Advanced IK Chains

[JA-forreal]

Well I found some great Maya animation rigging tutorial web links. Blender is like a 3d example of a notepad/Netscape/Java coding approach to manual webpage design and structure in some cases of usage. This setup is not quite as automatic and robust as Dreamweaver in many areas of production. But, as in any webpage production the end product looks the same no matter what tools were used. I find character animation can be simple or complex depending on the structure of a character. And I chose the more difficult human characterizations over three fingered cute little aliens. I have held off on doing any animations with my characters because my developments did not rely on animation.

After being around this forum I have seen how powerful 3d character animations can be to a 3d media presentation. I have also seen great things done with more standard computer hardware and software. I have also seen animation productions here on cgtalk that I can identify with as far as my own skills and interest.

I have books on animation and whatnot but none of those resources are as powerful as networking with my fellow 3d artist. Most of the books that I have read have only touched lightly on the subject of complex 3d animation ik rigging. I know that there are lots of experienced 3d animators on this forum so hopefully I can learn from some of your experiences on this subject.

My 3d characters are modeled to be simple enough to rig, texture and pose in relatively short periods of time. All of the complex photo real 3d characters that I see on this forum are enticing prospects but at this stage I don't have the time focus on characters like that for my work.

Right now I'm building up my skills in the area of 3d character animation. I have held off on some of the more difficult task but I want to collect as many resources that I can on the subject. Some of information will be used immediately and other data will be filed away for later use.

I really want to get past the trial and error point of assigning ik goal, nulls, constraints, actions, etc. Some of my methods for assigning secondary root ik controls have worked somewhat. But I am having trouble with target ik controls for the shoulders, knees and hips. The eyes were easy. Hehehe. I want to create ik rigging controls that will allow me to pull a character into positions of poses with one motion if this is possible. But I still want all of the underlying simple ik and fk controls there for my tweakage.

I have had rigs fall apart with one wrong ik assignment. I get the dreaded Blender flashing ik constraint red warning sign telling me that I don’t quite understand the process. Many of the complex animation processes in Blender assume that the user has mastered the character animation process. I have noticed that Blender users who are fluent with character animation in apps like Max, Maya and Softimage have little if any trouble with the Blenders character animation system. Their comments and animation demonstrations have perked my interest in doing my own character animations.

Is there a proper understanding of scientific 3d ik animation hierarchy that I have to follow in order to get the kind of stable ik control systems that I want to build? Maybe I’m over complicating the issue. I hope so.

[fligh]

http://www.character-animation.de/tutorials/

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[JA-forreal]

Thanks fligh! This is perfect! Exactly what I need.

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