littlepixel
01-28-2005, 11:25 PM
In the first post (http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?t=206063 ) I described my approach to rigging dynamic curves into Spline IK for the purpose of creating dynamically animated skeletons. I thought I would be able to post the second step as a reply to my original post, but since I am a new member, I must be moderated. I hope only that the moderators will allow me this indiscretion of breaking my post into two parts, and possibly combine the two in the context of the same thread, as I had hoped to do myself.
Presently we have an arm rigged using a dynamic spline:
http://www.artsy.ca/artemis_00/007.jpg
Now we will create an additional IK setup that will drive this dynamic spline. I have seen similar techniques in the context of dynamic control of skeletons, but never with hair curves.
I duplicate the arm joints and the REST curve of the arm:
http://www.artsy.ca/artemis_00/008.jpg
I cluster the cv's as circled in RED and I move each cluster's pivot to the location pointed by the YELLOW arrow
http://www.artsy.ca/artemis_00/009.jpg
So that each cluster pivots at the bone. I then parent constrain the clusters each to their corresponding bone, and create a regular RPSolver IK for the entire chain.
http://www.artsy.ca/artemis_00/010.jpg
We are now just a BLEND SHAPE away from full animation! Moving the IK of the new bone chain, we will control the dynamic arm of our character quite nicely, it will perform the same actions, but with secondary animation!
We must attach the blend shape to the REST curve of our dynamic arm (to ensure the rest curve is displayed, select the original dynamic curve and choosing 'Hair->Display->Rest Position'.. You may have to turn off joints in the selection mask to get to the curves)
Selecting first our externally rigged curve (bound by clusters to our IK arm) and then the rest curve of our dynamic arm, we create a blend shape.. In the blend shape editor make sure to turn the value all the way up to 1 in order to see the effect.
http://www.artsy.ca/artemis_00/011.jpg
In summary:
The IK drives the skeleton to which the clusters are constrained.
The clusters deform the blend shape which drives the rest curve of the hair, which affects the current curve, causing a nice sort of dynamic animation via IK.
If you would like to learn more about hair curves, I have learned everything I know from digital tutors, apart from the stuff I think up myself. This isn't exactly new ground I'm breaking, but with some good attachment of the cv's I think we could achieve excellent results using this technique.
Presently we have an arm rigged using a dynamic spline:
http://www.artsy.ca/artemis_00/007.jpg
Now we will create an additional IK setup that will drive this dynamic spline. I have seen similar techniques in the context of dynamic control of skeletons, but never with hair curves.
I duplicate the arm joints and the REST curve of the arm:
http://www.artsy.ca/artemis_00/008.jpg
I cluster the cv's as circled in RED and I move each cluster's pivot to the location pointed by the YELLOW arrow
http://www.artsy.ca/artemis_00/009.jpg
So that each cluster pivots at the bone. I then parent constrain the clusters each to their corresponding bone, and create a regular RPSolver IK for the entire chain.
http://www.artsy.ca/artemis_00/010.jpg
We are now just a BLEND SHAPE away from full animation! Moving the IK of the new bone chain, we will control the dynamic arm of our character quite nicely, it will perform the same actions, but with secondary animation!
We must attach the blend shape to the REST curve of our dynamic arm (to ensure the rest curve is displayed, select the original dynamic curve and choosing 'Hair->Display->Rest Position'.. You may have to turn off joints in the selection mask to get to the curves)
Selecting first our externally rigged curve (bound by clusters to our IK arm) and then the rest curve of our dynamic arm, we create a blend shape.. In the blend shape editor make sure to turn the value all the way up to 1 in order to see the effect.
http://www.artsy.ca/artemis_00/011.jpg
In summary:
The IK drives the skeleton to which the clusters are constrained.
The clusters deform the blend shape which drives the rest curve of the hair, which affects the current curve, causing a nice sort of dynamic animation via IK.
If you would like to learn more about hair curves, I have learned everything I know from digital tutors, apart from the stuff I think up myself. This isn't exactly new ground I'm breaking, but with some good attachment of the cv's I think we could achieve excellent results using this technique.