mtpeak2

The Balance Right Foot null should be hidden after positioning the setup (instructions say to Shift+J the Balance INSTALL bone when finished) this hides that null and the rest of the setup that is visible. The InstallRig plugin does not work on nulls to hide them, that's why I said to Shift+J the Balance INSTALL, which hides the children of that bone as well. So, the Balance Left Foot null should be hidden anyway. The face rig is on the back burner for now, til I get the 2008 rig straighten out. I have another update I will be posting shortly. Plus I have other things I'm working on at the moment, which will help me get the face installer ready at some point.

Thanks. I had some issues with the install, but I got it sorted out. I hope to have some test renders today of the model.

I found a major problem with the latest MirrorBones plugin, I doesn't mirror nulls correctly, it only mirrored some of the nulls, not all of them. Steffen, Can you take a look at that? [EDIT] I did a test with the MirrorBones plugin and everything worked ok. I'm not sure what the problem was, it may be the model I'm rigging. So the plugin seems ok. There are some thing I want to update on the installer, some of the control bones need scaling during the installation, I'm hoping I can take care of that when the model gets exported. I'll try to get an update posted as soon as I can.

Well, we'll see if I help her make it better or worse. I'm getting close to having one of the models rerigged. I hope to have it in good shape by tomorrow. There is some extra rigging for the sword, bow and arrows. I also want to add the face rig as well at some point. I'm hoping those won't take too long.

Thanks Rodney. I'll be doing some rigging as well.

I've started helping Katt out with a few things on her project. Here's a set I've been working on for her. The muddy water is animated and there is particle bubbles, but I didn't render the with particles on. I added 2 models in the chor for a sense of scale. Lighting for a toon render was a bit different. I opted to render with "toon with falloff" with one kleig light, which I think came out pretty well. Hopefully this is a look we can carry over to some of her other scenes.

Looks pretty good to me. I like the sets.

See image.

It looks like you created keys for the IK pose and the bones in your smartskin. If you post the model, I can take a look. When smartskinning, you should be in FK mode (legs, arms or spine, which ever you are working on). Turn these poses off in the models user properties, not the pose slider window. Only manipulate the bone you are smartskinning. If you move any other bone, it will create a key for them and become part of the smartskin, that includes pose sliders.

It looks good so far. The one thing that stands out is the falling snow follows the camera pan.

Jake, I installed v15 and updated to v15e. I went to Steffen's site and DL'ed the latest MirrorBones plugin and placed it in the HXT folder for v15. Opened your model and ran the plugin with no problems. All the bones mirrored correctly and assigned cps correctly. As you can see from the image, everything worked as expected. What OS are you using? Web or CD? I'm on XP with the CD version of A:M, but that shouldn't make a difference.

If you have anymore problems, just let me know.

IMO, if the model is CFA correctly by A:M and the user, it shouldn't need a tolerance change in the plugin. In fact, it shouldn't need a tolerance at all. But yes, upping the tolerance should work, though I'm not sure if that would fix the issue with not mirroring the fan bones.

If you can't seem to do this, you can send me the model and I'll fix it.

Then you want to update the relationship folder. (see image)

First thing I want you to do is unhide and rename a few bones. (see image)

There is some weighting to do, I didn't do any of that. You should still be able to weight just the right side and run the MirrorBones plugin again.

Jake, I took a quick look and there are a few issues (scaling bones in the fingers and thumb). There is a bone in the foot that is out of position (Right Foot Controller Target) You did not have to move the Right Foot Controller, that's what the target bone is for. The Right Foot Controller being out of position (in an action after export) is the constraint issue I posted about and posted a new update to the installer. The only bones you need to manipulate, during the installation, are the bones I tell you to in the instructions. Tell me which is the most current version you posted of the model and I'll fix it. The dynamic bones got hidden after you ran the InstallRig plugin, since they do not have "Geom" in the name. They're still there, just hidden. I would set them up after you install the rig, but it doesn't really matter. You just need to make sure you parent them to the Head_Geom bone. I haven't had time yet to look at the MirrorBones and CFA issues in v15 yet. The updated installer works fine for me in v13 and v14. I have to install v15 to do some testing.

Check the ambiance intensity setting of the skin group.

I posted another update in my first post. I found a couple of oversights by me. First is I didn't name the carpal bones with Geom in the name, they get hidden after running the InstallRig plugin. Second is in the instructions, a few people have had scaling issues during the install. They didn't scale the bones in the X, Y and Z axis' equally, which causes problems. So, I update the instructions to reflect that as a reminder in each scaling situation. I still need to look at the MirorBones plugin issue in v15. I've also noticed v15 is not CFAing the same as v13 or v14, there is some kind of offset/tolerence issue, which is causing the MirrorBones plugin to not assign cps properly. I'll try to look into this on the weekend, I have alot of other things to take care of as well, so my time is limited. Sorry for inconvience.

I found 2 corrupt constraints in the IK leg setup. I posted a new installer in my first post. If you are in the middle of an install, drag the relationship folder from the new installer to your model. If you already exported your model from an action, drag the relationship folder to your model and reexport your model from an action. Make sure the IK leg setups are turned off, in the models user properties, before exporting. There also may be an issue with the MirrorBones plugin in v15. I'll look into that as soon as I can. Sorry for the inconvience.

Here's your model with the arms fixed, bones mirrored and exported from an action. If you find any problems, let me know. I'll have to look into the mirrorbones issue in v15, there may be a problem. I also found 2 corrupt constraints in the IK leg setup when I exported your model. I'll be posting a new installer soon with a fix. g_final_half_Mark_export.zip

Sorry Steve, I got caught up with other things. You didn't post a pic or a reply about finishing the legs, so I wasn't sure if you were still with me. Do you still have a version before you ran the InstallRig plugin? I'll post a pic for the arms if you do. The InstallRig plugin just deletes the INSTALL bones, hides bone that aren't geometry bones, and unhides the geometry bones. It doesn't do anything special.

Yes, it is suppose to be out front, it only needs the Y (translation of the "Balance INSTALL" bone) and X (scale of the "Balance INSTALL" bone). It's a visual target that positions other hidden bones in the rig as well. It will get repositioned after you export the model from an action. The null has a translate limit that doesn't allow Y translation in the action when exporting, so it needs the Y translation when positioning the rig. The X translation positions other bones. So, don't worry about it, the Z translation is taken care of in the action when exporting. I would recommend redoing the leg install, you have bones out of position (thigh too high, knee too low and maybe ankle too low as well).

I'll get to the arms tomorrow.