Free *resizable* 3dsmax rig

[luigi]

i recomend to everyone to download the rig . Iwas lucky enough to work with his guy and learn alot of rigging with him.
i just had before a betaversion of the rig i impacient to arrive tonight to my home and test the last version.I was surprise when i found the link :), man you finally finish it.

The rig is very diferent what I normally use to see: nice fk ik system , nice idea for new controls and litle and nice details like the spine control.

if you spent time seeing al the wriring and how this guy make rigs you can have new ideas for your own rigs.

master your little padawan have a new twisteable solution fot the arm that cover all the degrees without problem. i wil sent you tonight.you will love it.

pd: love the new reel more dinamic that the old one.

[cecofuli]

Greate, greate rig system, but full of mysteries for me...

[Chinwagon]

Hey Luis, thanks for the recommendations (the website's had over 1000 hits in less than a week!). The rig that is on my site is only slightly different from the one you have. The main difference being a fix in the resizing script.
Look forward to seeing your twist solution...
:¬)

[cecofuli]

Luigi, Italian in London?

Ciao da Milano!

[luigi]

not italian spanish but my friends use to call me luigi so i decided to my avatar be luigi.


great brad you have all this visit:) , for sure you are going to get more.

I will send the file this night i yesterday i recieved a cd you will like more tah the twisteable solution

[R32]

Thanks 4 makingthis rig available Brad! It's excellent!

[Michael Chen]

Hi Brad

I saw the video and it looks great. However I can't open it in MAX 5. Do you happen to have a version which can work in MAX 5? That's okay if you haven't got one. I really want to play around with your rig though.

Thanks for sharing!

[Chinwagon]

Hmmm... Max 5 hey?

Technically I could provide a max 5 version relatively easily

BUT!

max 5 is DOG SLOW when it comes to complex rigs. I've tried it in max 5, it works, but it's so painfully slow to manipulate that it's more frustrating to use than it's worth.
Sorry.
:¬(

[Michael Chen]

That's alright. Thanks for your time anyway.

[Chinwagon]

HEAR YE, HEAR YE! Skeleton Rig has been updated.
Here are the fixes in version 1.1:
- Fixed a few errors in the resizing script in relation to resizing the fingers (when changing the width of the left hand, the finger positions would flip.... oops).
- Changed the upvector axis of the forearm twist bones so that they don't flip when rotating the hand up and down.
- Fixed a small problem of shoulder rotation affecting the upper arm twisting bones.

Go grab it from you know where...
www.brad-noble.com (http://www.brad-noble.com/)
:¬)

[bindyeye]

Godly rig you have there brad... thnx for sharing it with us. ;)

[R32]

Thanks for the rig Brad! I've found that the ik knee manipulator doesn't work properly in max 7. Everything else seems fine.

[Chinwagon]

Yeah, I've noticed some small things with the knee manipulator in max 6. Basically you can move it to swivel the knee, but when you move it again the knee's rotation doesn't update, even though the swivel value is being adjusted. The rotation updates when you change frame number and/or adjust the swivel slider.
Strange...
I haven't it in tried max 7 yet, although a max 7 update is on the cards.
:¬)

[kees]

great stuff brad.
thanks for sharing.

Another thing i noticed is that there is quite a big delay on my computer when i try to undo a movement. Might just be a max issue, or jsut specific to my computer.

cheers!
-Kees

[Chinwagon]

Thanks Kees. Yeah that problem is one of the big bugbears for me: update speed. Basically the rig gets slower to manipulate (in terms of moving/adding keys and undoing) the further up the heirarchy you get. The extremities (ie. head, arms and legs) move nice and quick, the chest is kinda slow, the waist is quite slow, while the master dummy is very slow. 3dsmax6 is a BIG increase in speed over max5 but it's not perfect. However, as I've discovered today, max7 is a further speed increase and to my utter delight offers realtime manipulation of all parts of the rig! Moving keys, undoing, the lot. Very happy about that I am.
Now if only I can stop it from crashing on exit...
:¬)

[R32]

I'm using the MAX 7 trial and after using the rig it no longer crashes on exit/reset/loading! Musta been a MAX 6 thing! :thumbsup:

The ik knee manipulator problem isn't that it doesn't update - it just pops all over the place when you try to move it. Wierd.

anyways - cheers!

[Chinwagon]

I've looked further into that knee manipulator problem and it seems that max 7 has suddenly deemed those manipulators to be causing a dependency loop as the manipulator is constrained to the same knee it is swivelling. Never was a problem before. The weird thing is that the knee manipulators work the same way as the elbows do, and they work fine.
Hmmm... rather annoying.
In the meantime, all I can suggest is not to use them.
:¬(

P.S. When I loaded the rig in max 7, the custom attributes were all shifted slightly. Does anyone else have that too or is it just me?

[Chinwagon]

OK, it's update time again. Skeleton rig 1.2 is now available. Hurrah!
This version fixes the above mentioned knee swivel manipulator problem along with a couple of other things such as:
- Added the ability to offset the ankles left and right.
- Made the custom attributes more in line with 3dsmax 7 attributes.
- Fixed the upperarm twisting bones so that they now work on all but the most crazy angles you can put the arm through.
- Fixed the shrug/hunch manipulators so they now move to the right place when the shoulders are adjusted with the resizing script.

The rig is also MUCH quicker in 3dsmax 7, I highly recommend the upgrade from version 6.
Grab the rig from the rigging section of www.brad-noble.com (http://www.brad-noble.com)
:¬)

[kobeone]

Hey Chinwagon,

This is a really cool rig, i love all the control that you have. If i could make a suggestion for your next update. How about making a IK/FK snap to buttion where the FK can snap to the postion of the IK and vice versa. I think that would be very usefull in animating a character with this rig. Beyond that small suggestion, this truly is a good rig and i really enjoy animating with it. Thanks for sharing.


Kobeone

[Chinwagon]

Yeah, IK/FK snap buttons have been a wish of mine for a while now, but I just don't know how to implement it without it screwing up if someone renames something.

Ok, to those who didn't get the hint, this is a thinly veiled call to any great maxscripters out there for any advice. Thanks.
:¬)

[Terkonn]

It looks very cool in the UI, too bad I'm not skilled enough to use it properly :thumbsup: , dang I hate being a noob :rolleyes:

[ChadTHX1138]

Max 7 crashes on me when starting up useing this rig every single time. hmm...The RIG resize script window is open on startup. and tells me I dont have a valid skeleton rig when I havent even loaded anything.

Everything worked after deleting the scripts...Then I went and copied them back and things work again.

[Chinwagon]

Sounds a lot like to me that you've put the resizing script in the scripts/startup folder. That would be the one place I would NOT put it. Move the resizing script to another folder and try launching max again.
:¬)

[ChadTHX1138]

Ahhh I see...works great now, And thanks for all your hard work! Much apreciated.

[ChadTHX1138]

I just want to mention that today I took a character model, used this rig and had the model set up, skinned and the morphs for the body (not face) finished in 2 hours. I feel like I accomplished a tremendous feat.

[Chinwagon]

Nice one Chad. Thanks for the compliment.
I'm using it in its first full blown commercial project right now. It's been really good if I do say so myself. The old school animators (ex cel, new to CG) are getting to grips with it quite easily - aside from the odd keying things they shouldn't. After this acid test, I'll release the next version for max 7 which will most notably include the ability to set keys for the fingers and shoulders not only by adjusting their respective sliders but by also going in and actually rotating the fingers/shoulders. You will also see where the keys are set on an individual level (ie. select the index finger tip bone and the keys for the index finger tip rotation will come up in the track bar and will be adjustable in the track view).
:¬)

[eek]

Yeah, IK/FK snap buttons have been a wish of mine for a while now, but I just don't know how to implement it without it screwing up if someone renames something.

Ok, to those who didn't get the hint, this is a thinly veiled call to any great maxscripters out there for any advice. Thanks.
:¬)
If you need a hand scripting fk/ik seamless setup, giv me a shout. Ive written three already. Ive got one setup which is totally seamless, hit a button ik, hit it again fk.(pinning functions also)

eek

[whitehorse]

hey i love the rig. so much controll so quickly.

2 thing i have found with it (and i am sure that i am using it properly) when moving the finger to suit the mesh, i need to have a more controlled rezising of each bone, as when i do it as a whole it doesn't fit my finger right.

second thing is i had the arms in ik so that i matched my mesh better, but when i was resizing the arms and shoulders it kept moving the ik box down to the original position.

am i useing it right?

once again love the rig

[Chinwagon]

Thanks whitehorse,
The finger resizing was done on a whole finger level for the sake of keeping the number of settings down. Having seperate length, width and height spinners for each joint of each finger (along with the offsets for each finger) would've created an interface nightmare. The fingers are made so that the base is always the longest joint, followed by the middle joint and the shortest one being the finger tip. This made it possible for the character to clench a fist properly.
As for your IK resizing problem, the resizing script works on the FK pose of your character. You could pose it with IK and align the FK helpers' rotation to the bones I guess...
:¬)

P.S. Just like to say happy new year to everybody. My NYE was spent in Antwerp (bit random, but great fun)!
<|8¬D

[eek]

Hi Chinwagon,

Just got your message, sorry my internets been screwd over christmas. I'll pm my contact details, to discuss the ik/fk stuff.

eek

[whitehorse]

after playing with it a little more, the ik stuff is that long way around what i was trying to do, so there is no problem there now

[chach]

nice rig! impressively clean
thanks

[Chinwagon]

OK people, it's present giving time again. Skeleton rig has now turned 1.5!
The big new features are:
- Squash and stretch parameters on the head, chest, arms and legs along with adjustment for how much thickening/thinning the bones do when squashed/stretched.
- FK and IK snap buttons for the arms and legs.

So what are you waiting for, go grab it and get animating!
http://www.brad-noble.com
:¬)

[chach]

thanks so much!

[Tak Tak]

I just downloaded and tested quickly...nice rig. Resizeing posibility is super nice add for that! I don't know what but there is some problem when I exit max, coz Applecation Error appears...:eek: (I'm using max7)

I hope you can fix that problem coz I just finished my character and decided to start some serious test with that rig:) So good luck with it and keep developing:thumbsup:

[Chinwagon]

Yeah, that application error has been around since the beginning of the skeleton rig (well, since it started to get some decent features) and is documented in the readme file that came with it.
I don't think I can fix that error, but don't worry, it won't corrupt any of your work and will save and load with no problems so feel free to start animating with it.
:¬)

[Tak Tak]

I found little bug when resizeing right and left hand's height and width. Length works nicely.

[Chinwagon]

Crap! You're right. Well spotted. It won't take much to fix. I'll have a new version of the resizing script up very soon.
Grrr...
:¬\

[Chinwagon]

OK. It's fixed and on my site in the usual place. The rig is fine, it's just the script that you'll need to update. Sorry about the error people. Hopefully it should be the last.

...hopefully.
:¬)

[Tak Tak]

Hehe, that's ok. Thanks for quick response :beer:

[Chinwagon]

OK, another little update...
Turns out that the left FK upper arm's rotation and the squash and stretch of that arm weren't keyable. This has been fixed and is now available.
:¬)

[patpotlood]

great thing

i do not have the exit error when i first reset max and then exit max or reset and open an other file.

P

[Chinwagon]

OK people, in my striving to make the skeleton rig better and betterer, I seem to have encountered a problem.
The current version (1.5) has certain goodies like IK/FK snapping and swivel manipulators. Unfortunately - due to a small oversight by yours truly - as it currently stands, you can't have two skeleton rigs in the same scene. If you try to merge in a second rig, the IK/FK snap just doesn't like it and causes max to crash heavily.
This problem can be easily fixed in a 1.6 version...
BUT!
...to fix it would make the swivel manipulators no longer work properly (it causes a dependency loop as encountered in an earlier version of the rig).

The question I'm putting to all users of the rig is:
which feature would you prefer to have: swivel manipulators or IK/FK snapping?

It's all very annoying as they're both really nice little features, but we can't have both.
Anyway, let me know what you prefer.
:¬(

[Boa]

The question I'm putting to all users of the rig is:
which feature would you prefer to have: swivel manipulators or IK/FK snapping?

It's all very annoying as they're both really nice little features, but we can't have both.
Anyway, let me know what you prefer.
:¬(

I vote for IK/FK snapping. And thank you very much for all the work you put in this project.

Andrea

[ngrava]

Do you mean, position IK, then snap the FK into that position so it's ready to take over? Or are you talking about some kind of Pinning system?

[Chinwagon]

I'm talking about the way it works currently. ie. the fk limbs snap their rotation to that of the ik limbs when you hit the fk snap button and the ik target snaps its position and adjusts the swivel angle to the fk limbs when you hit the ik snap button.
:¬)

[Chinwagon]

OK...
Presents!
Skeleton rig 1.6 is now ready and waiting at www.brad-noble.com (http://www.brad-noble.com)
This latest version fixes the merge crash problem, fine-tunes the bone widths with squash/stretch and adds in-between bones to help with deformation on the shoulders, hips, elbows and knees. Plus I've also managed to keep the swivel manipulators (I tiny compromise had to be made) as well as add squash/stretch manipulators to the arms and legs.
So once again, go and grab it and get animating!
:¬)

[save often]

Wa hay, very nice rig brad. i`v been playing around with v1.5 for a while now and realy enjoy it. it`s been a pleasure to animate with, no kidding. it`s probably one of the best around. i`m so glad you managed to fix those little problems like not being able to use two rigs in the same scene and having in-between bones, nice touch.

your hard work is most apprecheated. please keep up the good work.

[gsentineld]

is there a way that i can use only the upper body? on ur site u mentioned that as long as it's bipedal character.

[el Croux]

Hey,

This is a great looking rig, has been really easy to resize, but I do have a problem.

I noticed you mentioned earlier in the thread that there were playback delay problems that are now not a prblem with Max 7. Thing is, I'm using Max 7 and I'm having a 10 + second delay before playback starts and intense stuttering when dragging the time bar.

I was wondering if there are any known issues which may be causing this?

If I could get this sorted it would help me out so much as I'm doing my final project at uni and I'm really not enjoying using character studio.

[fez]

I really dig this rig. I know it is presumptuous to post feature requests, but...

It would be great to be able to smoothly rotate and scale all the "automatically twisting bones". Sometimes being able to bend the bones just a bit can really help strike a difficult pose. Likewise, being able to smoothly scale a spine or hand or arm or foot would also be handy.

[save often]

this is a great rig you`ve put together Chinwagon, and i`v been using it for a while. but i seem to have come across a little problem that i noticed in the last ver 1.5 and seems to have cropped up again in 1.6.

after i`v resized the rig to my model, i apply skin modifier. now, every other bone is ok and effects the skin as it should apart from the upper finger bone next to the little finger.

when ever it`s manipulated, the finger of or the hand, the skin around that bone seems so increase or decrease in size like a kind of squash and stretch. just the skin not the bone. no other part of the skin is effected. it becoming more and more difficult to try and hide it when animating. had anyone else cone across this problem at all. and wonder if there i a fix for it.

thanks.:)

[Chinwagon]

I think what you're talking about is a bone bug in max. The scaling goes a bit haywire sometimes with bones, especially with non-bone primitives I think. The solution is to select your problem bones, go into bone tools and under the object properties rollout, turn the stretch attribute to none. Hopefully that should fix your problem.
Thanks for all the positive comments, I'm really glad everyone is enjoying the rig.
:¬)

[save often]

what an absolute star you are Chinwagon. your fix worked. i`m a happy animator again. all i`v got to do now is re-render all my animation.

thanks for all your help with all our problems and your quick replys. it`s a real joy to use.

thanks again:thumbsup: .

[fez]

Yeah, gotta say it again, this rig is just a joy to use. Thank you!

[Chinwagon]

Hey everyone, just a quick note to say that a slightly revised version 1.6 of the skeleton rig is now available on my site.
I've fixed a couple of small problems, one was that the legs didn't follow the waist too well (I dunno how that one happened), another was the heel roll manipulator object on the right leg moved to the wrong place when the foot was resized. I've also fixed the bones so that they don't randomly scale as 'save often' pointed out.
On a side-note, I've also added a dummy resizing script to the scripts section. Very simple but also useful.
:¬)

[lramos]

Very cool! Thanks.

[save often]

all bow to chinwagon. it just keeps getting better and better. little tweeks here and there making it into one of the best rigs around.

any thoughts on what you maybe working on next at all, or maybe just keep improving the noble-rig.

keep up the good work.

[Chinwagon]

Thanks!
What's next? Aaah, just wait and see...
I've been learning a lot about making car rigs but the really interesting thing is what I've been tinkering around with outside of work.
I'll reveal more in a new thread when it's closer to showing.
But for now, here's a teaser...
:¬)

[save often]

ooowww, that looks very interesting. head and expressions rig maybe? look forward to that whatever it is.

nice one.

noble-rigs, making life a little easyer.

[kattapoga]

Thanks for sharing. Its a great rig.

[Chinwagon]

Time to wake this thread up again.
My skeleton rig is now at version 1.63. Hurrah! This time it's more of a - shall we say, core-rewrite, as this seems to be the rant du jour around here.
Simply put, the spine wiring and constraints have been reorganised and cleaned up so it now has shorter delays when manipulating the rig (this is without a character skinned to it. I can't do anything about that delay).
The resizing script has also been optimised a bit so it also runs a little quicker and takes a little less resources. I'll have to speak to a proper scripter as to how to optimise it more as I'm sure it's still a very cumbersome.
This will probably be the last version of the rig before max 8 comes out (by which point everyone will probably be using the new character studio anyway *sigh*).
Go and grab it here (http://www.bradnoble.net/rigging/).
:¬)

[Mahlon]

Thanks so much chinwagon. No, I don't think the new fcurves for CS will replace this rig. I'm also using your rig to learn a few things, not animate only.

Thanks again,
Mahlon Bouldin

[m-greenwood]

Yeah dude!
Seems a lot quicker here, amazing work getting some more speed out of what was already a pretty excellent rig.
Very generous of you again, mate - really looking forward to using this in production.
It's a shame to lose you (and your knowledge) from work - it also means a few of us have to try to fill your shoes :-s
Take care mate.

ps: maybe you should update your site to detail the professional jobs this has been used on? I can think of half a dozen off the top of my head...

[Greenbird]

Wow... thanks so much for sharing this. I love this rig, really look forward to play with it.
It's easier to set up and to use than Character studio and max8 probably won't change that.

[PEN]

Hey Brad, I had a funny one the other day. I have decided to go back to teaching so that I can spend time with my family more. I will still do production but I'm not going to head up any departments is all. Anyway I asked the 3rd semester class what they had done so far, one guy told me that they were doing character animation but they had not rigged yet. I asked what they were using for the character work and as it turns out it was your rig. The same guy then said, it had this extra tool that you had to load to use it, it let you save poses on the hands, itwas real cool. I said ya you liked it eh, good I wrote it, and if you said it sux'd you would have failed;) It was my first lesson in the class about how small in the industry is.

Thier work looked good. I might just keep using your rigs for the same thing as well.

Thanks for all the hard work.

[Chinwagon]

Cool!
I got emails from a couple of teachers who wanted or who were using it in their classes. It's quite flattering to see people using it to learn animation with. Nice to see that it's as simple and straightforward to use as I'd hoped.
While I'm at it I should properly thank you for making your attribute holder, it's a perfect fit for hand controls.
Your students will now be spoilt for rigging choices in your classes. I bet there'd be a lot of people hanging around this forum who'd love to be in it. Are you teaching general 3d, rigging or animation?
:¬)

[Rakile]

Wow... So many custom attributes. I've been trying to figure out how you got a slider and a spinner to work in conjunction like that. I'd love to be able to construct a similar rig for a set of creatures I've been working on. Do you have any recommendations on where I could learn about detailed rigging like this?

[Chinwagon]

Time to nudge the dormant thread as it's present giving time once again!
The Skeleton Rig is now at version 1.7 for 3dsmax 8. Here's a rundown of the latest changes:



Dummies and manipulators are now green!
Added hand lock and unlock buttons to IK arm controls. Clicking on "Lock hand" sets the IK influence on hand to 100 and rotates the IK arm control to the hand control's orientation (keeping the hand control's orientation where it is). Clicking on "Unlock hand" sets the IK influence on hand to 0 while keeping the hand control's orientation where it is.
Added limit controllers to the fk shins, fk forearms and all manipulators.
Toe roll, foot roll, heel roll and footstep values only show in IK mode on the legs - meaning less confusion in FK mode.
FK snap on legs now match the IK leg better if toe roll, foot roll, heel roll and/or footstep sliders are used.
Toe rotate attribute renamed to toe curl.
Instanced animation controllers between matched slider controls and manipulators (eg. you can adjust the keyframes of the knee swivel on the knee swivel manipulator).
Resizing script now saves a skin pose at its current state when closing the script.
Fingers now have increased splay ranges.
Added a slightly improved mirroring feature in the resizing script which will mirror correctly even if the axis orders of the fk limbs are changed.
As usual, you can get it here (http://www.bradnoble.net/rigging/index.html).
Keep me informed of any opinions/problems/wishes you have... with the rig of course!
:¬)

[Chinwagon]

OK, to those people who have downloaded the rig since I posted earlier, you may want to download it again as it wasn't as perfect as I had wanted.
Two minor things really, the skeleton rig file itself was called "skeleton rig v1.7 r8.max.max", which as you can see had one too many .max's at the end of it. The second thing was that the X and Y scale tracks on the chest control were set to keyable when they should not have been. These two issues have bee fixed.
These things are most probably not going to bother you, but if you're a stickler for cleanliness like me, you can download it again.
:¬)

[metamesh]

that is great man, ur rig is awesome!! I'd like to start learning character rigging in max, but i have no idea about maxscript, expressions etc etc etc...so at the end of the day all my models die in my HD...any tips on how to learn /tutorials/videos etc... that could help me? :D
thanks man!

[save often]

hay, thanks brad for this new rig. just downloading it now and check it out later. if it`s anything like your other rigs, it`ll be a pleasure to use. thanks.

[PEN]

Brad, I'm teaching all things 3D. We are doing rigging this semester for all the groups that I currently teach. The course is a full college diploma course so it is more then just 3D but that is what it centers around.

[Nii]

Upon opening the including .max, it seems that it has been locked to the single viewport somewhat. Even after setting it to display as 4 viewports it still shows only one. I'm sure theres a painfully obvious answer to this, and if so please tell me and thanks for your help =]!

[Chinwagon]

Try hitting the "Maximize Viewport Toggle" button in the bottom right-hand corner...
;¬)

[Nii]

O_o... Wow... it was painfully obvious. But thanks so much =]. This character rig rocks! Well its easy to resize anyway, the only problem is the crashing when I try to apply physique to it.

[Tunac]

any advice how to animate walk cycle(i know for walk cycle control on foot)
some detailed instructions pls

btw GREAT rig and thanks

[Chinwagon]

You know how in most software releases, the version increase adds the features while the point release squishes the bugs? Well, it turns out that I'm no different! Microsoft, Autodesk, me...
Skeleton Rig 1.72 for 3dsmax 8 is up on my site and addresses a few... ermm... "oversights" that I had with it.
Go on and grab it (http://www.bradnoble.net/rigging/index.html)!
:¬)

[Chinwagon]

From a couple of discoveries made by people and a few little things that I thought could've been better, I've updated the skeleton rig ...AGAIN.
You can check the version history (http://www.bradnoble.net/rigging/history.html) to know the specifics of what's been changed.
Version 1.73 can be found here (http://www.bradnoble.net/rigging/index.html).
:¬)

[Chinwagon]

Guess what? It's update time again!
Skeleton Rig version 1.8 is now available. Some of the highlights of this big update are:
- Improved stability. It now no longer crashes when selecting (supposedly) random bones and manipulators AND (although I've not tested this as much as I could have) it no longer crashes on exit and when loading another file!
- The resizing script is now a macroscript that better handles a wider range of scales of character, has a leg offset control and mirrors the finger controls' values.
- The X axis rotation on the hip control has been unlocked and now leans the chest back and forward.
- Added shrug and hunch controls to the IK arm controls.
...and so it goes on. More info can be found in the version history (http://www.bradnoble.net/rigging/history.html).
So quit trawling forums, download it here (http://www.bradnoble.net/rigging/index.html) and go get animating (I know I should be...)!
;¬)

[IkerCLoN]

Glad to hear this, Brad! Thanks!!!

[DaddyMack]

Cool!
I got emails from a couple of teachers who wanted or who were using it in their classes. It's quite flattering to see people using it to learn animation with. Nice to see that it's as simple and straightforward to use as I'd hoped.



Cool! I downloaded the rig and was about to ask how you'd feel about me using it as my main animation teaching rig... It suits soweet so I hope you wont mind... I'm a dedicated Maya user who just started teaching (and learning:argh: ) Max... I specialise in character pipeline and your rig is of the standard which I've come to expect from my own in Maya KUDOS! The best example of in depth animateable flexibility I've found yet for Max... Again KUDOS:applause: It's clear that a great deal of not just work abut also intuition went into it's creation... Makes me wonder what you're planning to do next...

I have successfully transferred most of my skills over to Max but rigging... real rigging is still eluding me. Biped makes me :cry: but it's part of what I need to teach... I've already shown my students some of the many facial rigging techniques accessable in Max but would really dig being able to teach them to create flexibility in their character rigs... You've obviously got it sussed so I was wondering if you've got any pointers? books etc? that might help me to grow to love Max more...

Thanks for again for sharing this clever little dude:applause:

[JonLi]

Hi Brad,

i was looking around for tutorials online to rig and animate my characters, and i struck gold when i found your " the best ever!!!" rig, its really fun to play with but when i tried to run the scale script, the screen pauses for a second and nothing happens, i am using the 1.8 version, just wonder if this has anything to do with my machine.......

looking forward to ur reply and again, what an amazing set up!!!

Jon

[kidcanuck]

I am also having problems getting the resize script to work with v1.8_r8. In the Listener window the only feedback is "26000 OK" I'm running the script from my UI/MacroScripts folder in Max 8. It sounds like I'm having the same issue as the guy above me in the thread. Any advice on how I shoudl get around this? Thanks.

[Chinwagon]

This is the question that I get asked most often. This is basically because I didn't add any guide in the readme to tell people how to make the script work. I simply assumed that everybody knew how macroscripts worked. How wrong I was! ...sorry.
What you'll need to do is go into the Customize UI section and after finding the script in the list, assign it as a hotkey, toolbar button, quadmenu item and/or menu item. If need be, consult the help files for more details on how to customize your UI.
Good luck!
:¬)

[kidcanuck]

Thanks for helping out the newbs Brad. It works like a charm now.

[kidcanuck]

I'm running into some issues setting up my character with a Skin Morph modifier and I'm trying to track down the source of my problems. I'm wondering if anyone has successfully set up Brad's rig with a Skin Morph. It's obvious that the bones relate to each other differently, could this affect calculating the joint angles?

my thread for this issue:
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=430010

Thanks in advance.

[Chinwagon]

How do all.
In the spirit of the Christmas season, I am giving the community a big present: the Skeleton Rig version 2.0 is now available for download!
Here's a rundown of the major new features:


Added an auto-hide feature to automatically hide and unhide the relevant limb controls depending on what the IK blend amount is.
Added the ability to bend the limbs into curves, with options for how much bend, locking the middle of the curve at the elbow/knee and the inheriting of curve tangents from adjacent body parts (ie. hips, shoulders, feet and hands).
Added the ability to define the number of twisting bones for the arms, legs, neck and spine in the resizing script.
Rebuilt the neck and spine controls to more easily move the chest and head into specific poses.
Added the ability to move the hips independantly from the chest and the chest independantly from the head.
Added a foot swivel attribute.
Added the ability to define how much the head is affected by the neck's squash/stretch.
Plus many more little things that'll come in very handy when animating.
As always, it also comes with a resizing script so you can use it for any (bipedal) character you wish.
So head on over to www.bradnoble.net/rigging (http://www.bradnoble.net/rigging), take a look at the new feature videos, download the file and get animating!

:¬)

http://www.bradnoble.net/images/Skeleton%20Rig%20v2%20Posed.jpg (http://www.bradnoble.net/rigging/)

[zzama]

Not Found

The requested URL /rigging/Skeleton_rig_and_script_v2.0_r8.zip was not found on this server.

[luigi]

Hi brad link is not working impatient to see what you have come with :).
Back on nexus know, have to write you an email with new and update rig and life.

waiting for update link :).

[Chinwagon]

ah...
OK, please stand by...
Back on-line. Sorry about that. All should be well in the world now.
:¬)

[Mahlon]

Man, awsome. Just awesome! The bending limbs into curves looks particularly tasty. Thanks so much. I still feel like we should give some renumeration. Do you have a PayPal account? Some kind of donation/happy fee should be in order, no?


Mahlon

[m-greenwood]

Absolutely fantastic brad!
Really glad you've implimented those changes...
Have to have a play now. :)

[Dark3k]

First off I must say that this is the best free rig that I have seen :thumbsup: . I am not an animator but this makes me want to have a go at it again (I've been doing this visualisation crap for too long).

Second thing is that I can't get the plugin to work in max9, I receive a
"Error code: 127 - The specified procedure could not be found". I did a quick search on google and found this (http://discussion.autodesk.com/thread.jspa?threadID=515654) on Autodesk's forum.

Everything works like a dream in max8 though. You might have to recompile it for max9 or (most likely) I need help in installing it.

[luigi]

Hi Brad thas amazing rig.

I was playing with the fingers and they are freeze , and unfreeze them and I was able to able to animate them rotating them normally.

What is the correct way freeze fingers or like in the previous version unfreze fingers and be able to animate them selecting them or with the sliders.

Really nice job i going to have a hard time checking what you have done :) and trying to understand how you dided thanks for sharing :). look all new things on it.

[Chinwagon]

Thanks for the compliments guys.
About the error, the plugin will need to be recompiled for max 9. I didn't write it, my colleague, Grant Adam whipped it up for me as a way of doing the spline based curves on the limbs without it slowing down the rig. That guy's ridiculously clever with the coding.
So long story short is that the rig only works in max 8 for now. I guess my website's telling lies...
Sorry about that and will try to get a max 9 fix as soon as possible.
:¬)

[Chinwagon]

Hey Luis, how's things? Hope you're well.
About the fingers: The bone layer of the rig is frozen by default, but as you said, you can unfreeze it and rotate the finger bones manually. These rotations automatically adjust the finger sliders on the hand control and vice versa so you can choose to manipulate the fingers either way and it'll still give the same results.
Oh, and same thing goes for the shoulders.
:¬)

[Runefall]

I'm having a small problem, although I'm new to rigging/animating so the answer is probably pretty simple. I'm using the lastest version of the rig and Max 8. I put the resizing tool on my toolbar, it works fine when I hit it and change around the sizes of the various bones. But when I exit out of the tool, none of my Ik, manipulators, and whatnot works on the rig any more. Is there something else I need to do to get all that back after using the resizing tool?

[Chinwagon]

The resizing script automatically turns all IK blend values down to 0, namely turns the limbs to FK. To turn it them back to IK, select the appropriate FK limb (for the arms, it's the upper arm control and for the feet, it's the foot control) and turn the IK blend slider back up to 100.
If you've got the new auto-hide checkbutton turned on it will also automatically unhide the IK controls for you!
:¬)

[Runefall]

Thank you!!

[kidcanuck]

Hey Brad, kind of a bummer that it's not quite ready for max 9 yet but I'm sure you're working on it when you can. I for one will be ecstatic to see that update posted. Just a thought I had while working with the rig. Some sort of easy rename script would be great especially when there are multiple instances of the rig in a scene. Think this is something for the future? Keep up the excellent work.

[Chinwagon]

Yeah that is a bit of a bummer, I'll have to get Grant to recompile the plugin to work with max 9.
I have thought about adding a renaming function to the rig, just not sure of the best way to implement it yet. Maybe with the resizing script or perhaps (if I'm clever... so don't hold your breath) have a prefix dialog as a custom attribute on the master control?
At this stage, I've been just selecting everything via the layer manager and using a renaming script (I use either Paul Hormis' or Wahooney's) to add a prefix to it. After that I save it as a version ready for merging into a scene with other rigs.
That method has worked fine (even though it's a little inelegant) in quite a few jobs and from memory, the most rigs I've had in one scene was about 18. All working no problem.
:¬)

[Runefall]

Running into another problem! When I'm under the controls for resizing the hand and I hit th e 'offset controls' button, The maxscript window comes up with a Maxscript rollout handler exception 'Unknown property: "Checked" in undefined.' And the offset controls don't work.

Is this a bug, or am I not doing something that I should be?

[kidcanuck]

Yeah that's similar to what I ended up doing to work around it. I created my own prefix script and just selected everything via layer manager to rename. The HowTo section in maxscript reference had a tutorial on a similar process. Very handy.

[Chinwagon]

Bugger, I'll have to check that one. The fix shouldn't be too big an issue.
...it's finding the time that'll the bigger one.
:¬\

[Runefall]

Bugger is right! Can't wait to rig and start animating my model, but he needs thumbs :)
Good luck finding some free time!

[Chinwagon]

Whaddya know, I found some time.
I've fixed it, I just have to upload it later on tonight (Australian time). Shouldn't take too long.
If you're really desperate to start resizing, the left hand resizing part works fine, so as a quick and dirty workaround, you can adjust the left hand and then mirror it to the right.
Dunno how that got out, the right hand adjustment stuff was a test work in progress that I thought I'd discarded.
This version 2.0 release has definitely not been as smooth as I would have liked...
:¬)

[Chinwagon]

OK, just uploaded a little fix to the resizing script on my website - correcting a bug in the right hand resizing.
Sorry for any trauma/night-terrors it caused.
:¬)

[thethirdeye]

I can`t got the Link?

[Runefall]

It works! A hero is you!

[thethirdeye]

really?
Please Show me!

[thethirdeye]

Chinwagon (http://forums.cgsociety.org/member.php?u=78954) vbmenu_register("postmenu_1613489", true); :everybody said"godly rig".I`m Maxer too,Could you post it to me?
Thanks!

my email: am900cg@126.com (http://forums.cgsociety.org/am900cg@126.com)

[Chinwagon]

Thethirdeye, grab it from the rigging section of my website, www.bradnoble.net (http://www.bradnoble.net).
:¬)

[thethirdeye]

:) very good!

[buller]

hi
thnx but i'm new to rigging
i wonder how to put the whole thing into my model
Many rigging tutor seem to teach me to start from scratch
thnx lot

[Chinwagon]

Use the resizing script to resize the rig to your character, put a skin modifier on your character and select the bones of the rig in the skin modifier to deform your character's mesh.
There should be a tutorial in the help which will show you how to skin a character.
:¬)

[J-K]

Brad, I just looked at the example videos on your website, and your rig completely rocks, I can't wait to try it! It looks so user-friendly and functional, everything from the positioning of the limbs to the huge mirror button at the bottom :D

Just had to post and say great job, no doubt I'll be posting some feedback when I get the chance to give it a proper go.

All the best,

John

[buller]

i tried it but got problem with right hand when i move the rig it got lengthened like doing biped with wrong vertexed ( it's because of my inexperience in modelling,i know )
tried resizing many times still the same i don't know how to fix this with rigging
thnx

[Chinwagon]

OK, it's time for one more update. Skeleton Rig version 2.2 (http://www.bradnoble.net/rigging) is now available for 3ds max 8 and finally, 3ds max 9.
The max 9 version is pretty much exactly the same as the version 8 one, except for the updated plugin that comes with it. As I don't have a copy of max 9, when you open the rig in max 9 you'll probably get a message telling you it's from a previous version of max.

This update has two major additions (along with a couple of other little ones): You can now choose the number of fingers on the hands of the rig and the reszing script is no longer name dependant. You can now have more than one rig in your scene and resize each one individually.

This I think, is what I want the rig to be. I don't have any more things I want to really add to it. So barring any major bugs that anyone finds, I think this will be the last version of the rig I will make. It's been almost 6 years of developing it now and that's a very long time. Luckily, I'm very happy with the final result.

Thanks for all the compliments it as received, it means a lot to me and keeps me wanting to improve it.

Now, go and make some great animation with it!
:¬)

[luigi]

Hi brad , check the new rig and is lovely, thanks for the assume skin pose that know is going to be really easy to edit and and new meshes on the fly in already animated scenes, really nice you got the time to make it none name depended.

For my point of be the best max rig i ever got.

Thanks for sharing.

looks im going to be always your padawam. That new rig of you give me a lot of new ideas i want to try.

[bigguns]

Hi Brad!

It's a wonderfull job you did here!! Amazing I must say! It's the best free rig I never see for Max... and one of the best rig I seen... if it's not the best one I see! Thank's a lot to develop this! I think it's not enought know by other people, make some pub!

Everybody must have this rig!

Best regards

[meccabilly]

Hey Brad,

You are officially the man!

However i have run into a couple of little problems,

no1: little thing - when copying arm values from right to left (or the other way - cant remember) the bones all deformed to massive sizes... bit odd.

No2: Bigger problem. I cant seem to get any kind of interaction with the blue skeleton. I can't select any of it, I can't parent to the bones - when i apply 'skin' it can't 'see' the bones... not really sure what to do...

Once i can get it going tho it will be amazing. The rig is excellent and I especially enjoy the hand controls. I've been getting by without actually animating fingers up till this point!

I plan to use the rig extensively once i've figured this little thing out...

[meccabilly]

Hey Guys!

Ok - all figured out now thanks to a couple of very helpful members - Mahlon especially... I actually realised the rig is even more awesome then i originally thought... lol

Here is the first thingy I've got to with the rig... It's part of a larger project called Mighty Moshin Emo Rangers... You may have heard of it. Anyway:

http://a223.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/25/l_a93869845e4cd6cd2b1f8c4f3b00b316.jpg

[kidcanuck]

Haha that's hilarious man. I dig that.

[Chinwagon]

meccabilly that's really cool. Looks like fun, keep it up.
To address the two issues you're having:

1 - the scale issue when mirroring arm size values is because the master control object is not scaled to 100%. It's probably because the rig was automatically rescaled when merged into a scene with different unit measurements (eg. cm to inches will scale the master control to 254%).
The current fix would be to scale the master back down to 100%, mirror the limbs and then scale it back up, if you wish. I would recommend scaling it back to 100% before resizing it anyway, as this problem will also show up when you change the number of twist bones on any part of the rig when the master scale is not 100%.
I'll upload a fix for this very soon.

2 - The reason you can't select the bones and/or assign them to a skin modifier is because the layer the bones is on is frozen. The reason for that was so that you didn't keep accidentally selecting the bones when you wanted to select the rig controls.

:¬)

[meccabilly]

Hey Brad,

That's great cheers!

Im self taught, so items such as layers just sort of eluded me - never felt the need to use them so never looked for them - but im sure i will now ;)

Thanks also for the resize info - how would I resize back to it's orginal 100%?

Love ur site as well - some great work! I am currently trying to learn some new techniques and skills to make my work of a more professional standard. I am confident in my abilities artistically, it's just without full understanding of how to set everything up and use the tools available to their full potential it has sort of been like trying to sculp clay with boxing gloves.

I will be using your rig extensively in an MTV mini series called 'Emo Rangers' - you can see it in it's current form at www.myspace.com/emorangers.

The new series however is set to be exponentially better!

Cheers!

Nick

[Chinwagon]

Hey, just letting everyone know there's a new version 2.21 now available.
It fixes a couple of tiny bugs and the resizing script now checks whether the rig is scaled at 100% - if not, it'll ask if you want to correct it or not before proceeding.
Go grab it! (http://www.bradnoble.net/rigging/)
...or not, if you like it the way it is. You know, your choice.
:¬)

[meccabilly]

Hey Brad!

Ill download that streight away :) This rig is like a one stop shop - I was so surprised (but happily so) to find you havn't charged for it!

Other suggestions for if you get time or if you think they are any good - most of them arn't particuarly important/neccisary and are just luxuries really.

-Some kind of Tail option. Its fairly easy to set the rig to a 4 legged animal pose, but i've attatched a SplineIK for the tail. A tail with handles to animate it would be amazing (tho im sure ur v busy...)

-Multiple skin poses, It defaults to the same pose each time, and it would be cool to have a pose which is arms outstreched, down to sides or half way between.

-Multiple limbs.. so if you wanted another pair of arms or legs - could be great for adding wings to a dragon or make a Centaur type creature.

-Or a wing option to give the arms extra long fingers etc... quickly becomes a bird.

-Toes - Same as fingers really.

-All four finger control - an option to control the splay/curve on all the fingers at once (It really is a very small thing and perfectly easy to acheive without).

Again, pretty much all these things are perfectly simple to acheive without major updates to your rig, they were just thoughts that came to mind...

Cheers Again!

Nick

[Furlong]

Hi Brad,

I've been playing with the rig for a short while now, testing it in a few scenarios to see if it's a viable replacement for CS. I'll reiterate the congratulations from all the others in this thread because as had as i've tried, it's difficult to break :) I've had great success merging in animation to new rigs with different names and using multiple rigs in a scene. I did eventually manage to break it though ;) Here's what happened:

- When merging into a scene with a different units setup, the left clavicle was abnormally large.
I checked all the scale settings for the bone and for the master control. As you've said, a different unit setup means its scale comes in at 254, but the left clavicle was still way out of proportion. I checked the scale value of the bone itself and it was still at 100. As a workaround, i simply saved the original rig into another file and set the units to match the file i was merging into. All seemed ok after that.

- Cannot mirror leg values if the twist bone counts are anything but 3 for the shin and thigh.
The script crashed saying that length was an unknown property in undefined. Looks like it was still looking for that third shin bone that i removed. It seems to work fine with the arms, just the thighs/shins it falls over with.


So yeah, nothing major. I've got workarounds in place, so i'll probably keep posting any issues and fixes as i come across them to try and keep the flow of information fresh for anyone else considering this as an alternative to CS.

[Furlong]

Sorry for the double post, but hit another snag:

- Cannot save the file when using animation layers.
When I try, i get an "Unknown class: SuperID=0x9003, ClassID=(0xEEEFFFFF,0x0)" error message and i have to click OK 31 times before i get back to my scene. I suspect that that's how many instances there are of whatever is causing the error. Once it's done, the saved file can't be opened. It says "Invalid file- only partially loaded."

[Chinwagon]

Yikes. OK, I can understand the animation layers problem as I've not really tested the rig much in max 9. I actually find it slower to use in max 9 than in 8. The pressing OK 31 times I reckon is from the 31 script controllers that are on the rig that have all thrown up an error.
I'll have a look into the clavicle and twist bone mirroring problems when I can - which may be a little while as I don't have as much time for the rig as I used to.
Thanks for bringing these things up though.
:¬)

[Sinew]

totally impressed! was getting really sick of trying to use biped, and then this came along! really neat stuff!

keep up the excelent work!

deano!

[Chinwagon]

I just can't help myself can I?

Skeleton Rig version 2.25 is now available.

This version version adds a feature or two and fixes a couple of problems some people have had. Namely:

A shortcut button on the hand control to select the relevant arm control (depending on the IK blend value).
Sliders to adjust how much the squash and stretch affects the chest and pelvic bones.
Fixed an issue with rig objects not being scaled correctly when merging the rig into a scene with a different unit setup.
Fixed the assume skin pose button to work correctly when the rig has less than five fingers on a hand.
Plus other little cleanup things to make it as bug free as possible (I hope).
Oh, and one other thing, there's now a 64-bit version for max 9! I haven't tested yet as I don't have access to a 64-bit machine but I'm told it should be good. Let me know if you get any issues with it.
Many thanks again go to Grant Adam (http://rpmanager.com) for creating the virtual segment plugin for me.

So yeah, go grab it (http://www.bradnoble.net/rigging/index.html) and make some cool stuff!
:¬)

[iwashuman2021]

i would just like to say thanks for bringing this rig to the front of the forum, it shows yet again how important it is for the community to give back at least as much as they get out.

heres to file sharing! ---><----><----

[Furlong]

Sharing is caring :)

Awesome work yet again Brad :D Thanks mate!

[Chinwagon]

OK, version 2.26 is now available.
It fixes a problem with the resizing script throwing up an error when mirroring legs with less that three twist joints.
Even though the rig says it's at version 2.26, it's actually unchanged. The script is the only thing that's been fixed, so if you've set up a character with version 2.25, this will work fine with it.
Go grab it. (http://www.bradnoble.net/rigging/index.html)
:¬)

[DerPapa]

Hi brad, we setup your rig (it's version 2.21) for a little bunny, who has 4 fingers. While animating, I noticed the controls for the ring finger (in our case the little) is missing. But I have visible bones there. I run the resize script and saw that this finger was checked. I unchecked and checked again and now my finger bones are gone, with no way to get it back.

Any idea?

I know I use the rig at my own risk, but I would appreciate if you have little time to inspect the attached scene :)

EDIT: ok, uncheck/check works, but the bones become created on the actual layer which was hidden at that moment. Unfortunately I have to reskin the bones. unchecking them in the script deletes them from skins boneslist as well :) Anyway, I think I can fix it myself. I hope it won't happen again.



cheers
Michael

[Chinwagon]

The resizing script won't actually delete the rollout containing the finger controls when you determine a finger no to be enabled. It will only move the custom attribute sliders away so they can't be adjusted.
I'm only guessing but I think it may be that the middle finger's rollout has been rolled up and maybe moved to the bottom of the list or something. If you right click on an inactive area of those rollouts, you will be presented with an available list of rollouts. You can also reset the order of them.
Besides that, I don't know what would cause it.
:¬\

[Eugene]

Chinwagon
Hi! Your rig is really great!
But I can't understand for what are needed bones hip left and right? Are them optional for using? I think without theme is better... >.<

Am right to scale your rig by Master control? If so, then why script every time saying me about resized master control?
If I am wrong, how to scale it globally? Can you make spinner, that regulating global size of the rig?

Are you planning to write help about features and capabilites of your rig?

[Chinwagon]

Hey Eugene,
the hip bones are there to aid the skinning process. Like the elbow, knee and shoulder bones, they orient themselves halfway between the surrounding bones to help keep the volume of your skinned mesh when those areas are rotated into sharp angles.

You can definitely use the master control object to scale your rig, the resizing script will still resize it ok. However, if you're setting the rig up for a character, it'll give you less grief later (especially in a production environment) if you reset the master object scale to 100% before resizing the rig to your character.

As for documentation, I would like to make a .pdf or .chm for it, but it's just a case of finding the time - which right now is in very short supply.

:¬)

[Chinwagon]

Whoda thunk it! I've gone and updated the rig again and I think this is the best one yet.

Skeleton Rig 2.5 is now available for download from my website (http://bradnoble.net/).

Here are the main improvements:



Changed the way the rig stores its objects as nodes which greatly improves the performance speed.
The rig tools on the master object have been expanded to add the ability to add extra objects to the rig (eg. character meshes, eye lookat targets, etc.) that are accounted for when renaming the rig and when using the new buttons to select all rig objects and delete the entire rig from your scene.
Added a hand offset ability in the resizing script.
Added knuckle biases on the fingers in the resizing script allowing you to fine tune the lengths of individual finger bones.
Added an attribute on the chest called "leaning rotation". Turning this down to zero makes the chest control object stay where it is as it's being rotated.
You may also notice the addition of a paypal donation button on the rigging section my website. The Skeleton Rig has always been free but at the same time, I've spent a LOT of time on it.
If you're a company using it for commercial purposes, I don't have a problem with that but if you wish to make a donation of perhaps only a portion of the money you have saved in not having to hire a rigger, or even if you just wanted to make a gesture of thanks for all the situations in which the rig has helped you out, that would be greatly appreciated.

Now go grab it (http://bradnoble.net/rigging/index.html) and make some cool animation!
:¬)

[luigi]

Hi brad look your never going to stop to update your rig :thumbsup:

Great you added the ability to resize the fingers indibidual.and the leaning rotatrion is good too.

Going to play with it more , havinf fun doing poses.

You should got a list of projects you wher know your eig is been used. in your site ,in my head i got a lot of them.

[m-greenwood]

Absolutely superb as always, Brad.
I definitely agree with Luis that you could do a gallery of all the amazing jobs your rig was used on. I'd never use anything else now!
I think I've forgotten how to make my own rigs :/

[dARCKLOWN]

Hi Brad,

Having a bit of a problem with your new version. Ive extracted all the plugins and such to the said folders yet when I merge in the rig, select the master dummy and click Launch resizing script I get an error saying

"Please select a valid Skeleton Rig Master control before launching the script."

Im not sure whats going on here as I have the master control selected and it moves the rest of the rig around like its suppose to so im not sure why wi would be telling me to select a valid one ??

[Chinwagon]

Unfortunately it depends on what version of the rig and what version of the script you are running. The resizing script for version 2.26 won't work with version 2.5 of the rig and vice versa.
Double check that the resizing script you've put into your ui/macroscripts folder is the one you took from the 2.5 zip file you downloaded and that you're using it on version 2.5 of the rig.
:¬)

[ngrava]

Hi Brad, Do you know if anyone has attempted to recreate this rig in Maya? I absolutely love it and have been using in production for about three years now. Now I have to use Maya on my current project and I can't find a rig that is as good as this one... Anyone else know of one? Specifically, the bendy arms and legs and squash and stretch.

Thanks for any help!

-=GB=-

[whitehorse]

i have been using this rig for so long now and i am so happy that there are more option in the fingers now. it is something i asked a while ago on this very thread and i am so glad you have had the time to do it.

Thanks heaps for your effort on this rig

[dARCKLOWN]

Hi Brad,

Sorry mate but its just not working, Ive placed both extra files in the right places, moved/deleted old files with no luck, I think it must be some network file that keeps screwing it up, ill post back if I can find out what files causeing the problem.

[Edit] Git it working, turns out theres 2 locations the resize script was running from, ( UI/ macro scripts in your C: max and the other was in Docs and Settings/Local Settings all the way down about 6 levels :?)

I dont know if this was a problem just for me or if its the same with everyone, oh well, thats how I got it working incase anyone else gets the same problem.

[Wilkins]

This is great stuff. I do not have much to say but thank you.
Cheers
Josh

[thethirdeye]

Hi Brad,

Sorry, the rig for max8 not working in my machine,:sad: Same Problem "Please select a valid Skeleton Rig Master control before launching the script."

Help!

[thethirdeye]

I do everything that you told us,but i still can`t solve the problem.
Would you do me a favour?

[Chinwagon]

Sorry thethirdeye, all I can suggest is that you double check that the script you have is your ui/macroscripts folder and the rig you are trying to resize are the ones that came with the version 2.5 download.
If the rig and script installed are both version 2.5, there shouldn't be a problem.
Good luck!
:¬)

[thethirdeye]

Thanks !I am just using the version 2.5 .the Brads-Skeleton rig resize v2 r8.mcr is 492kb and VirtSegment.dlc is 48kb.

o my god! Give me a hand.

[Chinwagon]

That sounds right...
Just to be sure, that .mcr file you mentioned is the one in your ui/macroscripts folder right?
Are you running the script from a hotkey, button on your toolbar or menu item? Or are you running it from the button in the modifier panel when you select the master control object?
You realise that if you are running it from any of the first options, you need have the large dummy named "master control" selected when running it. If you're running the script from the modfier panel, you'll already have this object selected.

Is anyone else having this problem?
:¬/

[thethirdeye]

When I open Skeleton rig v2.5 r8.max,
the problem: Missing Dlls (FileName: Scripted Plugin Class: Skeleton rig info SuperClass: 0x1160)

MAXScript Scripted Custom Attribute definition loading ExceptionMAXScript Scripted Custom Attribute definition loading Exception
-- syntax error at:(,expected<rollout clause>
-- In line: label 'Rig info label-04' "(c

What means?

Thanks!

[Chinwagon]

Wait, you hadn't even opened the file yet? thethirdeye...
Please read the instructions for using this rig in the readme file that comes with the downloaded zip file.
The problem that you're getting now is because you're using a non-english version of max; most probably an asian language one. I've had a few e-mails from people in China and Korea who've had this problem. For some reason it always errors there and I don't have an asian language version of max to know how to fix it.
The only solution I can suggest there is to change to an english language version of max.
:¬/

[thethirdeye]

:( I just use English version max.and I have opened your max file .

now I want to install max 9 .maybe……:)

[thethirdeye]

Hi brad , I`m so sorry to you again!
I Missing Dlls , FileName: Scripted Plugin Class: Skeleton rig info
Would you send it to me?
thanks!

[Chinwagon]

There is no .dll that I can send you for that problem. I'm not sure what can fix it. It may be the version of max you're using? If anyone else has had that problem, please let thethirdeye (and myself) know what the problem was.
:¬(

[thethirdeye]

Brad Noble,you are so kind! thank you so much!

I have solved my problem.:) I just change my system area language.

Your rig is very good:thumbsup:,

But I think there is a little bug,Maybe it is still my reason . When I launch resizing script and change rig pose,The IK foot control error(it disappeared)!:sad:

[thethirdeye]

I checked the IK foot control in Schematic view.Once I launch resizing script and change rig pose,The IK foot control error(it turn to Opacity)!:sad:

[Chinwagon]

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showpost.php?p=4452922&postcount=176
A few people have had this problem. It's just a case of knowing where to look to fix it.
:¬)

[thethirdeye]

Ok, I see!:thumbsup:

[Mblanco]

this rig is really great! i especially like the presets for the hands feature, really great stuff and fun to play with thanks.

[Chinwagon]

I just can't seem to let it go...

Skeleton Rig version 2.55 is now available to download.

Updates in this version include:



The ability to paste/instance/change animation contollers on the chest and neck without breaking the rig.
Compatible with max 9's animation layers.
Tweak to finger splay orientation.
Condensed and reorganised layers.
Couple o' bug fixes.
So if you want the latest and greatest, go and grab it here (http://www.bradnoble.net/rigging).

:¬)

[shkumbinferizi]

hi there, this seems like a great thing,really amazing job u have done...
im having a little small trouble, I tried ataching my objects to the null objects and it seems like my meshes dont render. I was wondering how do I go on about ataching this amazing thing to my character, its a robot :D
cheers

[Chinwagon]

The reason why they're not showing up is because the bones are set as non-renderable. To fix this, either set the bone to be renderable in the object's properties or just link the object to the bone instead of attaching it.
:¬)

[shkumbinferizi]

I tried to put the bone as renderable but I couldnt, it was just turned off the option and I couldnt put it on !
and I didnt atach it , i just linked it., I mean I didnt want the bones to show anyway , just my mesh, so I just linked it and my mesh doesnt show either, very strange if u ask me ...

[thethirdeye]

hi, Brad Noble
Nice to see you again! I have two problems:
1: Why does "Foot swivel" only stay at toe position, in fact,human`s "Foot swivel" should have three. I make a three "Foot swivel" control,The effect is pretty good.Would you solve the problem,thanks! :)

2: Why does not "Master control" be affected by Xform modify.I want to change the "Master control" pivot ,then,I can control rotate animation.


Thank you very much!

[guybrush806]

Having trouble skinning this rig. I new to the process and have skinned a character using character studio skeleton.

With this rig, I crash when using physique and applying the model to the master control.
If I apply it to the hip control, it only skins the feet and stomach.

Am I doing something wrong?

[Chinwagon]

thethirdeye, the foot swivel is where it is because I find that's the point where a person's weight is put when swivelling on their toe. For swivelling around the heel, I would just rotate the IK foot control.
I think three seperate swivels for each foot would start to overload the number of controls. One of the main philosophies of the skeleton rig is balancing what you can do with how easy it is to do it.
As for the pivot of the master control, you can freely chage the pivot of the master using the regular affect pivot only tool.

guybrush806, the rig is designed for use with the skin modifier. The blue bones are what's used to drive the character mesh deformation. Check max's help file for info on how to skin characters.

:¬)

[guybrush806]

thank you for your response. It's an amazing rig. Very easy to animate, instantly feel comfortable with it.

Awesome work!

[thethirdeye]

Brad Noble,you known ,It do not key animation when I chage the pivot of the master using the regular affect pivot only tool.:sad:
About the foot swivel, I did sometheing. Maybe you can look look:) .So you do me a favour that i can solve the problem .

Thank`s again!

[Chinwagon]

Just a small update to fix some things that were annoying me.


Fixed problem with chest influence on arms' keyframe values being 100 times what they should be.
Allowed for the selection of multiple objects at the same time to be added as extra character objects.
Made the "Launch resizing script" button look for the exact version of the script that corresponds to the version of the rig.
Go grab Skeleton Rig version 2.56 here! (http://www.bradnoble.net/rigging/index.html)
:¬)

[Furlong]

Hi Brad,

Had an interesting bug pop up in the last couple of days; try to manipulate the IK blend of the hands or feet and get a '-- Unknown property: "position" in undefined' exception, then the IK ceases to work. You can slide the blend slider, but the value remains at zero.

I managed to resolve the issue by re-rigging and skinning the character with auto-hide IK ctrls disabled, periodically tweaking the IK blend to make sure it was still working. Got there in the end with everything working, so it seems that it had something to do with the ctrls being hidden. We've had this happen on two separate characters, so i don't think it's character specific.

I'm hoping it's as easy as tweaking one of the script controllers, (our script monkey is checking it out now) but if not, any help would be greatly appreciated :D

[Furlong]

Ok, the guys have a handle on it now; here's what was going on;

We found that at some stage when working with the rig the actual custom attribute defination file was changed\Mangled for some reason. We were able to determine this by viewing the defintions source with a custattributes function. Here is a snippet of the changed custom attribute followed by the orig

This is the custom attribute that got changed\stuffed
Notice the 'node' parameter and also the following line
IK_ArmCtrlL = this.node.position.controller.getnode "IK_Arm_Control_L"

-- Code ------------------------

"attributes 'IK Arm L'
(
Parameters main rollout:'IK Arm L ctrl'
(
'Left arm IK blend' Type:#Float UI:('IK blend arm L slider', 'IK blend arm L spinner') Default:0.0
'Elbow swivel' Type:#Angle UI:('Elbow swivel L slider', 'Elbow swivel L spinner') Default:0.0
'IK influence on hand' Type:#Float UI:('IK influence hand L slider', 'IK influence hand L spinner') Default:0.0
'Auto hide' Type:#radiobtnIndex UI:'Auto hide' Animatable:false
'Node' Type:#Node

)

fn Auto_hide_fn =
(
if 'Auto hide' == 1 then
(
IK_ArmCtrlL = this.node.position.controller.getnode "IK_Arm_Control_L"
FK_UpperArmL = this.node.position.controller.getnode "FK_Upper_Arm_L"
FK_ForeArmL = this.node.position.controller.getnode "FK_Forearm_L"
FK_UpperArmL.modifiers[1].Auto_hide = IK_ArmCtrlL.modifiers[1].Auto_hide
if IK_ArmCtrlL.modifiers[1].'Left arm IK blend' < 33.3333 then
(
hide IK_ArmCtrlL
unhide #(FK_UpperArmL, FK_ForeArmL)
)
if IK_ArmCtrlL.modifiers[1].'Left arm IK blend' >= 33.3333 then
(
unhide #(IK_ArmCtrlL, FK_UpperArmL, FK_ForeArmL)
)
if IK_ArmCtrlL.modifiers[1].'Left arm IK blend' > 66.6666 then
(
unhide IK_ArmCtrlL
hide #(FK_UpperArmL, FK_ForeArmL)
)
)
)

---------------------------------
---------------------------------

This is the orig custom attribute
-- code

attributes 'IK Arm L'
(
Parameters main rollout:'IK Arm L ctrl'
(
'Left arm IK blend' Type:#Float UI:('IK blend arm L slider', 'IK blend arm L spinner') Default:0.0
'Elbow swivel' Type:#Angle UI:('Elbow swivel L slider', 'Elbow swivel L spinner') Default:0.0
'IK influence on hand' Type:#Float UI:('IK influence hand L slider', 'IK influence hand L spinner') Default:0.0
'Auto hide' Type:#radiobtnIndex UI:'Auto hide' Animatable:false
'AutohideNodes' Type:#MaxObjectTab tabSize:0 tabSizeVariable:true
)

fn Auto_hide_fn =
(
if 'Auto hide' == 1 then
(
FK_ForeArmL = this.AutohideNodes[1].node
FK_UpperArmL = this.AutohideNodes[2].node
IK_ArmCtrlL = this.AutohideNodes[3].node
IK_FlipAxisL = this.AutohideNodes[4].node
FK_UpperArmL.modifiers[1].Auto_hide = IK_ArmCtrlL.modifiers[1].Auto_hide
if IK_ArmCtrlL.modifiers[1].'Left arm IK blend' < 33.3333 then
(
hide #(IK_ArmCtrlL, IK_FlipAxisL)
unhide #(FK_UpperArmL, FK_ForeArmL)
)
if IK_ArmCtrlL.modifiers[1].'Left arm IK blend' >= 33.3333 then
(
unhide #(IK_ArmCtrlL, IK_FlipAxisL, FK_UpperArmL, FK_ForeArmL)
)
if IK_ArmCtrlL.modifiers[1].'Left arm IK blend' > 66.6666 then
(
unhide #(IK_ArmCtrlL, IK_FlipAxisL)
hide #(FK_UpperArmL, FK_ForeArmL)
)
)
)
)

[Chinwagon]

Hey there Luke. Some older versions of the rig had custom attributes that weren't declared as unique, which meant that when merged into a scene with another rig that the CAs would become instanced. I think that that's what happened in your situation. As to why max allows that to happen, I have no idea.

It shouldn't be a problem when only using more recent version of the rig, but to be honest, that stuff is a little out of the grasp of my knowledge.

Nice one in being more specific with the error found though.
:¬)

[Furlong]

Well, after some more testing, i have to agree with you, it should be working, because after reviewing my use of the rig over the last month or so, i realised it just started happening one day out of the blue. This wasn't something different happening with a new version, so i don't think it's anything wrong with the rig after all.

Just wanted to make that clear to anyone else that keeps up with this thread :)

[Dmaxer]

Seems your website is donw Brad ?

[Chinwagon]

If you're trying to access www.brad-noble.com then yes, it is down because I let it lapse.
www.bradnoble.net (http://www.bradnoble.net) is where it's at. It's where the coolest people hang out doncha know!
;¬)

[archanex]

Hey Brad,

I'd like to start off by saying this is an amazing rig! Thank you so much! Great work!

That being said there are 3 areas I'd like to see improved, the first one being the neck and head, it's cool that it squashes and stretches and all, but I can't just rotate it normally, and when I rotate the head to control the neck, I can never get it to move the bottom neck link as much as I'd like... say if I wanted to make the character stick his neck way out, I'd have to move it in addition to rotating, which causes the rig to stretch in an unnapealing way.

the second thing is that the individual finger links are not resizable, it's great that I can resize the whole finger, but the links are what would really make this useful for rigging the hands

The third thing...and I dunno how hard this would be to change at this point, is that the rig is friggin huge! it's like 30 feet tall, So I've been scaling the master control down and then using the resizing script to finess it. I dunno if this is the right way to do it, but so far no adverse effects =) Keep up the great work!

[Chinwagon]

Ha! I can answer all three of your issues.

Firstly, I have a version 2.57 of the rig sitting at home that addresses your problem. It does the equivalent of what the leaning rotation attribute does on the chest - basically, when you rotate the head, it'll stay on the spot.
Perhaps I should get around to uploading that latest version...


Secondly, you can alter the size of the finger joints individually. In the hand section of the resize script, after opening up the finger offset controls there is a final option to open the knuckle bias controls. This will allow you to alter the length ratios of each finger bone.


Finally, I think it's a unit conversion thing. The rig is by default set at centimetres (I think it's 2 metres tall) and when it goes into a scene set with inches, it scales itself to 256 instead of 100. This is just how max handles those conversions. Scaling it back to 100 as you said and resizing it with the script is the only way to deal with it that I know of.
I hope that helped...
:¬)

[Manny3D]

Just wanted to thank you for sharing this rig. I have learned a lot just trying to break it down.

I love the way you set up the multipliers for all the squash/and stretch attributes. I am really curious on those objects that drive the IK/FK blending, I have never seen those types of gizmos and I was wondering how they helped your rigging, or if they are a matter of preference.

Also I was looking at a lot of the wiring, I was impressed with the way everything works together. I can see all of the pre thinking that had to take place in order to make such a beautiful Rig.

Congratulations on a beautiful job, and thanks again for sharing. :)

[Chinwagon]

Here it is again. Version 2.57 of the Skeleton Rig is now available for download!
New in this version:

New attribute on the head control called "Head rotation affects neck". This acts like the "Leaning rotation" attribute on the chest whereby when set to 0 the head will rotate on the spot (to keep some sort of naming convention, I've also renamed the "leaning rotation" attribute on the chest control to "Chest rotation affects spine").


The auto-hide IK/FK controls checkbox now updates when you drag the time slider.
Download it from here (http://www.bradnoble.net/rigging/index.html) and get animating!
:¬)

[Raty]

Hello,

Thanks for offering nice biped rig for free and fancy resize tool for such a low price! I'm now testing rig it self to find out should I buy it or not :) (for that price everyone should buy it and support you!)


Anyway, I'm wondering viewport performance of that rig with max 2008 64bit.

- Scene with only that rig animated will hit only around 8-12 fps?
- Hidden Rig-Controls layer will appear when hitting Play animation?
- Is there any way to replace those Dummy objects with another object like shape or other? (I just don't prefer "draw on top" like setup and single color choise...)
- If I don't need manipulators, can I delete that layer completely without problem?


Thanks for great job!


EDIT:
I'm using latest Skeleton Rig 2.72.

[Chinwagon]

In answer to your questions:

- Scene with only that rig animated will hit only around 8-12 fps? I don't have a 64 bit machine to test it on but I haven't found any slow downs using 32-bit 3ds max 2008 and I've seen people using version 2.71 on 64-bit max 2008 without problems so I can't really solve your problem. However, the answer may lie in your next question.


- Hidden Rig-Controls layer will appear when hitting Play animation? Having the "Rig - Hidden" layer unhidden will slow down your playback rate quite a bit as there are a lot of helpers in that layer and helper objects aren't cached like mesh objects are.
This layer will be shown when you hit play if you have any objects that are designated as IK or FK controls in that layer and you have the auto-update option for auto hiding these IK/FK controls turned on. These designated IK and FK controls are the FK arms, FK legs (including feet), IK feet, IK arm controls and IK flip axes.
I've found some people put the IK flip axes into the hidden layer as they don't need them when animating. This will cause the layer to unhide when you go to a new frame and why - in version 2.72 - I put the option to hide them away in the IK arm controls.


- Is there any way to replace those Dummy objects with another object like shape or other? (I just don't prefer "draw on top" like setup and single color choise...) Yes! However once it's done you can't resize the rig using the script as it'll error trying to resize the dummies.
To change the dummies to splines for example, create a spline, open a trackview, select the baseobject track (it'll probably be called "Object (Line)" or "Object (Editable Spline)"), copy the controller, select the dummy you wish to change, select its baseobject track (it'll be called "Object (Dummy)") and hit paste controller. Choose copy or instance as you wish and it'll then be converted. The custom attributes controlling the rig are all in modifiers above the baseobject and won't be affected.
And yes, I hate the way helpers are drawn in viewports in max as well!


- If I don't need manipulators, can I delete that layer completely without problem? The simple answer is YES! The only caveat is that again, you won't be able to resize the rig without the resizing script erroring when it tries to resize the now deleted manipulators.


Thanks for the compliments. I'm really glad so many people enjoy using it.
:¬)

[Raty]

Thanks for reply!

- Speed problem is now solved... Blur beta script pack was slowing down whole max. Now I deleted them all and max runs smoothly.

- Too bad I can't swap control object or delete manipulators without losing resize capability.

- Do you have any plans to continue that project? Mirror pose or something maybe? :D


Anyway I just donated you to thank your great work!!! Keep up your great work!



PS. Where I can see your restaurant animation? Link at your site is broken :p

[Chinwagon]

I just wanted to a little belatedly blow my own trumpet and let people know that my rig was used in a short film called This Way Up (http://www.thiswayupmovie.com/). It was done by an extremely talented crew who I used to work with at Nexus Productions (http://www.nexusproductions.com/).

The main reason for this trumpeting is because the film recently received an Academy Award nomination in the category of Best Animated Short Film.

A big congratulations to everyone who worked on it and fingers crossed.
:¬)

[luigi]

Brad you deserve a proper mention on the short.

I did supervise the short movie character setup and i was lucky enough to work with Brad , in nexus where he was living in london. i ben using his rig since the first releases.

The studio is been using brads rigs solid in all his big projects , and when brad is avaible he get him working hand to hand remotly from Australia.check on his site the rowntrees cat and mouse rigs where we worked toguether.

We use brad rig for all of ou bipedal character and custom rigs for all the other kind of characters , quadrupeds ., birds, facial rigs ... and is one of our solid tools that make as able to use turn work wil lots of characters in a speed time. we got a bunch of tools that make brads rig to work with our pipeline and tools: own save and load aniamtion tools, pose system , reset rigs , autoskin, quick select ....


If you go and check on my site, You can see in a lot fo the jobs his rig is been used.

0ther big projects where brads rig is been used:

coke avatar -- coke comercial for the latest superbowl
coke unity --coke commercial for the olimpic games
royal bank of canada
sky italy commercials
deparment of transport of uk
coke video Game

[musashidan]

Hey Brad,congratulations man.I used your rig for a long time when i took my first few tentative steps into character animation.It pisses all over anything else out there. :) (free for Max)

i'm beginning pre-production on a personal short in the latter half of the year and the BradRig is penciled in for usage.However,i'm wondering what's the story with multiple rigs in the same scene with 2.72? and will you update the rig and resize script(which i'll be purchasing) with the release of Max10?

cheers mate.best of luck with the oscars! :applause:

[Chinwagon]

thud thud thud. This thing on? Two, two...

Just thought I'd crank this thread back into some sort of action before it gets locked down by announcing that:

Skeleton rig 2.73 is available for download! (http://www.bradnoble.net/rigging/skeleton_rig.html)

It's not a major update feature wise, it just cleans up a couple of things and adds a nifty bone colour chooser but the biggest thing it does now is... work in 3ds max 2010!

I and anyone else who is pleased by this update should thank Nexus Productions (http://www.nexusproductions.com) for supporting it. They've been long users of the rig (Luis/Luigi (http://forums.cgsociety.org/member.php?u=251) especially has been tirelessly using and championing it there for years) and have produced lots of outstanding work with it.

Feel free to download it and as always, have fun animating!
:¬)

[musashidan]

Wow Brad! i never thought i'd see it coming. I thought you'd finally jumped ship and were picked up by that fancy Maya ocean liner. :)

This is going to make alot of folk very happy. It's still the best Max rig out there. Of that there's no doubt.

I'll be sure to thank Nexus. And of course you good self.

Cheers mate. :beer:

[Octave13]

Woo hoo! Finally. I've been using your rig for a few years now, Brad. Love the work you've done on it. Quick question: Will the re-sizing script that you gave me for 2009 work for this too?

Also, are things still coming along for the Maya rig you've been working on, or has that project fallen by the wayside?

Thanks for all your hard work, keep it up!

[luigi]

Happy that you finally had time to updated it. lost of people over london was keeping max 2008 in production fo the waiting to the new release. I told you you dont know many studios use it :).

Thanks for mention me , :)

will have to wait from my adventure in xsi world to test it :).

Keep up the good work :)

[Chinwagon]

Hey. Just putting it out there that I've made a small update to the skeleton rig. A couple of eagle eyed users have pointed that the squash and stretch doesn't stretch properly when the limbs are in IK mode. This is now fixed.

It's still labelled as version 2.73 (let's call it a hotfix) so it'll still work with the resizing script.
:¬)

[Chinwagon]

Just letting everyone know that the Skeleton Rig (http://www.bradnoble.net/rigging/skeleton_rig.html) is now compatible with 3ds max 2012!

Special thanks goes to Grant Adam (http://www.rpmanager.com/) for recompling the virtual segment plugin it requires.

:¬)

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