PDA

View Full Version : setting up the spine?

Raji
02-23-2002, 05:56 AM
hey everyone,

I just need to know if anyone can help me figure out the best way to setup a reasonably easy to use spine. I'm not looking for anything fancy, just something that does the job and doesn't give me too many headaches. I've been using Maya for a while, but I've just started getting into some basic setups, so this is all pretty new to me. Could anyone give me some hints? Maybe a good tut online somewhere?

Thanks

Raji
SheepFactory
02-23-2002, 07:39 AM
one of the most basic (and working) setups you can find is actually in the learning maya 4 book (or 3). its in the primitive man chapter. and i believe they have that chapter as a tutorial on their website. if not go to www.3dbuzz.com and download the 11 minute sample movie for skeleton setup. it'll give you a basic idea.

post any problems you encounter.

hope that helps.
A|i
Raji
02-23-2002, 07:47 AM
I have the book actually, and I looked at that tutorial. Is it always best to use forward kinematics with the spine? That's what they had in the learning maya primitive man exercise.

At highend3d.com there's a tut on building a skeleton for a dragon. For the tail, the author used the Spline Handle Tool. Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out how to make the CVs more easily selectable. I assigned clusters to the CVs, but even with that I had trouble selecting the clusters. Any ideas on how I could make the clusters easier to select?

Thanks for your help and more comments are very welcome.

Raji
SheepFactory
02-23-2002, 08:27 AM
you can turn on the selection handles for the cluster from

display -> component display -> selection handles.


than go to component selection mask menu and turn on selection handle mask and turn off cv mask (so you dont accidentally select the cv's) , put the selection handle wherever you want to , preferably above the model for easy access.

hope that helps

A|i
Raji
02-23-2002, 09:59 AM
cool it worked. =) Thanks for your help.

Now I have a question... something I could never figure out in Maya. How do you scale joints? you know how sometimes they're just too big-looking for your geometry? well I can't figure out how to scale them down.

Sorry for all the questions. =)

Raji
SheepFactory
02-23-2002, 10:03 AM
no problem , glad to help.


for the joints ,

go to display-> joint size , and choose whatever suits your needs.

if you are wondering why it scales all of them...., you cant scale joints on a joint by joint basis , its a global procedure.


A|i
Raji
02-23-2002, 10:08 AM
kewl thanks for all your help. =)

Raji
CGTalk Moderation
01-13-2006, 01:00 AM
This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.