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View Full Version : Rigging Skeleton with Armor - Various Questions

riot9
08-04-2007, 08:43 AM
Hi everyone. Thanks in advance for even looking at this thread.

I have to preface my questions with a disclaimer: I'm extremely new to modeling and rigging.
I've been hanging around here for a month or so, and have been modeling in my spare time
for a few more months than that.

I'm using Maya to model a skeleton with some armor, and am not sure how I can rig this
model and get the armor to respond the way I want.

First off, here's a picture of my model as it is right now (Textures aren't done yet):

http://features-temp.cgsociety.org/gallerycrits/277834/277834_1186257019_large.jpg


The part that I can't figure out deals specifically with the belt and the chains that hold the
thigh armor. Right now the belt, two chains, and two pieces of armor are five separate
meshes. I want the belt to move pretty much with the root joint I'll be putting in the pelvis
(I'm assuming I'll just need to parent it to the joint), but I want the chains to seem to be
connected to the belt, and move with it, but also enable the armor to move freely, or pivot
off of the top of the chain like gravity were affecting them.

I tried getting a similar armor configuration to work with another model, but I couldn't find a
way to get it moving the way I wanted.

I apologize if this is a silly question, like I said, I'm really new.
Any crits on the model itself are welcome as well (to answer to most obvious problem, his
arms are bent slightly forward, so they're longer than they look).

Thanks!
riot9
08-04-2007, 07:31 PM
I know I could join all five meshes together and then bind it as a skin to a joint, then handle the swinging by weighing things how I want, then rotate the joints; but I was under the impression that the normal way to rig armor was to parent it to the joint you want it to follow.

Is it possible to parent a mesh to a joint and also be able to skin it and have it deform? I tried doing this, but I couldn't get it to work. I could have been doing something wrong though.

Thanks again.
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08-04-2007, 07:31 PM
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