Roger

Here is the file as an .avi file. This is the 3rd try, 2nd try I was trying to upload an uncompressed file and it was taking forever. bone_test.wmv

Its a flash file. I tried to record a .wmv file but I'm using this freeware video capture thing, it doesn't seem to want to save anything but flash files.

Here it is. I am pretty sure I made the thigh aim at the knee, not aim roll at the knee. (I had to zip the file because it wouldn't let me upload a flash file) screengrab_0_.zip

Hang on, the upload must not have worked.

Here is a screengrab I took. The legs look like they are moving properly, but I can't find the roll handle to rotate the leg bones. I hit R to go into rotate mode, I get the rotate manipulator but cannot rotate the legs since setting up the knee target. Mtpeak pointed out I should not need to do this. I thought the roll handled was the little line with the square on it pointing towards the knee? I can rotate that, but can only rotate left to right and not up/down. Left to right is of course the wrong way, unless I'm animating a horrible knee injury.

One thing I've noticed, I don't seem to be able to rotate my leg bones, either the thigh or calves now. I wonder if I screwed something up when making the knee targets? The feet don't follow the hips, which is good because they're not supposed to. And the knees bend if I translate the hips down. But If I try to rotate the leg bones now, they don't seem to do a whole heck of a lot. Also, I can't figure out where the heck all these extra poses I have came from. I know I've deleted them at least once. Seems like when I edit a relationship or add a new constraint I automatically get a new pose? Not sure if anyone will be able to tell anything from looking at a screenshot of the PWS.

One thing I noticed from Robcat's video was that when he did the aim-at constraints for the knee targets, the legs bent slightly at the knees. When I did mine, they did not do that - wonder if I missed a step? Or, maybe since my character has such short legs they don't behave the same way?

Should I be editing my existing relationship I have and adding the aim-at constraints for the knee target or should I creating a new realtionship? If not, in what situations do you want to create an entirely new relationship? Or are all constraints added to single relationship (or would it be better to say all constraints of a certain type are added to a relation ship - for instance, all leg constraints are in one relationship, all arm constraints in another relationship, etc.)? I successfully constrained the thighs to the knee targets, I'm just curious how it works, I guess.

Nancy, Thanks, I finally have my nulls in position. I should be using Kinematic "aim-at" constraints to aim the thighs at the knee targets, right? Roger

Don't worry, I will. My brain is shot for now, had a rough day. Going to try working on the penguin leg rig some tomorrow.

I often use Bird's Eye view when modeling, rotating parts to make sure they look ok, etc. However, since some parts are far away from wherever the pivot happens to be, its often difficult to use Bird's Eye to rotate around a single part. Does everyone else move the pivot to do this, or would I be better off using the rotate manipulator?

I am starting a new WIP thread to consolidate everything. I will be posting in this thread as opposed to my old WIP thread. Currently the working title for the film is A Dragon's Love Story. This may change - I'm mulling over one or two other titles. The story in a nutshell: A dragon was once in love with a princess that rejected him. Realizing his treasure hoard no longer brings him happiness and he is leading an empty existince, he heads out in search of a mate. He searches high and low but cannot find one. He is about to give up when he finds love where he least expects it. I imagine completed length to be about 3 to 5 minutes. Both the main characters are just about finished. My vision for the look of the film is a blend between more traditional claymation/stopmotion and CG. I will post what characters and models I have finished so far to this thread, and this thread will be the main thread for the project from here on out. I may also post some concept sketches or story boards, if I can get them to be presentable enough. I am going to try to update at least once or twice a week.

Nice animation - like the particles.

Is there some reason why I can't properly translate my nulls in bones mode? I click them to select, then hit the N key to translate. I try to move them, but nothing happens. Is it possible I locked them somehow? I am trying to move them in the Viewport, not in the PWS. For what its worth, they would move in Birdseye mode, but not in Front view, and then only on a diagonal.

Ok, I am adding the left and right knee targets now. My nulls show up in both the actions tree in the PWS and in the bones tree. Should the nulls only be created in Bones mode, and not in Action mode? I noticed in Rob's tutorial that he creates the nulls and positions them in bones mode, then does the constraints while in action mode. I think I may have messed up by creating the nulls in Action mode, and will need to do it the other way round.

Nancy, thanks - that's exactly what it was. I had the poses turned on in the Cho, but when I went to Action mode to test them out, they were not on. I did not realize that they were off - thought if you turned them on in one spot they stayed on in another.

I think I figured out where the extraneous poses are coming from - each time I add a new pose, even if I delete the previous ones, it tacks a number on the end and it shows up in pose sliders. Not sure why the old poses are still visible in pose sliders after deleting them from the Project Workspace. I've taken a screenshot of my bones and constraints for the legs, maybe I'm missing something, I'm about to collapse so if someone sees something obvious, let me know. If I move the hips, the feet don't follow but if I try moving the feet, the legs do not follow the feet. I thought I set up the kinematic constraints correctly.

Back after a bit more of a break than I thought - been busy. Anyway, I have 2 poses. One contains the fan bones, the other just has a relationship, but no bones associated with it. Not sure what it is doing. If I right click on that relationship for pose 3 and choose properties I then get the pose sliders window and pose properties window. In pose sliders, there is a Pose 1, but this pose does not show up in the Project Workspace. I take that back, it appears under User Properties, but its not clear what it does or what its controlling. If I click on it, all the bones light up.

That's just it, I have the original pose that controls the fan bones. There were no other poses than this one when I started working on the legs. Then, I created the new pose to deal with constraining the legs. I am not sure where the extra pose is coming from, unless I did something that created a copy of it.

Ok, I'm going for a real simple IK leg rig. Here is what I've done so far: 1. Moved the left and right foot to the same level as the pelvis (hips) 2. Kinematically constrained the left foot to the left femur and right foot to right femur When I move the hips, the feet don't move, which is good. However, when I move the feet, the legs don't follow. I know I must have missed something but am not sure what it is. Is there a constraint I missed? I have 3 poses - one governs the fan bones in the body and neck, I'm not worried about that one. The other 2 poses are set to on, so I'm not sure why the legs aren't following the feet. Seems like there should only be 2 poses, though, because while watching the "simplest IK leg rig" tutorial I noticed there is only one pose. What am I missing?

Ok, makes sense I guess.

Yep, inside appears to be gray, as if its a new or empty project.

Has anyone else ever noticed that occasionally, AM will not display a model when opening a project or choreography back up? For instance, lets say you have a project with only one model in it, and you open it back up, all AM will show is a gray screen. Then if you close and reopen it, the model will display. I'm not sure if its a problem with the graphics driver software or maybe I need to click on the model once in the Project Workspace in order for it to appear. Sometimes when i do that, I can see the model, sometimes I can't.

Well this is what I came up with, looks a bit odd but its ok I guess. I think the fact that I didn't use peaked splines gave me the bevelled look.

Well, I'm reviewing the tutorial now, so I guess I'll find out So far, it looks like it is set up the same way as mine.