CGTalk - CAT Tongue Rig

ChartreuseJoker

03-24-2011, 02:28 AM

ok so i did search for a while about this problem and i havn't found much help yet so i thought i would post this question as i continue to search.

I am building a Dinosaur rig with CAT in 3Ds MAX 2011 for a school assignment. we have to use CAT for our entire rig and im getting stuck on the tongue part.

i need a tongue that can stretch and shrink but also bend and twist a little bit for when the tongue is hanging out of the mouth flopping in the wind, but i dont want the tongue ALWAYS hanging out.

I could add a tail from the head bone and move it down and use that tail for the central bone structure of the tongue but then it couldn't stretch and contract.

Or can i (not sure about this one just throwing ideas out there) make several custom bones from the head and link them up with a spline IK and then when i move the points on the line closer and farther away will the tongue shrink and stretch? and is that doable in CAT?

any ideas or things that have worked for people in the past would be very much appreciated

splinterD

03-25-2011, 07:07 AM

hi there , if im not mistaken
for cat , choose the bones you want to stretch , go to the hierarchy tab , then the "link info" tab .
there above the "joints limits" you have an "animation mode" group .
check the "manipulation causes stretching"
and above the group check "manipulation affects neighbors in hierarchy"
switch to animation mode and see if it works.

i hope it helps

http://danieldulitzky.blogspot.com/

ChartreuseJoker

03-25-2011, 04:53 PM

thank you for the insight, it did work ... well enough at least. the geometry still does really odd things when you stretch it too far but i modeled the tongue in a middle position so it shouldn't deform too bad on either end... i hope :P.

what i did was add a tail and move it into the mouth for the tongue bones then applied the skin to the tongue and added them. Doing this will work well for normal tongues if you want to simulate it coming out of the mouth without really moving the tongue in and out of the throat, but for tongues that you really need to stretch... not sure if it would work very well.

thank you again for the reply!

CGTalk Moderation

03-25-2011, 04:53 PM

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.