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designpain
08-03-2006, 02:20 PM
Hey
I have a character that i want to rig to be able to bend and stretch.
I have already been looking into that.
I also want the character to be able to stretch out and then twist around himself.
so image his arms and legs are extended then they twist around each other.
Is this kind of thing possible...well its maya, its possible, but hooooow!
do i need to be rigging the arms and legs with lots of bones through them, like a spine?
any hint tips or ideas are greatly appreciated!
thanks alot!
large-x
08-07-2006, 02:38 AM
Maybe try using spline IK curves for the arms and spine of your character. This should allow a smooth path for your skeleton rig to follow.
http://www.alias.com/eng/support/studiotools/documentation/Animating/skeleton24.html

You can then make an expression (or hypergraph node setup) to scale the joints using the IK spline curve's length.
Use the 'arclen' command to read the IK spline's length, divide it by it's original length, and use this result to multiply each joint's length. That's the basics of what I've learned. There's many tutorials and scripts following this pattern out there.

More joints will probably help make a smoother curve along the spline.
A deformer on the splines might also help make the rig twist automatically for you too.
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08-07-2006, 02:38 AM
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