Presenting the S.U.R.E. rig

#1

A merry christmas to everyone in the AM community.

Here is my christmas present to you.
http://www.sonofpat.com/sure_rig/Sure_Rig.prj

SURE= Sonofpats’ Userfriendly Rig for Everyone.

The project file includes the following

  1. A fully rigged model (Samley_Rigged).
  2. An unboned model (Samley).
  3. A rigged “Skeleton” (SURE_Rig).
  4. An unrigged “Skeleton” (SURE_Skeleton).

The idea is to provide a user friendly rig that is easy to animate.
Basic joint deformation is built into the rig with proper arm behavior.
These can be tweaked for your model and be further enhanced with
smartskin and cp weights.

Most of all the inner workings of the rig are available to every via
the tutorials(http://www.sonofpat.com/Tutorials.html).
It will therefor be a great tool for those who want to try their hand at rigging.

Here is quick and dirty user manual

Note well, this is a pre-released version of the rig. The final version will contain
a proper user manual that will show how to tweak the rig to suit your model along with PDF versions of the tutorials. In addition, the ability to shrug shoulders will be added. It was omitted from this version because the last modification I made
http://www.sonofpat.com/IA_Files/Arm_Rig4.prj broke the automatic arm twisting mechanism in FK mode. I have since fixed this but I do not have the time to make the changes now.

The final version will be ready in time for the new year.

#2

Kewl! Thanks for sharing! :beer:

Sincerely,

Carl Raillard

#3

Thanks .:buttrock:

Can’t wait to try it.

#4

The new version can be found @

http://www.sonofpat.com/sure_rig/Sure_Rig2.prj

The following changes have been made:

  1. The wriggler has been given a translate limit constrain of 0 in
    all direction
  2. Rotating the foot in the horizontal plane twists the leg.This
    can be further tweaked by twisting the knee contol bone.
    This was accidentally left out in my haste to upload in time
    for christmas

Thanks for all the kind comments.
This is my way of saying thanks to you for all the help
you gave to me over the years I have spent with AM.

#5

Sounds great! I look forward to giving it a try!

#6

I have just, the ability to shrug shoulders to the rig.
Please download it at

http://www.sonofpat.com/sure_rig/Sure_Rig3_Shrug.prj

and give it a try.

I will really like to get some feedback on this one to know whether or not I should include it in the final version of the rig.
I am now in the process of completing the documentation and hopefully the package should be ready in time for the new year.

#7

Hi, Pat.

The shoulders work very nice IMHO. I’d vote to include this system in your final version. I noticed you have a Translate Limit constraint on the bicep control bone. This makes it work very much like the Setup Machine Rig, which is a great rig too. You might want to consider increasing the parameters of this constraint, in order to allow the shoulder to shrug in an exaggerated fashion? :shrug: When animating it can be useful to exaggerate a posture beyond normal human limits, so that it reads clearly. It’s beneficial if the rig is loose enough to allow this.

I like how the neck is controlled by the Head control bone. I wish I had the foresight to manage the head like this when I intially rigged my alligator boy character. Gaty has numerous hidden fan-bones in his neck, which are tied to a clunky two-control bone solution. About a year ago I finally caved in, and rerigged Gaty’s head and neck to work with a single C bone. My solution works very much like your SURE rig. The trouble is I couldn’t really tear out the old twin C bone solution ('cuz of the fan bones) so I just built the new rig on top of it. Gaty’s head & neck looks simple … but, hidden away underneath it all, he has more bones in his neck than a giraffe. :slight_smile:

One thing caught my eye about your SURE rig. There’s a bit of unpredictable behavior in the knee joint. Turn on the “Show Manipulator Properties” button, switch to a left side view, advance ten frames, grab the foot control bone, and hit “N” to evoke the Translate Manipulator.
In the Y Translate parameter type in - 20 cm.
In the Z Translate parameter type in 20 cm.
The foot moves up. On frame 9 it begins to twist around. On frame 10 the leg needs help. The knee management system needs a bit of tinkering, methinks.

Okay, that’s all for now.

Sincerely,

Carl Raillard

#8

Thanks for your response Carl.
Your contribution has certainly made a a big improvement to the
rigs development.
Now for each of your observations;

<<I’d vote to include this system in your final version.>>

Consider it done.

<<You might want to consider increasing the parameters of this constraint,
in order to allow the shoulder to shrug in an exaggerated fashion? >>

Also.

<<I like how the neck is controlled by the Head control bone.>>

Credit Raf for this idea.

<<There’s a bit of unpredictable behavior in the knee joint…
On frame 9 it begins to twist around. On frame 10 the leg needs help.>>

Drag the lower tip of the thigh control bones to make them in a more horizontal position
in the model in the pose.Increasing in the angle the thigh and its control bone should guarantee that the orientlike constrain is enforced.

Please get back tome if this does not work.

#9

Ah! That does the trick! :thumbsup:

Sincerely,

Carl Raillard

#10

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