Beginner's Rigging Question

#1

Hello there!

I’m new to these forums, and wanted to see if someone might have a solution to a problem that I have been having in the early stages of rigging. I’m very frustrated as I am certain that it is something very simple that I am overlooking, but I’ve followed several tutorials to the letter and have yet to find a solution.

Software: Maya 2011.

I have a rig that I am building for a character, and from the following tutorial
//youtu.be/NijKAkJ1-4g
I have viewed, it shows that after I have constrained (for example) the right leg control when I move the root joint, then the newly created control should remain stationary while I move the rest of the body around, bending appropriately as it goes. However, when I attempt to move the root the entire model moves, ignoring the constraints.

Now as far as the current procedure is concerned, I have built the skeleton, Froze transformations, used smooth bind and bound the skin, implemented the IK handles on both the legs and arms and am currently working on the control. As stated, this is where things seem to go wrong, as when I attempt to put the point and then orient (or parent, I have attempted to use that as a workaround as I’ve heard and seen Orient constraints to be unpredictable at times), if I move the root joint, the model ignores the constraints and moves the entire model without bending as opposed to just the legs/arms or hips moving.

Any ideas on what might cause that/how to fix it?

Much appreciation for any help that anyone can give.
-Ash

#2

Still have not found any solution to the problem. :confused:

#3

Couple of things to check off the top of my head…

  • Is it your ikHandle that is constrained to the foot ctrl?

  • Is the ‘ik blend’ attribute of your ikHandle set to 1 (on)? If not, the ik solver won’t have any effect.

Hope it helps, good luck…

#4

Hi, Duncs.

Yes, my IK handle is constrained to the CTRL.

My IK Blend value for the solver is set at 1.0

All my parenting/hierarchy looks to be in order as well… But I am still finding no solution.

#5

Can you post a picture of your outliner? If the root moves everything, one would assume that you parented/constrained the ikHandle/control to the root.

#6

Certainly.


#7

Can you show me what’s under your “humanBody” mesh? If it’s more geo, can you unparent it and put them all in a grp?

Also, just to confirm, when you move the hand ctrl, does it move the ikHandle and the arm joints?

#8

The only things under the HumanBody mesh is the two eyeballs; but I will unparent them and group them.

As for the other question, yes, the control does move the IK as well as all arm joints associated with it.

#9

Are your arm joints moving the arm portion of your mesh? Without looking at your file directly, the only other thing I can guess is that you skinned the mesh only to the root.

Go to the skin menu–> edit smooth skin —> paint skin weights and see how many joint you have there, check their weights, make sure the root is not affecting the whole mesh.

#10

]]

Not sure if this dropbox link will work, but here goes.

Woodsman Scene File

Secondly, checked out the skin weights, the root joint is only affecting the hips area as intended, at least from my perspective.

#11

You have a spline ik attached from your root to the top of your spine. Was that intentional? It’s locking your root in place. Delete the handle, and it’ll behave like you want it to.

#12

The Spline IK was added in the tutorial following the one I linked in the video. However, I went ahead and did as you suggested, and removed the handle.

The rig still does not behave the same as the video shows at 7:28, where if I move the root, the body should bend in the appropriate places. In my project, when I move the root, the entire body moves uniformly.

I have a several save states of the project before I added the Spline IK as well and the same issue occurs then even when the only IK’s that are present are the ones placed on the limbs, which supposedly are working correctly.

#13

Hey, I just opened the file you posted, and did the following:

delete ikHandle1;
select -r bn_root ;
move -r -os -wd -3.107404 0 0 ;

So when the root is translated down, the knees bend while the feet stay planted. I can’t even replicate the problem you describe. :frowning:

#14

I’ve got Fraps, I’ll try to record the issue and post it to my YouTube and link it here.

Side Note: Just wanna say thank you for taking time to help.

#15

Here’s a quick demonstration of the problem.

//youtu.be/cxbiycxlxYM

It may not be fully processed yet. But the video works on my mobile, so I assume it’s good to go.

#16

Hey, check the ik fk control checkbox underneath your ikBlend attr on the IkHandles. Turning it on seemed to cause the issues you’re seeing.

setAttr “R_Leg_IK.ikFkManipulation” 0;
setAttr “L_Leg_IK.ikFkManipulation” 0;
setAttr “R_Arm_IK.ikFkManipulation” 0;
setAttr “L_Arm_IK.ikFkManipulation” 0;

#17

Awesome!

I found the attribute in there that I was missing, apparently it’s labeled as “Sticky” or “non-sticky”. Thank you so much for all your help. I can continue with my lessons finally :smiley:

#18

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