How do I pull a character's arms off?

[skurge13]

I'm trying to get an animation into a competition by March 8th, but it might be an impossible task. I only just bought the program a couple weeks ago. What I need to be able to do is pull the arms, make them stretch, then pop off the body. The only thing I can think of is to have two different models, one with the arms on and one off, then just switch models in the frame that his arms come off. Will this mean I'll have to rig the arms twice? Should I use the 2001 rig? Ugh, not really sure what to do here, and time is of the essence.....

[adamP]

The 2001 rig is the way to go if time is of the essence. You don't need 2 different models. the arm bones don't just rotate, they also translate, just like any other bone. The only thing you're gonna have to do is make sure your model's mesh around the arms/shoulders is able to be seperated. So you'll just have to setup up the mesh so that the limbs can appear to be attached, but then they can be removed without affecting the mesh, but you don't need 2 models.

[pleavens]

1. Save a copy of the model as something like "myModel_sperate_arms.mdl"

2. Open the copy and break the splines that connect the arm to the shoulder area.

3. Extrude from the remaining arm spline loop closest to the shoulder to fill in the gap.

4. Assign the new extrusion to the correct "bicep" geometry bone of your rig. You may also need to assign the loop at the shoulder to the "shoulder" bone.

5. Adjust the extruded loop to better match the shoulder.

6. Drag the the root bone of each arm up in the hierarchy to the model root. You should also delete any bones that are not geometry bones in the arms. Make sure that the manipulter properties of the "bicep" geometry bone allow translate.

 

7. Animate the first model doing all of the body movements (including arms up to the fall off point) in an action.

8. Bring the first model into your choreography.

9. Apply position, scale and basic path constraints as needed.

10. Apply the action.

11. Bake the actions applied to the first model.

12. Export and then import the baked action.

13. Drag the second model to the choreography in the PWS.

14. Apply the imported action from step 12 to the second model.

15. Turn the active property of the two models on and off as needed.

16. Animate the arm(s) coming loose.

17. Apply any additional chor actions as needed. (use ADD)

 

See the project for more details.

 

 

Example movie from project

 

Example project - right click and save-as

 

Phil

[skurge13]

Wow, that was fast, wasn't expecting any response, really. Thanks! Not sure if I totally understand it, but I'll post again if I can't get it to work. Still have to finish the model, do a wee bit of texturing, then rig.....gaaah, I hope I can get it done, even if it's total crap, I want to get something in. Even crap is better than nothing.

[peterpan]

Hi guys , great idea , but would there be any help as to what contraints are used and how? please

[pleavens]

No changes are needed to the constraints, nor are additional constraints needed.

 

The moving of the "bicep" bone to the root of the model, makes the arm available to move away from the body, and not be effected by skeletal animation that is applied to the body.

 

 

Phil