calling all CD IK tools users

[Rich-Art]

Well, I have CDIKTools to, and I think it is a very nice plugin.
But when I see all the xpresso and the structure of the example files, I think a good tutorial won't be a bad Idea.

Sorry but I can't help you.....:sad:

Peace,
Rich-Art. :thumbsup:

[acmepixel]

Now that Dan has produced his most excellent CD Morph plug. We CDIK users are all anxiously awaiting his promised tutorials. He said he would be producing tuts for both of his products. He has a link for them on his site but it is not live yet.

Hopefully soon. ;)

[crackle]

hopefully very soon.....hi dan

[crackle]

here's the scene file for all to examine/rip through.

http://webpages.charter.net/deolsons/genrigexample.c4d

[AdamT]

What'ya expect, with y'all sending him booze in the mail? He's probably laid up somewhere sleeping it off. :)Just kidding, CD.

[Cactus Dan]

Howdy,

Well, let me see if I can shed some light on this. The technique which I use on the leg is what I call "Double Targeting". It's where you have two objects that will always point to each other (along their Z axes). Once you set these two objects up this way, you can then attach other objects as children and they will always move with the Double Targeted objects.

For the Double Targeting leg setup, I have one target at the foot and one target at the hip.
http://www.cactus3d.com/DoubleT.jpg

The Limb IK's Solver object is a child of this setup so that it always moves with the Double Targeted objects, which prevents the leg from flipping when the foot is raised past the hip. The heart of this set up is the CD Dual Target tag, which has a Goal and an Up Vector.

The target at the foot is set up like this:
http://www.cactus3d.com/DoubleTFoot.jpg

And the target at the hip is set up like this:
http://www.cactus3d.com/DoubleTLeg.jpg

The confusing part may be that you'd expect the Up Vector for the object at the hip to be up higher on the same level as the hip, but it's actually moved down to the same level as the foot:
http://www.cactus3d.com/DTUpVector.jpg

With this Up Vector set as a child of the L.Foot.Direction (the Goal), it will always be in front of the Goal, so that the Up Vector and Goal will never cross over each other.

I hope this helps you understand the Double Targeting setup a little better. It really only looks more complicated than it actually is. Double Targeting setups can also be used for rigging mechanical pistons.

Adios,
Cactus Dan

[Cactus Dan]

Howdy,

What'ya expect, with y'all sending him booze in the mail? He's probably laid up somewhere sleeping it off. :)Just kidding, CD.

Burrrrrrp, I'll have you know that I can, burrrrrrp, hold my liquor! :D

Adios,
Cactus Dan

[ernia]

Holy cow, Dan! I may need a drink just to keep up with ya :blush:

ernia

[crackle]

i understand dual targeting but i still dont get it....sorry.

are the l.foot.direction and the l.foot.direction.pointers just nulls you put in there or are they actually root/tip/effector nulls you renamed?

take a look at the file, there's more to it than that in my eyes, i'm new to all this. i've read the manual. it's just not clicking?!

[bobzilla]

Here's a pretty simple quick leg and foot that has foot roll and toe roll, but not quite as fancy or advanced as Dan's, but it works.

[Cactus Dan]

Howdy,

here's the scene file for all to examine/rip through.

http://webpages.charter.net/deolsons/genrigexample.c4d

OK a couple of problems with your file are that you didn't make sure the foot.direction.pointer object was out in front of the foot.direction object, and the CD Dual Target tag is missing from the L.thigh.Root.Null object. Also it is a good idea to have the limbs of any character start with a Null Bone to keep everything in the skeleton hierarchy pertaining to that limb under the Null Bone. Here is your file with the left leg setup fixed.

Adios,
Cactus Dan

[Cactus Dan]

Howdy,

i understand dual targeting but i still dont get it....sorry.

are the l.foot.direction and the l.foot.direction.pointers just nulls you put in there or are they actually root/tip/effector nulls you renamed?

take a look at the file, there's more to it than that in my eyes, i'm new to all this. i've read the manual. it's just not clicking?!

I use the CD Add Root Null or CD Add Tip Null just to add a null object in the same position as a Root.Null or Tip.Null, but those nulls are then renamed and are not part of the IK. The whole idea of that setup is so that the position of the Limb IK's Solver object will be automated. You really don't need that setup at all to have a good leg rig. You can do without it, and just as easily animate the Solver object manually to keep the leg from flipping when you raise the foot past the hip. It is sometimes best to go with the simpler setup when you're starting out with rigging.

Adios,
Cactus Dan

[Cactus Dan]

Howdy,

Holy cow, Dan! I may need a drink just to keep up with ya :blush:

ernia

Well, next time you swing by, we'll have a shot. :D

Adios,
Cactus Dan

[JIII]

No wonder they complain about our rigging tools, the only man who will make rigging tools for Cinema is a drunk!

:-P

[Cactus Dan]

Howdy,

No wonder they complain about our rigging tools, the only man who will make rigging tools for Cinema is a drunk!

:-P

And also the rootin'est, tootin'est, shootin'est gunslinger in the west! :D

Adios,
Cactus Dan

[crackle]

I use the CD Add Root Null or CD Add Tip Null just to add a null object in the same position as a Root.Null or Tip.Null, but those nulls are then renamed and are not part of the IK.



ahhh thats what i was looking for, also thanks for the fix to the leg. i am just trying to learn how to get the most out of the plug-in. i hope to finish the rig soon. with the set-up tool it is very fast to set up actually, there were some function in the new leg rig that i like and wanted to see how it was done, as you can see there were some snags.

now about the xpresso on the foot controller, could you explain that a bit?

i couldn't get the knee director to work and now i'm guessing it was because of the l.ffot.director and the l.foot.director.pointer were in the wrong place.

again thanks for the paientiance, and your help.

[Cactus Dan]

Howdy,

now about the xpresso on the foot controller, could you explain that a bit?.

Well, the Xpresso on the Foot Controller is mainly for the User Data Sliders. The only one that might be hard to understand would be the Foot Rocker. That's just using one slider to control two different object rotations. The important thing here is that the Range Mappers for the two objects have both the Clamp Lower and the Clamp upper enabled. The one object uses the slider's -45º to 0º range and the other uses its 0º to 70º range. So in a sense, each object is being controlled by only half of the slider. The Negate Node on some of the sliders is only there because the object was moving in the opposite direction as the slider, and I wanted it to move with the slider, so that was just a personal preference.

Do you know how to set up a User Data slider?

Adios,
Cactus Dan

[crackle]

Do you know how to set up a User Data slider

sure do, thanks!!!

next i'll be working on my Pan character, i'll use the dog leg set-up for his legs, the rest should be a snap. (crossing fingers)

thanks again.

love the morph plugin by the way.....

[Rich-Art]

Thanks for the explanation Cactus Dan.
It is a good plugin and it makes it possible to quickly setup a stable rig.
But it is hard to get the grip on it.
A tutorial how to setup a character rig inc. xpresso would be nice.

And the CDMorph plugin is awesome.

Peace,
Rich-Art. :thumbsup:

[spiggy]

Can the double target technique be used for automating scapular movement like in Maya?

[Cactus Dan]

Howdy,

Can the double target technique be used for automating scapular movement like in Maya?
Hmmm, interesting idea. It might work for that, too. I'll have to give it a try.

Adios,
Cactus Dan

[spiggy]

let us know how it goes Dan!

[backlashcs]

would there be a possibility if we can get a sample file of the double targeting used in action, so we can see just how everything is set up in the hirearchy and such.

[Cactus Dan]

Howdy,
would there be a possibility if we can get a sample file of the double targeting used in action, so we can see just how everything is set up in the hirearchy and such.
The NewIKBob rig uses the double targeting setup on the legs.

Adios,
Cactus Dan

[backlashcs]

Are you talking about the one in version 1.3?

[nutriman]

Excellent Explanation Dan, thank you - I finally got it...

This is really a nifty Leg/ Foot setup.

[Cactus Dan]

Howdy,
Excellent Explanation Dan, thank you - I finally got it...

This is really a nifty Leg/ Foot setup.
You're welcome.

Adios,
Cactus Dan

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