Useful Links (Archive)

[rusty]

If, in a large model, you are moving around lots of groups, decals and especially bones or poses, close the modeling window and any other window that contains the model. Things will go much faster.

 

Rusty

[rusty]

How to 'see' what Smart Skin is really doing...

 

If you go to the PWS and expand the Relationships portion of your model, you'll see all the bones that you have Smart Skined ('SS') or put another type of relationship on. If you expand one of these bones all the way (press '*' on the number pad to completely expand or completely collapse an element in the PWS) you will find each CP you moved when you created the smart skin and under each of these you'll find the SS key data.

 

 

Under each CP, identified by its CP#, you'll see each SS key for the SS and beside each key is the SS key's value which is made up of 6 numbers. The first 3 are the x, y and z rotation of the bone. The second 3 values tells AM where the CP needs to be when the bone is at that rotation -- the x, y and z offsets for that CP -- that is to say, how far the CP moves from its original location.

 

How can this help you? I do not know of any way to directly change these numbers (if you know of one, please let me know!). However, they can tell you what influance the SS bone rotation has on the CP and, you can delete the key and using the rotation values you can go back and change the key.

 

Looking at it from the other end, if a CP is going someplace that you don't want, you can select that CP and right click on it and select 'Select CP'. In the properties panel you will find the CP's # plus data on its location. With this you can invoke one of my favorite AM features which I use all the time; the PWS filters. At the top right of the PWS click on the down arrow and select 'New Filter'. The Filter Editor will open and here you can name the filter (I'd call it 'work' cause I'll be using it for lots of different things), choose to save it with the project file and enter data on what you want to filter on. Enter the CP # in the 'Object names containing this text' and choose Okay (I rarely full with the Type tab). A new PWS tab will open which contains all instances of that CP # (careful, not all may refer to that CP). Now out of habit I then select the 'All' tab then re-select the new tab you just created -- this kind of resets things and refreshes the data on the filter tab. Now you can see all SSs and poses that influence that CP. Now you can expand the CP and see its SS keys and... now you'll also know what they mean.

 

Please let me know if these tidbits of AM wisdom are helpful... if no one is seeing them or, no one cares LOL I can go to bed at 2:00 AM instead of typing these things in!

 

Cheers,

Rusty

[Rodney]

Please let me know if these tidbits of AM wisdom are helpful... if no one is seeing them or, no one cares LOL I can go to bed at 2:00 AM instead of typing these things in!

 

I definitely appreciate the time you are taking to post these Rusty.

There is still so much to learn.

 

I must confess I am not very far beyond the stage of 'Smartskin? What's that?'

But I am learning! One day at a time.

 

I should feel guilty for robbing you of your sleep.

Can you forgive me if I don't?

 

If, in a large model, you are moving around lots of groups, decals and especially bones or poses, close the modeling window and any other window that contains the model. Things will go much faster.

 

Tips like these are so straightforward, so simple.

You'd think they'd be easy to remember.

Thanks for helping us remember!

 

(Note the Topic Title change)

[rusty]

Rodney,

 

I definitely appreciate the time you are taking to post these Rusty.

There is still so much to learn.

 

Animation is an endless road... that's why we like it.

 

Shift + Lock (Note that you get the same results at this point)

Click the Lock Icon again

Everything is locked

 

I must confess I am not very far beyond the stage of 'Smartskin? What's that?'

But I am learning! One day at a time.

Yeah... Uh huh... right.

 

I should feel guilty for robbing you of your sleep.

Can you forgive me if I don't?

Whoa! Nothing to forgive! I hate to tell you this but.. I don't do it for you (wish I did... sorry)! I like to help others when I can -- and so therefore... I really do it for myself. (Who said that?)

 

(Note the Topic Title change)

That's what was needed... what I was looking for... almost did it myself (except... 'I' can't... hmmm...). The name change should really help draw attention and contributions!

 

Thanks!!

Rusty

 

PS: Any more of those 'shift' tricks 'Rodney'?

[rusty]

More key stuff!!

 

Select some of your model. Hit the 'H' key to hide the rest (shortcut keys ARE and immense time saver!!).

 

Select some more of your model. Hit the 'H' key, everything un-hides, hit it again, now you have what you want...

 

~or~

 

just hold down the key while pressing the 'H' key and get what you want! This adds to the hidden!

 

:-)

 

Rusty

[HomeSlice]

At the top right of the PWS click on the down arrow and select 'New Filter'. The Filter Editor will open and here you can name the filter (I'd call it 'work' cause I'll be using it for lots of different things), choose to save it with the project file and enter data on what you want to filter on.

I have never even noticed this feature. This is something I have been wanting for years. Thanks for pointing it out.

[Rodney]

A good rule of thumb is to assume there is always someone out there that doesn't know your tip, trick or suggestion.

And if you repeat something someone already posted... thats fine! We can always use the refresher.

 

With that in mind I offer the following: (Its not a Shift key shortcut... its a Control Key tip)

 

For Modeling

When adjusting the Bias Magnitude of a spline and you want to be very careful not to adjust too much (or prefer to keep things symmetrical) hold the |Ctrl| key down while adjusting the Bias. This will adjust the Bias Magnitude along the current spline path equally down both sides of the selected spline.

 

This can be particularly useful when smoothing meshes in Shaded Wireframe View.

 

To see the difference in behavior, adjust the Bias first without holding the Control key down.

They try it with Control key pressed.

Control key down

Control key up

Use both as required.

 

Do not fear the Magnitude Bias.

[rusty]

Deleting half of a model without getting all those spline loops you have to kill.

 

Many times when modeling a symmetrical model you have need to delete half of it on the X axes (eventually you'll copy/flip/attach it). If you select half and hit delete you'll almost always get spline loops that have to be killed. A way around that is to select the half you want to keep and copy it, then select the entire model and delete it! Then you paste the half you copied! No pesky spline loops.

 

Rusty

[rusty]

Quick way to make icons for models in the AM libraries...

 

Have a model in the library that has no icon... all you see is yellow puddly boy? Open the model, make sure your model window is roughly a square and that the model fills it and is at a good angle for viewing. You can do a render lock to see what it will look like. Right click and select 'Make Icon' from the context menu. To see what it will look like open the model's properties and expand 'file info' for a preview. If your happy, save the model. You're in like Flin.

 

Rusty

 

Note: Your render options will affect this function.

[steve392]

Thats a perticuly good one I use it quite bit and allways get them splines thank's Rusty

[rusty]

Constraining the movement of a group of CPs or one CP.

(More then just 1, 2, 3)

 

If you select part of your mesh or just one CP and move it you can move it anywhere except directly toward you or away from you. If you hold down the “1”, “2”, or “3” keys while dragging, movement will be constrained to the x, y, or z-axis respectively.

 

For just a single CP there is more… the taoAM manual states on page 136:

= Hold down the “4” key while dragging a control point to constrain it to one of the splines that intersects it.

= Hold down the “5” key while dragging a control point to constrain it to the other spline that intersects it.

= Hold down the “6” key while dragging a control point to move it perpendicular to the surface.

 

However, in V14.0 anyway, it’s not quite that simple… while the “6” key seems to do exactly what it says, the “4” and “5” keys do not really constrain the movement to the splines but rather to the splines bias handle(s) (and an imaginary line which extends from them). At some point, I thought that it really did follow the splines and I’d really appreciate it if someone with other versions installed would let us know how this reacts in those versions.

 

Finally, if you select one of the splines when you select the control point (which you normally do unless you draw a box around the CP), that will be the spline which will influence the movement when you hold down the “4” key and the “3” key will act on the other spline.

 

Rusty

[steve392]

Would you know if there is a control to keep the rotate manipulator on a axis when moving it ,Im thinking rigging here ,I allways find that the hardest part

[Rodney]

Would you know if there is a control to keep the rotate manipulator on a axis when moving it ,Im thinking rigging here ,I allways find that the hardest part

 

It use to be that a Named Group would maintain the settings of a Pivot point.

I'm not sure thats true any more.

But its worth the effort to test.

 

Make sure the Rotation is part of a Named Group.

And then Save your model.

Close it.

Open.

See if the settings stick.

 

I know the classic method of maintaining the axis of rotation was to jot the numbers down on paper.

Then plug them back in where appropriate.

[steve392]

I don't think I explained myself very well Rodney I was TRYING to say when rotating a bone ,as in placing a rig .As in the 2008 rig when doing the feet bones you use the rotate manipulator to get them into position say xat 0 y at 90 and z at 0 ,but its hard to move it in one axes without moving the other,it must take me the longest part of the rigging process,probably its just me

[rusty]

I don't think I explained myself very well Rodney I was TRYING to say when rotating a bone ,as in placing a rig .As in the 2008 rig when doing the feet bones you use the rotate manipulator to get them into position say xat 0 y at 90 and z at 0 ,but its hard to move it in one axes without moving the other,it must take me the longest part of the rigging process,probably its just me

 

Okay, if you select the bone and press the 'r' key you'll go into the advanced rotation manipulator mode and you'll see rings (an orb) around the bone, one for each of the x, y and z axes (color coordinated) and a white ring for rotating the bone in relation to the screen view. Grab it anywhere else in the orb and its 'free' rotation. Your cursor will change as you pass over these rings so you know your on it.

 

Rusty

 

Edit: you can also bring up the... er... whats it called... a see through input box that kind of follows your cursor which you can type values directly in. I don't have AM open darn it... hope you know what I mean.

[steve392]

Thank's Rusty Ill give that a go

[rusty]

How to stop recording a Relationship...

 

When you are creating a Relationship (Relationships include Poses and Smart Skin) sometimes it is desirable to move something that you do not want in the Relationship. For instance you are making a pose called 'left nose down up' and you would like to make it similar go the 'right nose down up' which you've already created... its nice to move the 'right nose down up' pose up before you adjust the pose so you can see how it moves. However you do not want this pose movement to be 'recorded' in the pose you are making. By turning off the 'Record Relationship' tool (two interconnecting circles which, by default, is located between the 'Mirror Mode' and 'Animate Mode' tools) you can move poses, CPs and/or bones and this motion will not record in your Relationship. You must remember to turn the 'Record Relationship' tool back on before continuing though or you'll likely have to redo the creation of the Relationship.

 

Rusty

[steve392]

Another goody ,I done exactly that the other day ,made a pose and added another pose by mistake ,trying to see how it moved ,Thank's again

[Caroline]

'Record Relationship' tool

I swear that button wasn't there yesterday. Rusty - make a few more new buttons, please

[rusty]

Another goody ,I done exactly that the other day ,made a pose and added another pose by mistake ,trying to see how it moved ,Thank's again

 

 

Removing unwanted items in Relationships....

 

So I hope you drilled down into the relationship and removed the pose rather then redo it because that is real easy to do. Just select the pose in the relationship area of your model (in the PSW) and hit the splat key on your numeric key pad to completely expand it and everything is easy to see.

 

I swear that button wasn't there yesterday. Rusty - make a few more new buttons, please

 

LOL. I'd like to remove a couuple... like the Compensate Mode button... instead you just hold down the shift key when you click on the constraint target to NOT have compensate mode! I mean how many times do you NOT want to use Compensate Mode... almost never. Compensate should be the default.

 

Rusty

[NancyGormezano]

Compensate should be the default.

 

It IS the default in ver 15

[Rodney]

It IS the default in ver 15

 

That it is. That it is.

 

I'd grown use to the old way enough that it took me quite a while to make the transition (still occasionally forget).

I do like it better as its handled in v15.

[rusty]

Compensate should be the default.

 

It IS the default in ver 15

 

You're kidding! Well let me pull my foot out of my mouth so I can eat my words! Hey, I made that request in V9.5 I think. Well the jokes on me. Here's a tip Rusty: Don't shoot off your mouth if you're a version behind!

[rusty]

The art or selecting CPs and splines...

 

I'm lucky in that I believe that I have every tutorial made for AM. In at least 3 tuts that I can think of, the person doing the tut does something kind of strange and so I have to offer this tip. What happens is he/she carefully selects a bunch of patches on the right side of the model and names the group. Now the same patches need to be selected on the left side and what happens is... they carefully select the patches on the left side and name the group. There's a far easier way: period, period, left click for the menu and select 'Mirror Selection'. The period, period inverts the selection then inverts it again so that the same patches are selected but in the PWS your no longer have the right side group selected, you have a new temporary group for the left side.

 

Rusty

[rusty]

How to learn as you go and add tips to this thread...

 

As my final tip (for a while anyway, I'm at the end of my list but will likely think of more) I'll just say that every time you open a menu in AM, scan that menu and if you see, as you very often will, a menu item you've never used and don't know what it does... figure it out then add a post to this thread and tell everyone else.

 

Rusty

[Rodney]

Thanks for all the great tips Rusty!

 

For everyone else looking in please feel free to cast your tips, tricks and suggests into the mix.

What you type will always be new to someone and more often than not we forget.

 

Post them if you've got them.

Someone out there will always learn from them.