smartskin questions

[Roger]

I think I am going to have to set up smartskin for my penguin, because for some of the more extreme positions of the joints, the model starts to look like absolute trash the way the skin pinches.

 

Anyone have any tips for working with smart skin?

[NancyGormezano]

I think I am going to have to set up smartskin for my penguin, because for some of the more extreme positions of the joints, the model starts to look like absolute trash the way the skin pinches.

 

Anyone have any tips for working with smart skin?

 

Have you done any cp weighting first?

[robcat2075]

Yes, get your CP weighting going as well as possible first.

[Roger]

I've done my CP weighting, probably need to re-weight the head and neck since I've changed those recently. I'm currently trying to puzzle out whether I set this thing up with

FK or IK legs (I think they're FK, at least they're acting like that when I'm moving them around).

[robcat2075]

It's exceedingly rare you would want FK legs. Almost never.

 

With TSM2 (and almost any other rig on this forum) you get both built in.

[Roger]

Yeah, I know - FK legs would be a real pain. I think I was planning on implementing your "simplest IK leg rig" but hadn't gotten round to it yet.

I'm in the bone properties, do you need to turn "lock IK" on the bone in the end of the chain to start an IK leg rig?

[robcat2075]

Yeah, I know - FK legs would be a real pain. I think I was planning on implementing your "simplest IK leg rig" but hadn't gotten round to it yet.

I'm in the bone properties, do you need to turn "lock IK" on the bone in the end of the chain to start an IK leg rig?

 

Did I need to do that in my simplest IK leg?

[Roger]

Well, I'm reviewing the tutorial now, so I guess I'll find out

 

So far, it looks like it is set up the same way as mine.

[robcat2075]

Lock IK has the effect of preventing IK solving from traveling any farther up a chain of bones than the bone that has it ON.

 

The option only appears on bones that have an IK-affectable parent.

 

A bone that has more than one child is not IK-affectable.

 

Lock IK is rarely needed in today's rigs.

[zandoriastudios]

Don't be intimidated of smartskin--it is easy to do, and really the best way to shape a joint . You are essentially reshaping the joint at the extremes, it acts like a keyframe, blending towards that shape the nearer it gets to that position.

I always weight the mesh first, but in my opinion that only takes you halfway, except for very simple tube-shaped limbs, or torso, neck... Shoulders and hips almost always need a little smartskin (frankly it is often quicker that tweaking the weighting over and over...)

There is a link in my signature to some tutorial videos that will help.