Rigging a spider leg

#1

Hi,

I’m having some trouble rigging a mechanical spider leg. If you look at the screen attached, that’s how I’ve done it now to get my desired look, motion and control over the leg. However, the problem is now I have to keyframe and sync two parts of the spiderleg. Making the whole leg one ik or a cross stiched ik doesn’t give me what I want.

Does anyone have any tips on how I can get this maneuverability with just one control (like only the ik ctrl), or at least in a more effecient manner? I’m out of ideas. Something like determening ik-influences per joint, or I don’t know really, anything :slight_smile:

In the zip-file I’ve linked to there is a playblast of how I want it to look, and also the .ma scene. It’s kind of hard to describe with words.

http://www.speedyshare.com/pxaQX/spiderleg.zip

#2

http://download.autodesk.com/global/docs/maya2013/en_us/files/CSS_IK_solvers.htm#WS17956D7ADBC6E736-185AC66B117AE30DA36-7FDD

#3

Ohh the solution was there all along right in front of me :stuck_out_tongue: thanks a lot!

Btw, do you know if there is a reason this isn’t in the menu?

edit: nevermind

#4

Hm, though useful, it doesn’t really give me the same control as shown in my playblast. Maybe it isn’t possible with just using one control, but I’ll keep experimenting.

edit: nevermind again, used it together with another ik solver, works fairly well now :slight_smile:

#5

yeah, I built a rig using the spring solver and it came back from the animator with a request for more control. It’s interesting but not really that useful in practicality.

I built a single chain ik at the top of the leg (coxa), much like a clavicle control, and then a regular ik chain leg under that with a reverse foot. The ball is at the end of the leg (ground contact) and the ankle is between the tibia and metatarsus. Worked fine, you do have two controllers to manage but the single chain is really just moving the coxa back and forth in a rather mechanical fashion so it is pretty easy to manage.

#6

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