TSM 2

[Slipin Lizard]

I would just like to ask the fellow AM'ers out there who are using the TSM2 rigging plug in how they like it. Is it worth the money and does it really make rigging all that much easier?

[luckbat]

Yes it is and yes it does.

 

Next question.

[Fishman]

Actually, I've had this question as well. I would love to hear a more detailed answer than Yes and Yes.

 

How does it make rigging easier? How complex are the rigs? How easy are they to apply to a model? How do the rigs compare to the Hash 2001 rig or even some of the rigs proposed in this forum?

 

Thanks,

 

Scott

[luckbat]

Have you watched the rigging video?

 

http://lib1.store.vip.sc5.yahoo.com/lib/ra...pes/TSM2-01.mov

[Slipin Lizard]

Yeah, in a way I don't mind the "Yes and Yes" answer, someone told me that their instructional video was really good, and I got it, and it is very good. I'm just learning about rigging now, and have two characters ready to be rigged. I watched the demo video on TSM2, but I wasn't completely sold as it seemed the guy was still doing a lot of tweeking and even then he keeps saying "this is just a rough example". So it would be nice to hear from people who are using it... what's the advantage? what part of the rigging process is it making easier? For me, anything that makes the work easier is well worth it, and to be honest I don't see myself making really complex characters (maybe an octopus some day, who knows). If the TSM2 is going to make rigging a snap and allow me to move on to animation, great. But if learning it is just about as complex as learning how to build the rig from sratch, then there's not much point. Love to hear more from TSM2 users, but appreciate the response.

[luckbat]

Basically, TSM2 gives you a generic rig that you fit to your model. It doesn't do fan bones, or CP weighting, or any of the other stuff that modelers need to do to customize a rig to their individual joints.

 

What it does do is create a complex network of invisible interlocking bones that force the visible control bones to behave themselves as you move them around. It also gives you an FK/IK slider for the hands and feet, which I've used countless times (well, for the hands, anyway).

 

Basically, the advantage of TSM2 is that you don't have to personally create the dozens and dozens of constraints and intermediate bones required by a rig--Raf Anzovin has pre-created them for you.

 

My TSM2-rigged models bend and pose elegantly with a minimum of effort; they react to adjustments in ways that I expect them to. I'm sure I could build a decent rig on my own, given enough time, but just like not everyone feels the need to personally assemble their own PC, not everyone needs to personally assemble their own A:M rig. For those people, TSM2 is a lifesaver.

[robcat2075]

And the IK Spine makes posing much esier. AFAIK AM2001 spine is just a simple FK spine.

 

It's great that A:M is powerful enough that most novices can put a rig of some sort in by following a tutorial, and if someone has great new ideas for rigging A:M is a perfect laboratory for them. But TSM is about getting you past simple rigging and into real animating ASAP. All the things you learn about rigging while rigging really shed no light on how to animate well, so for me, the less time spent rigging, the better.

 

Basically, the advantage of TSM2 is that you don't have to personally create the dozens and dozens of constraints and intermediate bones required by a rig--Raf Anzovin has pre-created them for you.

And just to elaborate on why this is handy...

 

suppose you've made a character and rigged him. then you decide you want to make a variation of the character with longer legs and a shorter torso. Stretching the mesh... not too hard, but adjusting the completed rig into that stretched mesh... huge hassle.

 

Much easier to adjust the basic skeleton bones and run TSM on them to properly put in all the invisible control bones that you'd have to srot through and rescale in a fully rigged model.

 

And suppose you decide to change the smartskin on a joint. It's easy to go back to your basic skeleton model (where you were supposed to do the smartskin anyway) then rerun TSM on it. You can adjust smartskin on a fully rigged model, but most people get confused and mess it up.

[Slipin Lizard]

Thanks guys... I liked some of the analogies you are using. I think I definitely fit into the category of user that you are describing... I don't want to build my own PC... I'm happy just modeling my own characters and would like to move on to the animation process as quickly and as easily as possible. The "invisible bones" aspect sounds complicated, and by purchasing TSM2 I'll be able to bypass that stuff for now, and come back to it later if I need to. I'll give TSM2 a try, thanks for your input!

[luckbat]

We're here to help. If you run into trouble with TSM2, just holler.