rogueMouse
01-25-2008, 04:05 PM
After much research and experimentation I have built a hair rig that works very nicely. I built it using standard bones and IK chains, which are driven by spring controllers on the end effectors of each chain.
For example: the frontmost chains (like the bangs) are mae up of eight bones, which are split into three IK chains with the end effectors evenly spaced every two bones. I then put spring controllers on each end effector. I linked the highest effector to the head bone, and then each successive effector to the one above it. This seems to provide nice flowy motion and gives me control over the chains reaction at several points. I also like that this gives me the option to keyframe the IK chains manually if the hair passes through the mesh at some point, as I am not using any type of collisions.
Now, THE PROBLEM: (photo attached)
Although playback is fairly smooth, when I go back to animate the biped, my PC bogs down horribly. I will go to rotate the head and then I have to wait like 10 seconds before I get any response. THe total rig consists of 61 bones in 9 chains and 23 IK chains. I know this is probably a bit heavy, but before I start tearing it apart and re-building I was wondering if there might be other options.
For example, is there any way to disable all of the spring controllers while I am animating the biped and then turn them back on to tweak the hair before render? I wouldn't want to do this one-by-one. That would be a bitch. But if there is a way to hit them all at once with a script or something...
If I do have to rebuild, are there better ways to set this up, besides just using fewer bones and chains? I was wondering if linking the end effectors to one another with springs is causing excessive slow-down. Because basically, any movement by the top bone has to be passed down the chain to every bone beneath it. This is compounded by the number of IK controllers in the chain. But it seems like if I don't do it this way, I wont get the flowing motion that I am after.
I didn't mean for this to get this long.....
Anyways if anyone has some experience rigging hair with bones, I would love some input. Also, has anyone found any good books on advanced character rigging? I would like to find more details on how to rig secondary motion for hair, accessories, etc....
Thanks!
For example: the frontmost chains (like the bangs) are mae up of eight bones, which are split into three IK chains with the end effectors evenly spaced every two bones. I then put spring controllers on each end effector. I linked the highest effector to the head bone, and then each successive effector to the one above it. This seems to provide nice flowy motion and gives me control over the chains reaction at several points. I also like that this gives me the option to keyframe the IK chains manually if the hair passes through the mesh at some point, as I am not using any type of collisions.
Now, THE PROBLEM: (photo attached)
Although playback is fairly smooth, when I go back to animate the biped, my PC bogs down horribly. I will go to rotate the head and then I have to wait like 10 seconds before I get any response. THe total rig consists of 61 bones in 9 chains and 23 IK chains. I know this is probably a bit heavy, but before I start tearing it apart and re-building I was wondering if there might be other options.
For example, is there any way to disable all of the spring controllers while I am animating the biped and then turn them back on to tweak the hair before render? I wouldn't want to do this one-by-one. That would be a bitch. But if there is a way to hit them all at once with a script or something...
If I do have to rebuild, are there better ways to set this up, besides just using fewer bones and chains? I was wondering if linking the end effectors to one another with springs is causing excessive slow-down. Because basically, any movement by the top bone has to be passed down the chain to every bone beneath it. This is compounded by the number of IK controllers in the chain. But it seems like if I don't do it this way, I wont get the flowing motion that I am after.
I didn't mean for this to get this long.....
Anyways if anyone has some experience rigging hair with bones, I would love some input. Also, has anyone found any good books on advanced character rigging? I would like to find more details on how to rig secondary motion for hair, accessories, etc....
Thanks!