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Keeping my feet on the ground


Tralfaz

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I have started rigging my AT-AT and have the front legs boned. The IK chain seems to work and I have added constraints so that the legs will bend in only one direction. After all, the legs are pretty much hinged joints.

 

I am trying to figure out how to keep the feet constrained to the ground, so that they don't go below ground level unless specifically moved there.

 

I have been trying to disect the Rabbit model and have found a number of bones that were hidden and partially undertand what is going on with the bones and the constraints.

 

Is there any documentation or tutorials on how to best accomplish this task and why it is being done the way it is? I would like to be able to understand what is going on instead of just copying or misinterpretting what is being done.

 

Hope this makes sense, I am in need of sleep right now...

 

Thanks...

Al

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  • Hash Fellow

 

I am trying to figure out how to keep the feet constrained to the ground, so that they don't go below ground level unless specifically moved there.

 

 

 

When are they going below the ground i f you haven't animated them to go there?

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Hi Rob:

 

When working with the rabbit before and creating a walk cycle, you could move the body of the rabbit and the feet would stay fixed to the ground. If you moved the body downwards, the legs would bend and the feet would not go below ground level.

 

Currently, if I move the body of the AT-AT, the feet move with it. If I move the body downwards, the feet move below ground level. If I move the body upwards, the feet lift off the ground level.

 

In the rabbit model, it looks like there are some extra balance and rigid bones connecting and constraining the feet along with some nulls (?) that the extra bones and feet are constrained to aim at. I believe these extras are what keep the feet on the ground, but do not fully understand it yet.

 

Thanks...

Al

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Played around a bit last night with this, unfortunately without much success. Will keep pluggin away though.

 

I found some tutorials in the A:M Resources that I will check out when I get home tonight.

 

This seems to be letter "R" in rigging - type problem: it is vey well explained in The Art Of A:M, so check it out!

 

Do you mean the little manual that comes with the software that has the exercises in it? If so, the only thing I found was the exercise of putting the rig into Thom. It explains what to do to complete the exercise, but not what everything is for or how the constraints and relationships are actually set up.

 

Thanks...

Al

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Sorry if I misled you... I was SURE that constraints are explained in the TAOA:M

this link certanly will help:

 

http://www.eggington.net/Hash/2001RigDocs/arms_legs.html

 

while you are there, look around: lots of info!

 

 

 

I just realized that you may get confused about the screenshots: they oviously are from the older version of A:M, but everything is basically the same, so make an effort to work through the tutorial

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No problem trajcedrv. There were some exercises using constraints in the book, like the Door's Stuck, which I did a while back.

 

I will look at the tutorial you posted later tonight.

 

Sometimes it takes a while for me to absorb information. I think killed too many brain cells when I was younger...

 

Al

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