Mech Test Animation, Frank Garofalo / Garodesign.com (Animation)

[mechaboy]

Just a note:
I like the look but the legs are a little dissapointing. More importantly the animation does not give the model any weight it seems to be half walking half floating. So, you may want to give it more definite steps where the model comes to a full stop and then continues and give it some weight to its movements, this can be achieved with slight recoils in the body as a step is taken and another started.

Keep up the good work!

[the_podman]

Nice Model! The animation needs lots of work. You can easily fix lots of the problems by simply changing the tangent type. Go into the graph editor in MAYA and switch all the key tangents to "linear". This'll give the motion a more machine-like feel. Also, his feet need to "stick" to the ground before they take strides forward. The reason why it appears weightless is because there is no shifting of weight from one side to another. If you type in "walk cycle" under a google search, you'll see what I mean. Even though it's a machine, it still has to follow the laws of gravity to be convincing.

Nice job so far.

-pod
My Knight Animation (http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?p=1551159#post1551159)

[garodesign]

thanks for the feedback! I only gave a few hours of work on this walk cycle. I know it looks like he is ice skating...lol...i had to figure something out with the joint limits and what should not be hitting as far as geometry went. I think becuse of that i need to crouch him more in order to get the effect i need ...eh what the hell am i talkin about...i just need to keep experimenting until its right....

The way i set this model up was a simple parenting to joints hi res and low res.

how do u suggest that i get that bounce with the root located at the pelvis? i would re-root. but what would happen to all of the rest of my joint orientations? i would have to key that bounce, which would suck and not be as good as set driven for simplicity sake. I choose Set driven because IK was pissing me off so i would really like to stay set driven. :)

Your help is greatly appreciated !

[the_podman]

Not sure how you're setting up the leg, but I always use IK for legs. I've never tried Set-Driven for the legs. Sometimes arms are better FK, but legs are almost always better IK. What was annoying you about the IK? The reason why I ask is because I used to run into a problem if I didn't include a pole vector in my rigg. Instead of parenting, I would recommend joints. You can always rigid bind them for the same effect.

There are some very simple rigging tutorials that I use ALL the time here:
http://www.jawa9000.com/technical/

I pretty much used that site to rigg all my characters so far.

The root joint(object) would rotate left/right towards the heel that he's(it's) planting it on. So, while his left foot is "planted" and his right foot is in mid-air about to take a stride forward, all his weight would have to rotate to "his" left slightly to maintain balance on one foot. The root would also translate UP slightly, because his planted leg is straitening in mid stride.

Then, when his right foot goes from mid-air to the new forward position, the root would "straiten" again and translate down. Does that make sense?
Sorry, not always good at explanations. :P

I'm still pretty new to 3d, but when I rigged my first character, I tried to make as much stuff automatic as possible so I went crazy with set-driven key and expressions. The problem is, I had to scratch that rigg anyway and make a manual one, because it seriously limited my animation potential for the character. Once you make something driven by set-driven key, you can no longer key it manually.

Hope this helps,
-pod

[garodesign]

ok so i tried sdk and it doesnt quite look right... I have an idea as to where the body should twist. I just had these problems with IK... I have no clue what could be the prob.

http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?t=168775

http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?p=1566514

[garodesign]

PS...when i mean not quite right the feet slide and are not planted whern i walk him and the bounce is not possible with sdk... and since i have these probs with IK AND sdk what the hell do i do?? I know i can "fake it" in post as far as the bounce and the walk cycle is concerned but i really want it to come out correct and be rigged correct...who knows when i might actually need the model to do what its supposed to.

[the_podman]

Not sure if this is the problem, but, have you checked the attributes for the RP IK handle? There's an attribute called "sticky" that should be checked if you want the foot to "stick" to the ground. Also, just to make sure(you prob. know this), are you selecting the IK handle when moving the foot? The handle head is kinda small and looks like a "+" at the controller you're supposed to select. ANY JOINT that has an IK attached to it can no longer rotate or translate on it's own. IK takes over, so to move the joints, you have to select the IK handle, not the joints.

Is there a splineIK on your rigg? The reason why I'm asking is because if you can't twist the root joint it may be because it's "locked" by an IK.

I looked at your skeleton and it seems like you may need a few more joints. If possible, can you send the skeleton in a .zip file to me. Hard to see the problem from pics. I need more info on the setup.

I would suggest that instead of using SDK for an automated walk, you should key one cycle manually and make a clip in the trax editor. Once it's clip, you can call upon it any time you need it.

-pod
rodbrett@nyc.rr.com

[garodesign]

i am on a mac is .sit ok?

[the_podman]

that should be cool, I think. I have STUFFIT expander for windows. As long as the .mb file is in there.

[the_podman]

Ok, I fixed the rigg and sent it back to you along with a full detailed description(with pics) on how I made the skeleton work. I would have posted it here but my picture hosting service is down :(

Good luck,
-podman

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