Cogs and Fans

[MitchVFX]

I'm in the middle of rigging a character using TSM2 and the manual mentions intermediates, cogs and fans. I have added intermediates, as mentioned in the quickstart cd, but don't know anything about the others (or if I even need them). I searched and found threads that mention cogs, but don't explain them. Is the process easily explained? At this point, I'm using mostly smartskin to assist the rig and it seems to be working, but it these techniques work better, I'd be interested.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

Thanks,

 

-Mitch

[jon]

i think intermediates are fans.

 

that is -- a bone placed between two others -- usually on a joint -- that moves in a ratio to a child bone.

 

cogs is a variant methodology that is difficult to critically evaluate, as the tutorial is only available for a fee, and the details are not discussed in public.

 

-jon

[wwoelbel]

The Cogs concept is available at www.3dartz.com. Last I heard was that there was an incompatability issue with the cogs procedure and the TSM rig. I don't have any first hand knowledge but I did ask the same question some time ago and got a very loud zilch from the audience. My guess is that not many folks have experimented in using the two together.

 

Bill

[heyvern]

I used 3Dartz cogs for some of my characters in the past with the setup machine. It was not version 2 but it seemed to work fine. I did have problems with my rig that was totally unrelated to the cog set up.

 

My latest project has much simpler characters so I will probably only use a few cogs on one of them. I am using the 2001 rig and rigging by hand... I still can't believe I am doing my own rigging (I am lazy).

 

Cogs are great for fairly realistic characters that need realistic and easy animation of complicated joints like hips and shoulders. You get it setup correctly and it does make life easier.

 

A cog is very similar to a fan set up. It just uses more bones constrained in a unique way that spreads control of the cps over a cog like multi-bone structure.

 

It was well worth the money in my opinion, considering the effort that was put into it... but that is an argument for a different time... we all want everything for free afterall.

 

I think the biggest complaint about paying for it is that the "concept" of cogs... is.. well... it's free! It exists. It is not a totally original idea.

 

If you spend the time and effort that Mike did I am sure you might eventually produce the same or similar results... IF you would rather "spend" the time... I chose to save my time and spend the money.

 

p.s. You don't really need the Setup Machine either you know. It sure saves time though doesn't it?

 

Vernon "!" Zehr

[MitchVFX]

Sounds like I'm on the right track then--fans and smart skin it be!

 

Thanks, guys.

 

 

EDIT: Vernon, you posted while I was typing. What is the site that teaches cogs?

[anzovin]

As far as we kknow, there are no problems between TSM2 and the "cogs" system. Anyone who is having trouble, please contact me!

 

Another possible approach to deformation control--the ultimate goal of cogs, smartskinning, and so on--is bone weighting. And we do have a product to help with that--WeightMover.

 

http://www.rafhashvideotapes.com/wemoforam.html

 

Steve

Anzovin Studio

[MitchVFX]

Well, I've added too much smart skin to stop now. But, I can see using WM for a future project.