Model problem

[AMkyle]

So anyways for christmas i got these Jeff Lew Animation video's. and the last one is a tutorial.

 

So i found where to get the character i needed for the tutorial and downloaded him and tried him on AM.

 

He has a skeleton, but when i try to animate with him, a lot of points dont work, like the foot targets and the hip targets . also certain parts of him when you move it just pulls the part off of him, like if you grab a certain arm bome, the arm just comes right off of the character.

 

Is it possible that im not downloading it right, and im missing something.

 

 

If any of you know whats going on, heres the link to where you download the guy

 

Name: green dude.

 

http://jefflew.com/DVD_support.html

[steve392]

I don't know the rig at all but did you check the constraints on off in the pose sliders ,maybe it has something you need to turn on

[robcat2075]

He has a skeleton, but when i try to animate with him, a lot of points dont work, like the foot targets and the hip targets . also certain parts of him when you move it just pulls the part off of him, like if you grab a certain arm bome, the arm just comes right off of the character.

 

I sense a mistake right there. You rotate arm bones, you dont' grab them and move them to new locations. Always use the rotate manipulators for bones, don't drag the tip around.

 

Jeff Lew uses an old technique for adding constraints to a character. Remember to import the action that came with the character and drop that on the character in the chor. When I do that, that character works fine.

[AMkyle]

He has a skeleton, but when i try to animate with him, a lot of points dont work, like the foot targets and the hip targets . also certain parts of him when you move it just pulls the part off of him, like if you grab a certain arm bome, the arm just comes right off of the character.

 

I sense a mistake right there. You rotate arm bones, you dont' grab them and move them to new locations. Always use the rotate manipulators for bones, don't drag the tip around.

 

Jeff Lew uses an old technique for adding constraints to a character. Remember to import the action that came with the character and drop that on the character in the chor. When I do that, that character works fine.

 

 

well alright, the rotate thing i get, but how do i Import the action.

[Rodney]

well alright, the rotate thing i get, but how do i Import the action.

 

Come on Kyle. You know how to import/open and apply actions.

You are going to have to convince us you don't.

[robcat2075]

You know there's a Project Workspace window, right?

You know there's an "Actions" folder in it , right?

 

And I hope to God you can right-click on it to load a file. If not, it's going to be a long day.

[AMkyle]

ok ok, yeah just kinda tired, i know what importing is and where it was, wasnt thinking. anyways i imported the contraints to this guy, and now i can open it up and have the foot targets work, and the other targets..

 

 

Anyways, i got a couple of problems. the only way i can open up that green dude model with the contraints working correctly, i cant save it as a model, only an action . so basically meaning, i cant just drag and drop this character with the bones working correctly from the contraints file into a choreography, so the only way i can animate this guy is making actually i dont even think i can animate him at all. the only way i can move his bones correctly is if i double click on the action that has the contraints for this guy to work, but basically, that makes you edit it, not make a new action kinda.

so im not able to animate him.

 

 

 

also the other problem i got is that when i click on some certain bones, i grab that part of the model and pull it.

So like whats happening is like, well, im grabbing the base of the bone in front of the bone i want to grab and i basically am editing where the bones are, as well as moving the splines to follow the bones

 

 

As shown here

 

 

 

 

 

With my first problem though is maybe im not importing it, i think i tried importing it, but i couldnt see it to import into my guy

 

as shown here, so i think i opened it using that model instead of importing it into the model??

im not sure if im correct

 

 

heres a picture of when i open import and im in the file BUT THE CONTRAINTS dont show up.

 

also, it might be that im importing the wrong thing because when i go to <file> <import> it comes up with a list saying: model, lighting dxt blah blah something like that. and some other things. i looked at all of them and with each one, the contraints action still wouldnt show up!!!

[itsjustme]

Here is a v13 Project with both the YellowDude and GreenDude set up in a choreography...everything should be embedded in the Project. I just put both characters' arms at their sides to show that things work correctly. Rotate the bones, don't translate them...that's how these characters are rigged.

 

Hope that helps, Kyle.

v13_Yellow_and_Green_Dudes_project.zip

[robcat2075]

well alright, the rotate thing i get,

 

Then why, a day later, are you still dragging those bones?

 

Also, Jeff Lews DVD explains how to load and use those characters. Why are you not doing it like that?

[mtpeak2]

Import the model into a new project, import the action into the project, drag the model into a new choreography, then drag the action (from the actions folder) onto the model shortcut in the choreography. Now you're ready to animate in the choreography.

[AMkyle]

well alright, the rotate thing i get,

 

Then why, a day later, are you still dragging those bones?

 

 

 

well, ill try to squeeze my war around that, it just is a bit annoying, one thing i noticed is that the characters pre-made for AM you cant drag the bones, like if you click on the base of a bone, it selects the tip of the one behind it automatically to avoid dragging bones.

 

is there any way i can turn off something so i wont drag bones.

 

 

 

 

Also i found out how to make the contraining work in choreography and stuff, so im good.

 

 

thanks for the other help guys, its really nice to have a lot of people happy to answer some questions.

 

Also robcat when you mentioned that jefflew has a section in his video where he shows how to use those characters, what part is that?

[AMkyle]

sorry for the double post, but i just really need this question answered.

 

Is there anyway to turn off the dragging of bones? because it seems like the characters that come with AM, you cant drag out their bones. if you select the base of one bone, it will automatically select the tip of the bone thats right below it.

 

with the jeww lew green dude, you can actually grab the base of the bones and pull them out, which as well, grabs all the splines attached to em and takes em with the bone, like shown in the picture earlier

[Rodney]

you can actually grab the base of the bones and pull them out

 

Why are you doing that?

 

when you mentioned that jefflew has a section in his video where he shows how to use those characters, what part is that?

 

Not to answer for Robert but... the whole DVD, all the parts with the characters, is a demonstration of that.

 

Is there anyway to turn off the dragging of bones? because it seems like the characters that come with AM, you cant drag out their bones. if you select the base of one bone, it will automatically select the tip of the bone thats right below it.

 

You can drill down into the Bones properties and set the Translate limits so they don't move.

In this particular case you could change the Manipulator Options of the forearm bone to 'Rotate Only' and you'd never have to worry about accidentally translating the lower forearm again. Only the Rotate manipulator would appear.

[bighop]

I used the Jeff Lew DVD's too. I downloaded the green guy and put the 2008 rig in him.

[AMkyle]

I used the Jeff Lew DVD's too. I downloaded the green guy and put the 2008 rig in him.

 

 

where do you find the 2008 rig?

 

 

also about the dragging, i dont exactly want to turn it to just rotating, it just kind of confuses me because sometimes i accidentally grab the base of the bone ahead of the bone i want to grab.

 

and with the premade characters that come with hash, its impossible to grab the base of the bones, it automatically will go to the tip of the bone behind the one

[Rodney]

where do you find the 2008 rig?

 

The 2008 Rig has its very own forum:

 

http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showforum=135

[AMkyle]

alright so i got the 2008, and started looking at the instructions, and i was confused on the bone stuff, like rotate the white bone, scale the white bone, i really dont quite understand.

[robcat2075]

The 2008 rig is fine but it won't be easier to install than what is already in Jeff Lew's models.

 

Just don't drag the arm bones. If you do , hit ctrl-z and undo it.

 

Rotate the arm bones. Don't drag them. Just rotate them.

 

Select the bone. Just click on it. Calm down, don't move your mouse while you're clicking on it. just click on it. then hit r to turn on the rotate manipulator. Use the manipulator rings to rotate the bone.

 

Don't drag the arm bones.