rusty
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Posts posted by rusty
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I'm assigning cps to the face bones (cheeks, brow, etc) , but nothing moves when I work the Face interface nulls in an action. Is it necessary to tell the face bones where to move somewhere?
My heads are rigged with an older version of the rig used in the Squetch rig... I did them mostly from scratch. They were based on Shawn Freeman's bone based facial rig and on the 3D controls introduced in the 'Stop Starring' book converted to AM. So... I don't know what's been done in the Squetch rig. However, I created a pose to do each 'thing' then created the proper translation relationship on the nulls to drive the pose or poses that were needed (i.e. if the eye opened when the null moved horizontally an X-translation relationship on that null would drive the 'eye open' pose). Open the null's properties, expand the translation until you see the X translation, right click on it and select create relationship. I'm fairly sure that's what's done in Squetch rig as well... how far the mechanics were taken for you in the rig I don't know.
Rusty
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What I do is:
1.
click on the layer (selects all pixels on layer) 2. Do Selection->Save Selection name it 'alpha'
3. Save as 32 bit targa (tga)
Looking closer, I think you've already been whittled down to this with some extra safety stuff and 'looking'.
Rusty
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I have put now the (hopefully :-)) corrected version on my website .
Fantastic. Thanks! Mirror_bones is not listed under V14 however I'm going to assume that you think it will work on V14.
Thanks,
Rusty
Edit: Yes it seems to be working now (on V14). Thanks again!
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OK....another quick question then.
Here's the weighting of a cp on the stomach of green monkey. I assume you rigged him Mark. Is there a secret to all that weighting? 
Or is it trial and error? What process do you go through? It must have taken ages to weight him! And what's the difference between say "stomach_IO_geom" and "stomach_geom"? Why are both used in this list?I appreciate any help.
Afraid so on the trial and error. Mark starts off exactly the way I've always started... not sure why starting there is so common... I think we are just working outward from the lowest level bone (or highest parent bone). Basically you just move the rig around and see where you need adjusting. The shoulders, arms, hands and legs are the hardest (well, LOL, not counting the face!).
I usually I try to get it as close as I can by adjusting bone locations and adding fan bones (this step doesn't seem to be part of the process in this rig) then, I try to ace it or get it as close to perfect as I can using CPU weighting. Finally I use smart skin where needed for the final tweaks.
Since I need to rig 8 characters, some male, some female, all with slightly different body's, I've saved one copy with just the CP assignments to use on all of the rest (these won't change I hope) but I'll also try to use a copy of the rig with the CP weighting done to see how close it is hoping to reduce the amount of work needed.
I do not know how to add to the wiki new features site but all of these Q&As should go into a FAQ for others. Anyone?
Cheers,
Rusty
Edit: There is a very good example of this entire process using the Dix model... somewhere... done by someone. Most likely it is on one of the AM SIG video sets.
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I have put now the (hopefully :-)) corrected version on my website .
Fantastic. Thanks! Mirror_bones is not listed under V14 however I'm going to assume that you think it will work on V14.
Thanks,
Rusty
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Awesome! Thanks for jumping on this so quickly! I'll be watching for progress!
Cheers,
Rusty
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Hi,
I've been trying to mirror cp assignments using mirror_bones with limited success. Portions work but most fails: no cps assigned; endless loop of missing string and real time renderer errors.
Is mirror_bones compatible with V14?
Do you need to have weights on some of the CPs? I don't -- just trying to mirror CP assignments.
Thanks for any help!
Rusty
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Ken,
I've just finished assigning CPs -- right side anyway (I'll focus on just one side, perfect it then mirror it all). The process is fairly clear. But I told David I'd attempt to assemble an FAQ on the process -- however, the only entries that I have so far are about the existing examples and two bones that don't exist in the other rigs that I've worked with; stomach_IO_geom and chest_IO_geom. The answer from the horse's mouth is here.
With only a couple of FAQ entries I've not taken any action but there'll be more. I've been trying to think of where such a thing should go and the AM Features wiki seems the logical place. Then hopefully people can add as things come up.
As you move forward, if you can, keep track of any questions you come upon.
Rusty
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That is very good! That would definetly make an outstanding rubber mask too.
Rusty
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'1' on the numeric pad.
r
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Very nice! Nice walk cycle too. If it were me I'd add more arm muscles and more brow ridge (a lot more) *but* that's just me... he has a cool look just the way he is.
Rusty
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Mike,
I should probably stay out of this, I don't consider myself an expert although I've fought with this stuff for enough years. However if I stumble forward perhaps someone can straighten us both out!
What you have are cowboys and Indians and if you try to simply put them together (with out a 'peace treaty') you get undesirable results.
Cowboys -- the video you're probably rendering from AM is:
1. A progressive scan
2. Square pixies
3. Aspect ratio 1.0
4. 30 fps (or at least some even number)
5. Resolution... whatever -- probably 640x480
Indians -- video created by your video camera is:
1. 'Interlaced' with either the Upper or Lower field first (which I won't try to explain except to say its the method used to paint a TV screen),
2. Non-square pixels
3. Aspect ratio 0.9
4. Probably 29.97 fps, drop frame
5. Resolution probably 720x480
You can see the problem -- their different and just enough to make people just starting out crazy. I'm not even getting into the audio part. But don't fear...
Peace treaty -- what you need to do is:
1. De-interlace or 'interpret' the camera video
or
Render with the settings of an Indian.
As for all the rest... I think it takes care of itself!
I de-interlace my video in Adobe Premiere because I capture my video using that program. I'm not sure what you can use but someone will chime in and tell you or maybe you know. I'm not sure how to handle this in AM alone and I'd like to know.
Cheers,
Rusty
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The "stomach_IO_geom" and "chest_IO_geom" are for chest and stomach expansion and contraction and are used in the "Animation_Controls/TORSO" Poses. You don't have to use them, you can use muscle movement for that if you like. If you do decide to use them, weight them last for the torso. First, do your weighting using the "stomach_geom", "mid_section_geom" and "chest_geom", get everything to bend the way you want, and then expand the stomach and chest using those torso poses to weight between those and the "IO" bones.
If you put together a FAQ, it would probably help a lot of people...you've been very thorough in everything else you've done, Rusty. Anyone that wants to make a tutorial, guide, chart, list or whatever is more than welcome as long as they make sure the information is accurate at the time it's made. I'm going to be doing some tutorials over the next couple of months as I put together a personal project, hopefully those will help people as well.
David,
I don't know why I didn't think about that. Breathing is important to me and my characters always breath in and out using the chest and the nostrils (don't think I saw a nostril flare in your face rig) -- its of course subtle but 3D characters must always move in some way. Did I see mechanisms for arm and leg muscles too? Also, even though I'm not using the face until later, the continuous motion in the throat/neck when a character speaks is also important to me; does your face rig have mechanisms for this? Or, while I'm asking, cheeks in/out, ears down/up, tongue in cheek, eye tick, swallow, sniff or face jiggle or anything else out of the ordinary (if that has a definition)?
Re an FAQ, I'll try. I have (I guess we all have) a lot of irons in the fire. Bit it should be easy really and I'll run it by you before its released (the wiki and pinned post I'd imagine).
Cheers,
Rusty
Edit: Re faq: as I ask questions and you answer its just a matter of copy/paste into a document. However, this will only catch questions from myself. A search of the forum would capture questions from others and your answers -- in the past. I will 'try' to find the time for this. However, this won't catch questions and answers coming from others in the future. You are really the right person to do this though; because you (and Mark) will get the questions in the future and its just a copy/paste and also because you are the answer part. I can't search the forums on a continual baseus. Perhaps, you could ask people to update the wiki faq with their q and a's? Or, if I start it, you take it over just copy/paste as questions come in to you. I know you do enough as it is so perhaps asking the people asking questions to do it is the way to go. After all, that's what a wiki is for, no?
Cheers,
Rusty
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Hi David,
Tonight I started the CP assignments… perhaps not the best timing because I’m exhausted and my mind has turned to clay at this point. Anyway, I usually start this process in the area of the hips. The first thing I ran into here was a geometry bone I have not seen in any other rigs; stomach_IO_geom. In looking at what CPs are assigned to it in the v13_Squetchy_Sam_06_15_2007 model, what I see is a lot of weighting between it and other bones. The problem here is initially I need to just assign some CPs to it and not knowing what it does this is hard to do. Then eventually I’ll need to put it in an action and play with probably the control bones (or ???) to see if it looks right and weight it until it does look right. The problem here is that I have no idea what stomach_IO_geom is there for, what it will eventually do or, what bones to manipulate in an action and, LOL, what to look for when I do!
Oh dear. Info on this particular bone will get me by this and that will do for a day or so however, I will run into more of this and I know it. Is there any more documentation on this phase anywhere? If not, perhaps we can baby me through this process and in doing so create an FAQ on this phase for others. What do you think?
Thanks,
Rusty
Edit: BTW on that "automated" reset compensates... my site is full or I would have uploaded it for you by now. However, I must go through and clean up things before I can do it and this is taking time. Sorry.
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Wow! Very NICE!! Well done!
How was the music created?? Tell me everything! Is that Martin singing?
Congratulations!
Rusty
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Hi,
This is so cool. I just sorted almost a hundred misc models -- from the Extra CDs and from past projects -- into my models folders (props/outdoor/city, furniture/home, furniture/office, and so on). Before this I sorted over 200 images into my image folders (signs/road, signs/misc, signs/store, nature/flowers, nature/trees, backgrounds/city, and so on).
Then I clicked on one icon and went to dinner. When I came back, these were all in my AM library organized by folder.
THANK YOU Glenn Anthofer!!!! Library Manager is f'ing outstanding! One click on "UpdateLibrary.bat" and forget it! If anyone is interested, this bat file contains the following:
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv
echo "!!!! BU Existing Library Files Now !!!!"
pause
LibMgrStatus-0.36.exe RP-Models.ini auto
LibMgrStatus-0.36.exe RP-Resources.ini auto
LibMgrStatus-0.36.exe AM-CD-Data.ini auto
LibMgrStatus-0.36.exe AM-Extras1.ini auto
LibMgrStatus-0.36.exe Extra-Data.ini auto
LibMgrStatus-0.36.exe Extra-Data-Sets.ini auto
LibMgrStatus-0.36.exe Hash-CD-Resources.ini auto
LibMgrStatus-0.36.exe Actor-Factory.ini auto
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
When executed it reminds me to nuke the existing library files (I don't want to append to these!) and then executes 8 LibMgr configurations I've saved which takes care of all the different ways I've saved models, images, projects, actions, sound effects, chors, and materials (and hopefully video clips can be added to images later).
YES!
Rusty
Edit: Darn, I forgot to add 2 models. Okay, no problem. I added them and... click! Who cares! (I also added deleting the existing lib files to the bat file.)
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All of the bones appeared to be in the correct place, so I don't think it's the installer. It looks like you missed the "right_thigh_base" bone when you reset compensates, Rusty...it can domino from there. I reset the compensates and it appears to work fine, I'll send you a link in a PM.
Oh oh... user error. Gulp! Sorry. Obviously an error in my automated reset compensates process.
Rusty
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Hi David,
Somehow we both missed the right leg -- I guess the arms distracted us because I went back and checked and it was there.
I'm assuming you may still have the model or can re-download it. If not let me know.
This could be user error but given that one leg is okay I'm thinking it is probably a bug. If it is user error -- some compensate done wrong or neglected, please let me know. I've been using my 'automated' reset compensates contraption and it may be a bug there (though I've looked and don't see it).
Cheers,
Rusty
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What is the percentage of people who have successfully uploaded pictures for face mappping. If you are one them please, oh please tell me just how you did it, because I want to be a part of that percentage.
Uploaded pictures for face mapping? I'm not sure I understand what you mean however, it might be the subject of a tutorial on my site. Go to www.virtualmediastudios.com, go to gallery, scroll to bottom, click on tutorial you find there and 'click' through it... see if this is what you're talking about.
Rusty
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how do you get video to play as rotoscope behind your model so you see them at same time. I get video to play but have to minimize one screen to see the other. Thanks in advance for any help.
For seeing a video with your model in:
1. A modeling window
2. An action Window
3. A chor window
While in the front view, right click on an empty area of the window to bring up the context menu. Select New->Rotoscope->Other and then select the video from disk. That should do it but if you have problems in an action or chor window select the rotoscope in the PWS, expand it and locate the frame number. On the action or chor frame zero (or whatever frame you want the video to start on) place a zero in the rotos frame number. Advance the action or chor's current frame number to where you want the video to end and then place the last frame of the video in the rotos frame number.
or
Import the video into the PWS image area. Drag and drop the video from the PWS to the window where you want it and drop it. In the menu that comes up specify 'rotoscope'. If needed set the roto frame number as discussed above.
I do this all the time to help animate a character (I video tape myself doing it). Sometimes it takes a moment for the video frame to appear after you change it but kick the tire a few times and it works.
Rusty
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David,
I need you help again. I redid the shoulders so that, with the arms out, the shoulders did not roll up (shrug) -- in this way the shoulder bone is level... with 18 models to rig I need to make things as easy and as 'normal' as possible. Then I redid everything up through the compensation adjustments However once again the arm control bones are not right. I'm doing something wrong and need to know what it is. I can't send every model to you for shoulder adjustments LOL. Maybe I need to remodel the arms to be straighter... or maybe I'm not aligning the install bones correctly... I hope you can figure it out.
The password is the same as before.
Again, thanks for all of your help!
Rusty
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I report the bad links every so often but nothing happens... not sure why.
Here it is.... well, for version 13 (I think its the same for all versions):
Cheers,
Rusty
I may have goofed up...
in Squetch - Rig
Posted
David,
I had exported the model, ran the install plug-in, reset the compensates and assigned the CPs. Then I decided I didn't like the placement of the shoulder and arm geometry bones... so I moved them all around. Now I wonder if maybe it is not that simple.
I have backups ever way from Tuesday and can fall back to any point. Do I need to go back to the action poses (Posable install) and correct it there and then carry forward again?
Thanks,
Rusty