rotation axes for controls at bad angles

#1

Hey,

So I am rigging a character whose initial pose has the arms at a 45 degree angle. I set up an IK control curve at the wrist and oriented in line with the hand (45 degrees downward).

When I froze the transformations the rotation axes (in gimbal) conformed to world up and down. I want them at 45 degree angle.

Is there a way to get this? Why would you create a character with hands hanging at 45 degrees if you cannot re-orient rotation axes.

I grouped the curve to a null and orient-contsrained the null to the joint and then deleted the constrain. I then re-parented the curve to the null and the axes looked good. Then I froze out the transformations and they snapped back to the world coordinates. What did I do wrong here?

ACC

#2

I’m not sure if I understand you correctly but the way I usually make the controls with null groups is as follows:

  1. Parent (no offset) control curve -> joint and make sure it is in a good position and that the rotations are how I want them.
  2. Delete parent constraint from the control curve.
  3. Deselect everything and do Ctrl-G to create a new empty null group.
  4. Parent constrain (no offset) null group -> control curve.
  5. Delete the parent constraint on the null group.
  6. MMB drag the control curve into the null group - all it’s transformations should now be 0.
  7. Parent the null group (with offset) to the desired parent of the original joint.

With this method you don’t usually need to freeze anything and the zero trans on the control curve is confirmation that everythings working fine. The null group holds all the transform information and the control is freed from inputs.

If you then want to put an offset for default position into the model (i.e. T-Pose rather than 45 degrees) then you could transform the null group until you’re happy, the control will stay zeroed relative to it’s parent group with the correct axis orientations.

Anyway I’ve got a little script that takes selected curves and puts them all in null groups this way which makes the whole process very quick and easy.

Not sure if that’s what you’re after but I hope it helps.

#3

When you did this, did you freeze trans on the group itself? I have never had this happen to me. What I do is create the null and snap it to the joint. Then I orient constrain the joint to it and delete the constraint. Then create my control curve and snap it to the joint. Parent it under the null and then just freeze the control curve but not the null.

#4

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