Mark!

I finished updating Squetchy Sam and then tried the experiment I wanted to do for the limb bowing. The experiment worked, but I decided it wasn't a necessary addition. I don't remember if I've done this particular experiment before or not...maybe I did and don't remember it. Here's a quick Project with a simple version of the added elbow fan bone. It helps to maintain volume on the inner part of the elbow. It has probably been done since it is so simple, but it might help someone. v13_inner_elbow_fan_example.zip

You can adjust the amount of flex in the bicep in the rig, George. In Bertram the flex is set at 100%, but if you turned it down to 0%, it wouldn't flex at all. If you want to do a static contraction of the bicep, you could use the squetch nulls. If you want to do absolutely realistic muscle deformation, the character would have to be a lot more detailed than Bertram and would require some more rigging and careful Smartskinning. I'm looking to do a more toon-like character with Bertram, so "cartoon real" is my goal.

I've updated the installation rigs and I only have a couple of little things left to get Squetchy Sam updated. I didn't get to try the experiment I want to do yet, I'll have to wait until tomorrow...I've run out of time today. Bertram's arms are presently in an unusual state...I'm still debating whether they will remain this way. What I want to do is to keep the arms chunky/muscled and not make them so long that he can drag his knuckles on the ground, but be able to get things out of his pockets without too much trouble. In this quick test, his bicep is much longer than the forearm...normally, the bicep and forearm are the same length. I need to do some more testing before I can make a decision on whether to lengthen the forearm. This version of Bertram has the second elbow fan bone and additional geometry bones that I've been adding to the rig. I still need to do some tweaking, so I'm only showing enough to give everyone a visual of my internal debate. Looking at this clip, I need to tweak the hand clench pose to make the back of the hand look less flat as well. arm_test_11_21_2008.mov

I added more geometry bones in the arms to make setting up the arm twisting and limb bowing easier and a second elbow fan bone to help maintain volume on a chunky character...I'm going to add them to the Squetch Rig tomorrow, I'm out of time today. I've also got an idea to improve the limb bowing that I'm going to try. I have the arms on Bertram pretty much set up, but I still have to weight the shirt sleeves. I went with a much longer bicep bone than I did initially in order to have enough room to get the shoulder the way it needed to be. I should be able to render out an example tomorrow to illustrate.

There are a couple of things that bother me about the ball bounce. First, it probably bounces too high on each bounce...unless it's one of those "super ball" type of balls. I would think it would lose more energy on each bounce otherwise. Second, I haven't checked the rate at which it falls, but I'm guessing it doesn't fall at the speed that gravity would actually make it fall. There's a great set of tutorials at animationphysics.com that would apply. Third, it looks like the spin on the ball is incorrect...it is most evident in the part where the ball is rolling on the ground. It looks like the animator set the distance the ball would travel and then didn't adjust the amount of roll, it sort of skids along the ground plane at around the four second mark. I am probably missing another problem, but that's what I think I see with a quick look.

Very cool! Thanks for the link!

It's been a while since I've posted anything, so I think I should mention what I'm messing with. The shoulder area of Bertram bothered me, so I've changed it some...which caused me to change the arms some. This got me doing a bunch of experiments that made me try some things that I wouldn't normally do on a standard biped...Bertram is pretty non-standard in a few areas and now the arms are looking like they might end up unconventional as well. I'm thinking I might have something to show in the next couple of days...sorry for taking so much time on this.

Which folders, Speedy? The library?

Thanks for the info, Mark! I've never had to use the "MirrorConstraints" plugin before...I probably should have read the instructions. That would have eliminated the need to reset the compensates.

Here's the results of a little more experimentation. The original model would crash the plugin in v13.0t if it wasn't saved as a v13 model, but worked fine if it had been saved using v13. When I saved a version using v14c, it would crash the plugin in v14. The v13 model did not crash the plugin in v14. I made sure that I have the latest posted versions of the plugin as well. Here are the versions I saved for you to test with. Hope that helps, Jake. ---------------------------- EDIT ---------------------------- When I ran the plugin, I was in modeling mode without any other windows open. I right mouse-clicked on the model in the PWS and selected the "Plug-ins/Wizards/MirrorConstraints" plugin. I also forgot to mention that the v14 model would also crash the plugin in v13 if it had not been saved in v13. v13_SimpleRigMan15D_TSM_St3_291008_update.mdl v14_SimpleRigMan15D_TSM_St3_291008_update.mdl

I'm using an older version of A:M and I don't know if I have installed the latest version of the plugin, so that may be the difference. If the "SimpleRigMan15D_TSM_St3_291008.mdl" gives you an error, I would ask Steffen. In v15 it's not necessary when making a constraint initially because it will automatically set the compensates. However, if the constraint already exists and the bones are moved in the Bones window, the compensates would need to be reset. To reset a compensate, in the Pose change the enforcement of the constraint to "0", hit the "Compensate Mode" button and put the enforcement that was initially applied back in...the offset values will change to what you need. I skimmed through it and it seems fine. The one thing I thought though...if you are going to be putting in the same fan bones most of the time, you could make the Pose for them, "drag and drop" that Pose into each character and then just reset the compensates (as long as the bones were named the same every time). You could even modify the TSM2 script to generate the fan bones. For new users, it might be helpful.

If you turn off the "Spine/Hip_Controller" Pose, the "Hips" null will work like the 2001 rig. You get more options with the new setup. I would use the "Hips" null as more of an overall control, for things like roughing in the position of the character. I'm sure there are a lot of other uses, but that's the way I look at it.

The first model, "SimpleRigMan15D_TSM_St3_291008.mdl" had no problem when I ran the "MirrorConstraints" plugin. The second model, "SimpleRigMan15D_TSM_St1_291008.mdl" didn't have any bones on the left side of the body. I ran the "MirrorBones" plugin to mirror the arm and leg bones and the CP weighting, ran the "MirrorConstraints" plugin, reset the compensates on the left shoulder COG and left hip COG and everything worked fine. Hope that helps, Jake.

You don't have to remove the skeleton/rig to do the UV mapping, J.W. It's better to have everything rigged before texturing.

What it looks like to me is that you turned off the "Head Controller" and then translated the "Head_Geom" bone. When the "Head Controller" is "off", use the "Neck_Geom" to move the head. Did that fix the problem, Andy?

I didn't find any problems with the latest version, Mark. Easy and fun to animate with this rig. Top notch work!

These tutorials might help: Combining CG Characters with Live Action Tips for Compositing Animation:Master 2000 3D Animation with Video

I found one issue, the left index finger doesn't curl as much as the right index finger when rotating the "Left/Right Finger Controller" on the 'X' axis. I'll do some more checking tonight.

I found another minor thing in the rig to fix...once again, it was a parenting issue, so it was easy to fix. The "right/left_bicep_flexor" should be a child of the "right/left_bicep_base". The problem showed up when the shoulder was moved, it caused the biceps to flex slightly. Re-parenting the "right/left_bicep_flexor" should fix the problem on any previously installed biped rig. On Bertram, I added more of an arm under the shirt sleeve (I might eventually use it if he ever has to pull the sleeves up), fixed the bone parenting and then weighted the arm itself...the sleeve will be quick to weight since that is done. I've been working my way up the arm so that I can get the upper torso weighted, which should be what I work on tomorrow night. Here is a quick video test of the arm weighting...it's not great animation, but it's just a test. arm_test_10_25_2008_Sorenson3.mov

The crashing problem appears to be caused by the "Error Loading String 4386..|right hand" on the "right wrist 1fan" and "right wrist 2fan" in the "Fanbones" Pose. Delete those and it should work. I also found three other things you might want to correct. The 1, 2, 3 and 4 fingers are missing the last joint of the finger, "1right thumb2 1 fan" was set to orient like its' parent and the "1 left foot IK control" was missing. Hope that helps.

There are bones on the right side with "left" in their name, that might be the problem. Hope that helps.

Very cool, Stian!

When I opened the model, there were no "orient like" constraints on the "1 right leg2 1fan", "1 right leg2 2fan" or "1 right leg2 3fan". I opened the "Fanbones" Pose and set "orient like" constraints on them, with offsets, to orient like the "1 right lowerleg1" bone...enforcement percentages of 25%, 50% and 75%. Everything worked fine, but the offsets were not zero because those bones' original orientations don't match the "1 right lowerleg1" bones' orientation (I ignored the CP assignments...those still need work). I think you probably just had a second window open while you were setting this up, Jake...just a guess though. Whenever I'm editing a Pose, I try to have only that window open. Hope that helps.