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Character constraining & modeling
Posted: 14 May 2013 03:21 AM   [ Ignore ]  
Total Posts:  16
Joined  2012-09-08

Hi again smile

I finished all my items for character I am working on & its rigging. I just realized that some of my stuff probably was never meant to be created separately. If I am assuming correctly, let’s say trousers can or can not be created separately ?, Should they be a part of mesh sculpted into a proper shape or Should I use cloth tag or any other, well cloth tag is not much of use here I guess. And similar problem with boots and wrists as I am trying to rotate my leg/heel, my boot as a child of heel controller will go into mesh as It does not bounce of the mesh what make sense, not sure as well how between 2 points constrain my wrist on arm, It just seems to be complicated way. Solution could be to extrude polygons from arm mesh, make it look like wrist, but when I do it now, all my hair already added to mesh explodes when I alter the mesh. :/  I am just basically looking for the quickest possible solution here. Should I remodel my mesh with boots and trousers and wrists as part of it with selected polygons for materials, etc. and create new binding and hair or should I use some tags for trousers, somehow constrain wrists to arms and maybe remodel my high boots ? smile
Thank you, Jan

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Posted: 14 May 2013 03:53 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 1 ]  
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Hi Jan,

Both versions are do-able.

If the cloth and boots are extra (independent), the weighting needs to be done there as well. Just one joint as you already mentioned it will not work. Perhaps for the boots some extra joints - if they are wide and have some movement on their own.
Cloth is a different theme, and needs a set up with a collider. As it is a dynamic set up then, the complexity increases, as does the “fine-tuning” work.

Much simpler is of course, to have no “layers” of meshes working there. Layers means here, skin, shirt, coat or similar combinations. The price that you pay here is simple, it might not look as natural as it could apear a little bit like a diving suit.

I think it is a balance of between experience and time that needs to be invested, as well based on the result that you like to achieve. If possible, keep it simple ;o)

Sorry if I write here only about the obvious.

All the best

Sassi

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Dr. Sassi V. Sassmannshausen Ph.D.
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Posted: 14 May 2013 04:17 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 2 ]  
Total Posts:  16
Joined  2012-09-08

Thank you Dr. Sassi

I selected same legs joints and made weighting for my trousers, and It is working. But I had to delete my sculpting tag, otherwise binding would not have affect on the trousers mesh. Have to solve that one now smile As I wish to have sculpted trousers.

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Posted: 14 May 2013 12:29 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 3 ]  
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You’re welcome Jan.

I have not mentioned any copy “actions”. But nice that you mention it. It sounds (?) like you work like with the old “Bones”.  Joints do not have to be in a hierarchy with the mesh. The pure existence in a scene file is enough, if properly “bind”.
In this way you can use the foot joints for the boots. Mu suggestion to have perhaps an extra joint there, was based on the idea of having the top of a boot perhaps moving a little bit (thin leg in large boots). So you have one more joint for getting this secondary movement easily under control. This is not urgently needed, but if the boot is exactly weighted as the foot mesh is, then your initial question is valid, why not to have all in one mesh.

All the best

Sassi

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Dr. Sassi V. Sassmannshausen Ph.D.
Cinema 4D Mentor since 2004
Maxon Master Trainer, VES, DCS

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Posted: 14 May 2013 01:17 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 4 ]  
Total Posts:  16
Joined  2012-09-08

Yea I am using already created bones, did not even have to make a new copy of them, just bind them with trousers mesh. smile, well, first I was thinking about one mesh and one “bind” as well. But I realized that there is advantage in having untouched mesh, and be able to just change, alter or delete the items without touching main character mesh. I guess It all depends on what we want to achieve with character as you said before by little bit different words. However, I was not looking for it yet, but my foot/leg controller had effect on trousers only after I deleted sculpting tag. Is there a way to apply sculpting to mesh completely so I can bind it after without loosing sculpting effect ?, But both bind and sculpting seems to be not working together on same mesh. :/

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Posted: 14 May 2013 05:24 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 5 ]  
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Hi Jan,

I have no workaround for your problem, following the advice from the manual:

Sculpting Tips and Tricks

Proceed as follows if you want to sculpt objects that have already been rigged (i.e., with Joints, Weights, etc.) and/ or animated:

1.Select the rigged mesh (the following list also applies to shapes with Deformers that you want to sculpt).
2.Make sure that the object is in an unsculpted state. All Deformers, HyperNURBS, etc. should be disabled.
3.Click on the Subdivide button several times and start sculpting.
4.Select the Sculpting tag and enable the Freeze and Allow Deformations options
5.Enable all Deformers and HyperNURBS that were disabled (if the object is sculpted again these do not have to be disabled - only the Freeze option must be disabled). Deformations and animations will work.

The following limitations apply:
- Weighting cannot be modified on an animated character. Weighting must be completed prior to sculpting.

All the best

Sassi

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Dr. Sassi V. Sassmannshausen Ph.D.
Cinema 4D Mentor since 2004
Maxon Master Trainer, VES, DCS

Photography For C4D Artists: 200 Free Tutorials.
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