Old Man Willies

[fae_alba]

I'm trying my first "real" rig and needless to say all is not well in 3D land. I am using the lite rig and am experimenting with the elbow joint as a starter. I've placed a fan bone, with cp weighting as follows: elbow ring nearest shoulder Bicep 75% forarm 25%, center ring 50/50, third ring 25/75.

 

The elbow still deforms unkindly, and it doesn't seem like the fan bone is doing much of anything (it has a 50/50 orient like constraint to the bicep and forearm)

 

Thoughts?

 

Untitled.mov

[mtpeak2]

I'm assuming you setup the fan bone in a pose. Did you turn the pose ON?

[fae_alba]

I'm assuming you setup the fan bone in a pose. Did you turn the pose ON?

 

Rule number one....never "assume". It wasn't...but it is now. Also, I weighted the center spline 100% to the fan bone. It is a wee bit better, but still a bit too much creased for my liking.

 

 

Would tinkering with the weights on the elbow rings be the answer, or is smartskin the way to go to get the final tweeks in?

[robcat2075]

Would tinkering with the weights on the elbow rings be the answer, or is smartskin the way to go to get the final tweeks in?

 

Smartskin would do it best. Do one smartskin key at that angle that you feel is probably the maximum bend that arm is going to do. I think you'll just need to move the inside CPs out (away from the joint) a bit to eliminate the pinch appearance.

[itsjustme]

In order for it to make a better bend, you would need to add a spline to the center of the forearm and the center of the bicep...I've been using two fan bones for elbows for a while as well. As has been mentioned, Smartskin can also fix it.

 

Here's a quick clip showing the two fan bones in the elbow.

elbow_fan_bones_example.mov

[Hutch]

In order for it to make a better bend, you would need to add a spline to the center of the forearm and the center of the bicep...I've been using two fan bones for elbows for a while as well. As has been mentioned, Smartskin can also fix it.

 

Here's a quick clip showing the two fan bones in the elbow.

Is the second fan bone giving the bicep flex? How is that weighted? It looks very nice.

[itsjustme]

Is the second fan bone giving the bicep flex? How is that weighted? It looks very nice.

 

That's the latest Squetchy Sam's arm (with the unreleased version of the Squetch Rig), so there are several things going on in there. A simple version without any flexing is in an example file I posted here. The latest Squetchy Sam is here.

[fae_alba]

In order for it to make a better bend, you would need to add a spline to the center of the forearm and the center of the bicep...I've been using two fan bones for elbows for a while as well. As has been mentioned, Smartskin can also fix it.

 

Here's a quick clip showing the two fan bones in the elbow.

 

Question: what are the constraints and weighting you used for the two fan bones in your example? I can see the value of adding the extra spline rings, something I already suspected, so I've added those, but it's unclear to me how you would derive the constraint percentages.

[itsjustme]

Question: what are the constraints and weighting you used for the two fan bones in your example? I can see the value of adding the extra spline rings, something I already suspected, so I've added those, but it's unclear to me how you would derive the constraint percentages.

 

"Orient like" constraints set to "50%" have been all I've needed, the rest is in how it gets weighted and the location of the second fan bone...I have its' origin at 1/4 the length of the bicep bone from the elbow.

 

Hope that helps.