CGTalk - Question on Meta Effectors

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trevlb

03-25-2005, 11:51 PM

i'm test driving messiah animate, and was trying out the meta effectors. beyond just tweaking bone influence weight, i thought they might have some interesting possibilities when animated themselves. i seemed to run into a problem though. when i move my meta effector in animate mode, i don't see a change on the weights. i have to adjust it in setup and then go back. does this mean the meta effectors can only be moved in setup mode and then are basically frozen when switched to animate? also, when i assigned the meta effector as the weight of the bone, the effect isn't always what's expected. some verts outside the meta effector move.

anyone else experience this?

MoodyB

03-26-2005, 01:55 AM

From the docs ( interface / setup tab / items / metaeffector )

"Next to each item in the drawing list are two option icons. The first indicates whether this item will be displayed using this MetaEffector while in Setup mode. If the box is checked it will, if not it won't. You can change it by clicking on an empty box to set it as the current field for that object. The next option determines how the field drawing will be updated on the surface as the Effector moves when not in Setup mode. The default 's' is static and the field will not change it's display when the Effector is moved. If the mode is set to 'a' then it is animated, and moving the Effector will change how the field is drawn on the surface. Setting the mode to 'c' will set it to combo (or "combination") which will update when the Effector is moved, but only in relation to the object's position in Setup mode.

trevlb

03-28-2005, 04:07 PM

thanks moodyb,

i was able to get the visible influence (weight drawing) of the metaeffector to show up in animate mode. however, when i selected a meta effector as the weight for a specific bone, it seemed like the influence would only update when moved in setup. when i moved the meta effector in animate with the bone rotated slightly i didn't see any update in the viewport. any other info, or suggestions on this would be great.

maks

03-28-2005, 04:59 PM

For bones, metaeffectors can't be used dynamically (in animate mode), you must set up their weights in setup mode. That's why you can't see the weight change when you move them in animate mode. Some other effects however can be used dynamically, like e.g. flex, and now also morphblender (wich is absolutely cool!). In those cases you have a pulldown next to the weight selector wich lets you set the weights to "dynamic" (to use in animate mode) or static (to use in setup only). Note that you can aloso use other tools as weights, like curves and procedurals.
Hope that helps :)

trevlb

03-28-2005, 09:22 PM

thanks maks,

that's what i needed to know. i'll have to try playing with some of those other effects.

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