How do you like to control your wrists?

[Nenox]

Hi.

I'm not too experienced, but I like to control the wrist's rotations directely on the wristjoint. But I add these attributes to it: Local_rotations (Don't inherit rotations from the arm hirachi), Inherit_rotations (Inherit them) and Inherit_IK handle rotations. These 0-1 attr. drive three orientConstraintWeights on a group that the wrist joint is parented under. This way I can control and have the wrist behave in any way I want (that I can think of right now :) ) and crossfade nicely between all of them.

m2c
:) Nenox

[kmp3d]

I'm not too experienced, but I like to control the wrist's rotations directely on the wristjoint. But I add these attributes to it: Local_rotations (Don't inherit rotations from the arm hirachi), Inherit_rotations (Inherit them) and Inherit_IK handle rotations. These 0-1 attr. drive three orientConstraintWeights on a group that the wrist joint is parented under. This way I can control and have the wrist behave in any way I want (that I can think of right now ) and crossfade nicely between all of them.

Just my opinion but that sounds like a lot trouble to rotate a wrist.
I just use a control object of my choice and snap it to the wrist, freeze transform on it, then orient constrain the wrist joint to the control object. Now you can control the wrist by rotating your control object anyway you want. I usally take this a step further and add extra forearm joints and using the connection editor you can drive the rotation of those joints with the control object. Just some thoughts.

[Nenox]

Originally posted by kmp3d
Just my opinion but that sounds like a lot trouble to rotate a wrist.

Simplicity absolutely rules! I guess it all comes down to the user and shoot needs. What does the rig need to do? Do you want 5 or 1 versions of the rig? Can the animator alter the rig to suit his needs? Does he have tech support to do it for him? Does all the wierd attributes I build in just confuse and slow him down? :)

I currentely rig for a student Short project, with a lot of object- and other-character-contact shots. This rig will go to a few differents country's, and need's to be mostely unaltered once done, but still have a lot a things build in.

Time will show wether the animators will hate or love me :) Documentation will need to be good.

But for sure, generaly you are right! I just like to push my limits when in "Rig-Mode".. ahh, searching for the ultimate rig :drool: Sometimes I might overdo things a bit!

Thanks for setting me straight :thumbsup:

[alesmav]

Is it OK if I change the rotation order of my wrist control while I'm animating?

ALES

[kmp3d]

Nenox, there is definately nothing wrong with the way you rig your wrists. Your right, it just comes down to what the rig has to do. The way I mentioned is just pretty common and is pretty easy to setup. I do however sometimes set mine up the way you mentioned but in general I don't like to animate the bone directly I always use a control object.

Is it OK if I change the rotation order of my wrist control while I'm animating?

I would say no. If you do you're probably just asking for trouble. Why do you want to change your rotation order while animating anyway?

[Nenox]

Originally posted by kmp3d
Why do you want to change your rotation order while animating anyway?

There could be plenty of reasons for that in MHO. Depends on how "gimbal" you animate I guess..

If you animate in gimbal or run into gimballock I would say:
Absolutely! Just be sure to key the rotateOrder attribute on the relevant frames. Make it keyable with the Channel Control.

Meaning: Say you have animation from frame 1-100 and then you need to do something you can't, with the current rotateOrder, from frame 101 and forward, you can't just change the rotateOrder, cause your animation from frame 1-100 would change! But if you make it keyable, key the original rotateOrder on frame 100 and the new one on on frame 101, you should be safe. You might have to matchframe frame 100 to 101 to get the right position.

!Beware if you are rendering with motionblur! I think that is calculated on a subframebasis, and you might get some vierd results as the rotation interpolates from frame 100 to 101 and then the rotateOrder suddenly changes on 101. You might then do stepped rotations from 100 to 101, or key and matchframe at frame 100.005 so it woun't be "caught" by the motionblur render.

-Of course you could run into trouble if you use constraints in your rig. Sometimes you will need to wire the rotateOrder from the controling Node to the constrained one(s)! (or make a SDK depending on the sitation)

An alternative to changing the rotation order during animation ,when you get "stuck", is to have an x-tra transform , that has zero rotations, above the control you animate. From frame 100 on, you could animate on that instead, and that would drive the control.

Cheers,

Nenox :wavey:

[kmp3d]

Good point Nenox. I have never run into problems with rotation order, so I never saw the need to animate them. I think it just has to do with the way I rig. Your point is good to bear in mind as I could see that if roatation orders become a problem you've illustrated a good way to fix it.

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