OK, I've got the 5 finger biped rig installed and ready to be assigned. I need a reference for which bones to assign the cps to.....there's loads of them in the arms and legs which I assume are for the squash and stretch. Do I assign to them? I'm pretty sure there's a ready made character floating around, but I can't find a link.

Ken,

I asked the same question not long ago here.

Rusty

Pick the closest bone to each spline ring. For example, the base of the forearm (first spline ring from elbow) would be assign to the "right/left_forearm_bow_0_geom" and the last spline ring (closest to wrist) would be assigned to the right/left_forearm_bow_3_geom. And any spline inbetween would be assigned to the "right/left_forearm_bow_1&2_geom" and weighted to fine tune the twisting. The bicep, thigh and calf are setup the same way. These bone are for the bowing feature, also the twisting as mentioned.


Green monkey has this installed and David has the squetchy Sam model for reference.

Also, once you run the install rig plug-in, only geometry bones show in the modeling window.

I usually hide the shoulder fans, stomach IO and the chest IO bones, I use them just for weighting purposes.

Here's the JD model that Mark rigged a while ago for the Extra DVD. I'm fairly certain that the rig is way out of date now, but it might help you out. Also there are no FACE poses for this model, just the rig.

As Jeff said, this model rig is out of date. The rig in this model doesn't have the twist bones in the bicep, thigh and calf.

Ken,

I've just finished assigning CPs -- right side anyway (I'll focus on just one side, perfect it then mirror it all). The process is fairly clear. But I told David I'd attempt to assemble an FAQ on the process -- however, the only entries that I have so far are about the existing examples and two bones that don't exist in the other rigs that I've worked with; stomach_IO_geom and chest_IO_geom. The answer from the horse's mouth is here.

With only a couple of FAQ entries I've not taken any action but there'll be more. I've been trying to think of where such a thing should go and the AM Features wiki seems the logical place. Then hopefully people can add as things come up.

As you move forward, if you can, keep track of any questions you come upon.

Rusty

Thanks! That's given me plenty to digest.

OK....another quick question then. Here's the weighting of a cp on the stomach of green monkey. I assume you rigged him Mark. Is there a secret to all that weighting? Or is it trial and error? What process do you go through? It must have taken ages to weight him! And what's the difference between say "stomach_IO_geom" and "stomach_geom"? Why are both used in this list?

I appreciate any help.

Green Monkey actually was a pretty quick install.

I start will the 3 main bones in the spine (stomach_geom, mid_section_geom and the chest_geom) and assign cps to the bones in the area. I then go into an action and test the cp assignments. If something doesn't look right I go into muscle mode and select the spline ring that looks out of adjustment and add weighting. Once I get the torso flexibility looking good I'll then add the weighting to the "stomach & chest_IO_geom" bones. These bones are for the chest_IO and the stomach_IO poses located in the Animation_Controls>Torso folder of the pose sliders. These poses scale the bones on the Z axis, for example breathing (chest in/out). I weight to only the front side of the model. I usually don't add too much weighting to these bones, but that's up to you on how much you want to weight them.

Afraid so on the trial and error. Mark starts off exactly the way I've always started... not sure why starting there is so common... I think we are just working outward from the lowest level bone (or highest parent bone). Basically you just move the rig around and see where you need adjusting. The shoulders, arms, hands and legs are the hardest (well, LOL, not counting the face!).

I usually I try to get it as close as I can by adjusting bone locations and adding fan bones (this step doesn't seem to be part of the process in this rig) then, I try to ace it or get it as close to perfect as I can using CPU weighting. Finally I use smart skin where needed for the final tweaks.

Since I need to rig 8 characters, some male, some female, all with slightly different body's, I've saved one copy with just the CP assignments to use on all of the rest (these won't change I hope) but I'll also try to use a copy of the rig with the CP weighting done to see how close it is hoping to reduce the amount of work needed.

I do not know how to add to the wiki new features site but all of these Q&As should go into a FAQ for others. Anyone?

Cheers,
Rusty

Edit: There is a very good example of this entire process using the Dix model... somewhere... done by someone. Most likely it is on one of the AM SIG video sets.

Thanks guys. I've made a feature request in AM Reports where you would select multiple bones first and then assign them cps.....the weighting for the cps would be distributed over all the bones. So if you multi selected two bones first, and then cps in bones mode, the weighting would be 50% to each of those bones. I think it would speed up cp weighting abit.

So, I'm making progress on the body. Now the face.....I know I read about this before, but it's all a blur. I'm pretty sure Rusty asked it.....

I'm assigning cps to the face bones (cheeks, brow, etc) , but nothing moves when I work the Face interface nulls in an action. Is it necessary to tell the face bones where to move somewhere?

Edit: Also, the forearm bones aren't restricted like in the TWO characters. I don't know if that's a deliberate change or a bug.

David has poses for the face rig for the most part (mostly lip poses for creating the mouth shapes). These poses are used to create the face interface poses (instead of using muscle motion). Once you edit the interface poses, the interface nulls will work.

The brow poses are created using the geometry bones, these bones can be unhidden in the user properties (not sure where at the moment)

The cheek/jowl/ear bones are tied into the face rig and work automaticly.

The forearm bones are suppose to be like that, this is to allow you to direct the limb bowing. The biceps, thighs and calves are also setup this way. This is part of the FK arms and legs only.

My heads are rigged with an older version of the rig used in the Squetch rig... I did them mostly from scratch. They were based on Shawn Freeman's bone based facial rig and on the 3D controls introduced in the 'Stop Starring' book converted to AM. So... I don't know what's been done in the Squetch rig. However, I created a pose to do each 'thing' then created the proper translation relationship on the nulls to drive the pose or poses that were needed (i.e. if the eye opened when the null moved horizontally an X-translation relationship on that null would drive the 'eye open' pose). Open the null's properties, expand the translation until you see the X translation, right click on it and select create relationship. I'm fairly sure that's what's done in Squetch rig as well... how far the mechanics were taken for you in the rig I don't know.

Rusty

The nulls already drive the poses, the poses just needs to be setup.

Use the lip poses in the face underlying controls folder (individual poses) to create your mouth shapes.

For the face, I start by hiding all of the geometry except for the lips, gums and teeth. Then, I make an Action, unhide the "mouth_ud" (up/down) bones with the "Show_and_Hide_Rig_Components/hide_face_setup_bones/hide_mouth_ud_bones" Pose, manually (not using a pose) rotate the upper lip as high as I want it to go (exposing the gums) and the lower lip as low as I want it to go (also exposing the gums). In the same Pose, hide the "mouth_ud" bones again, then unhide the "mouth_lr" (left/right) bones using the "Show_and_Hide_Rig_Components/hide_face_setup_bones/hide_mouth_lr_bones" Pose. Then, manually rotate the "mouth_lr" bones to as wide as you would make the mouth (pulling slightly away from the sides of the teeth). Re-hide the "mouth_lr" bones and save that Action out as something like "lips_out" or something.

Starting with the results of that Pose, you can then unhide the "mouth_ud" bones again and rotate the upper lip bones until the upper lip meets the lower lip. Save that out as an Action named something like "upper_lip_down" or something.

Open the first Pose again, unhide the "mouth_ud" bones and rotate the lower lip bones until the lower lip meets the upper lip. Save that out as "lower_lip_up" or something.

Make a new Action, unhide the "mouth_lr" bones and rotate them as far inward as you want the mouth to go. Then save that out as "lips_in" or something.

Those poses will give you the numbers you put into the "mouth_ud" and "mouth_lr" Poses in the "Animation_Controls/Face_underlying_controls/lips/mouth_ud_individual" and "Animation_Controls/Face_underlying_controls/lips/mouth_lr_individual" Poses...the numbers that are originally in there are from Squetchy Sam and are meant to be placeholders until you get the actual numbers you are going to use for your character. So, open up those Actions, get the percentage of rotation for each bone and plug them into the "ud" and "lr" Poses with the corresponding names.

I then turn off the "Animation_Controls/Face_underlying_controls/head_on/off_constraints/mouth_constraints/lip_limits" and make a new Action, rotate the "LowerTeeth" bone down and adjust the percentages of "orient like" on the "mouth_orient" bones in the "Animation_Controls/Face_underlying_controls/head_on/off_constraints/lips_orient_like_lower_teeth" Pose to get a good shape.

Make another a new Action, rotate the "Maxilla" bone up and adjust the percentages of the "orient like" on the "mouth orient" bones in the "Animation_Controls/Face_underlying_controls/head_on/off_constraints/upper_lip_to_Maxilla" Pose to get a good shape.

Make a new Action, and then rotate the "Maxilla" and "LowerTeeth" bones to determine what the limits need to be, then plug those numbers into the "Animation_Controls/Face_underlying_controls/head_on/off_constraints/mouth_constraints/lip_limits" Pose and turn it back on.

Turn off the "Animation_Controls/Face_underlying_controls/head_on/off_constraints/mouth_constraints/jaw_limits" Pose, make another new Action, rotate the Jaw open and adjust the "orient like" of the "LowerTeeth" bone in the "Animation_Controls/Face_underlying_controls/lips/lips_to_jaw" Pose. Then, move the jaw around to determine the limits you want to place on it and plug those numbers into the "Animation_Controls/Face_underlying_controls/head_on/off_constraints/mouth_constraints/jaw_limits" Pose and then turn it back on.

Once those poses are set, then I go about limiting the movement of the nose in the "Animation_Controls/Face_underlying_controls/nose_targeting" Pose and put limits on the cheeks in the "Animation_Controls/Face_underlying_controls/cheek_constraints" Pose.

For the eyebrows, I unhide them using the "Show_and_Hide_Rig_Components/hide_face_setup_bones/hide_face_geom_bones" Pose, make a new Action and manually rotate them into a "eyebrows_raised" pose, make a new Action, make an "eyebrows_lower" Action and make a new Action for an "eyebrows_squeeze" Pose. I save those out as a safety, then I use those rotation numbers to make the FACE Poses for the eyebrows...you have to sort of split them up a little because the eyebrow controls divide them up, but you'll know what you're after at that point.

Then, I move all of the controls to figure out if there is any CP Weighting that needs to be tweaked and make the FACE Poses. Depending on the character, there may be some percentages on Poses you'll want to tweak, but that is pretty much the process...if I left anything out, was confusing or gave out inaccurate information, let me know.

Hope that helps.


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I left out the eyelids...once you've weighted your eyelids, you just make your eyelid Poses by rotating the "eyelid_control" bones. You can unhide them by setting the "Animation_Controls/FACE Interface/FACE off/Joint Controls/Split Controls" Pose to "3". To set the "Blink" Pose, make a new Action, set the "Blink" Pose to 100% and then move the sliders in the "Animation_Controls/FACE Interface/eyeblink_setup" Poses (in the model's User Properties so that it will be part of the model) until the blink location is where you want it.

Oh man....I hope that's not as complicated as it looks. I'll study it tomorrow, but I can't even get the bones to move with the nulls. I unhid them and they just don't move at all when I move the Face nulls. I don't know where to look. Thanks for the in depth explanation.

BTW, does anyone know if there's a keyboard shortcut for CP weighting? Or am I going to have to right click my way through all these cps?

I don't know about any shortcuts, but I usually group weight, not single cps if I can help it.

That does sound very complicated, never setup the face poses yet (not even muscle poses), only rigged it.

David, how about a set of generic poses (not extremes), that are already built into the rig? Then those poses can be edited to suit the model, or left as is. This way the face interface automaticly works, to a point.

The "mouth_ud" and "mouth_lr" all have values in there, so those will work, but won't be suited to your character until edited. You mean set up the FACE controllers? I haven't put in any placeholders for those.

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I don't know if it's so complicated...it's just about finding out what amount of rotation to plug into each Pose. That's just how I do it, build the small things and then use those to build the big stuff.

I'll do some more thinking...maybe I can make it easier. The face setup as-is is very flexible, Tinman, TinGirl and Squetchy Sam are examples of what it can do. If I can streamline the installation without losing any of the capabilities, I'll do it. I'll give it a shot.

Set the "mouth_ud and "mouth_lr" to less extremes and have basic poses setup so the face interface works without having to set it up.

As for me, I would lean more towards a muscle pose setup, than having to setup all those poses to get the face interface to work. Since I have to setup the interface poses anyway, I don't want to have to create/edit more poses to do that. If the poses are already there, it makes it easier to edit, since the relationship tells you what poses were used to set it up. If you have a blank pose, you don't know which poses or bones to used.

I have no doubts about how well the rig works, I don't think you need to modify the rig, as I said, premade poses already setup. The rig isn't that hard to install, it's the setup.

The big problem with setting it up is, what poses to edit and in which order to do them in.

What I'm thinking is that I could set up poses that are like the blink setup poses...so all of the limits would be set up within poses. That would make it where you wouldn't have to actually type in percentages. It would probably mean adding some more bones and nulls and changing to "aim at" constraints in a few places, but I think it could be done relatively quickly.

If all the poses, that need editing, were located in one folder, that would also make it easier. For instance, you have a main setup pose folder, that pose folder contains a folder with all the poses that need editing first. Then the next folder, in the main pose folder, would be the poses that need editing next and then poses that use other pose. That way you know where all the poses are.


You basicly have them already with the ud and lr poses, you don't have to use them to the extremes (100%), with the next wave of poses to edit.

I'll do some hammering on it late tonight...I should have it in a day or two, I think.

Thanks David, this will be a big help.

I would try to do something myself, but I wouldn't know where to start.

I believe I have followed your tutorial on installing the S-rig and am now ready to assign cp's. The problem is that therre are so many bones in the arms, legs, spine, etc. I started assigning cp's per your instructions, grouping the cp's closest to the bone, but when I test it out in the chor or an action, all the bones are still there, what I mean is that I am used to seeing only one bone for the forearm, one for the upper arm, etc. When I manipulate one of the many bones in the arm, it only moves that one bone. There is no option for IK. Did I miss something in the rigging process? Where is the option to move the whole arm by just dragging the hand, etc? Can you guess that rigging is completely foreign to me?

Thanks

Eric

I'm assuming you used one of the Posable installations that Mark made the tutorial for? If that is the case, I'm also assuming you (in this order):

1. Exported the model from the installation Action.

2. Opened the exported model and deleted the Installation Poses.

3. Ran the InstallRig plugin and saved the model.

4. Reset the compensates according to the text file that was included in the Zip file with the installation models.

5. If the arms or legs are modeled bent, you set the "Minimum" of the 'X' on the euler limit on the forearm/calf bones to compensate for the bend.

The "quick and dirty" way to start assigning CP's would be to have the "geom" bones as the only visible bones in the Modeling window (which is what happens after running the InstallRig plugin), hide the FACE geometry, hide the shoulder fan, stomach_IO and chest_IO bones, hide the thigh fan bones, hide all of the head bones except for the "head_geom_front" bone, go into Bones mode, right mouse click and select "Auto Assign Bones"...that will rough things in. Then, you can go through and get more specific.

If you're looking for the Poses (which would include IK stuff), they are in the "Animation_Controls" folder in the "Pose Sliders" menu...you will run across a few of them while resetting the compensates.

Hope that helps, Eric.

David:

Thank you for the run down - I am really grateful for all the help you, Mark and others working on/with the Squetch Rig are providing. You guys are awesome!

I am going to follow your instructions, but first I have another question. My model is basically a guy in a spacesuit with no face visible. All I need is for the head to be able to move, no facial anything. Since I don't need any of the facial stuff, should I delete certain bones and poses after I import the rig onto my model? I actually tried this last night, but when it came to exporting, a bunch of error messages popped up. I believe Rusty was trying to accomplish something similar but I was not able to really follow what needed to be done.

I hope you can help me since I am trying to get a basic pose for my character for the Mascot Entry by tonight.

Eric

After you export your model (and before running the InstallRig plugin):

1. Delete "Master_EyeTarget", "blink_main_INSTALL", "HeadProxy_INSTALL", "face_INSTALL" and the "FACE Interface_INSTALL_body_SQUETCH_base" (and their children) bones.

2. Under "Groups", delete the "FACE_groups" folder.

3. Delete the FACE control labels in the modeling window.

4. Delete all of the FACE related Smartskins (BrowEmotion, BrowsOut-Squint, EyeAimerBone, EyeLidsNull, JawLRForward, LBrowsMidUDSqueeze, LBrowsOut-Squint, LipsNull, LLipsUD, LMouthCorner, LSneer, MouthCorner, MouthShiftNull, RBrowsMidUDSqueeze, RBrowsOut-Squint, RLipsUD, RMouthCorner, RSneer, Sneer, SyncNull, TongueOutNull, TongueRotate_Control, TongueU-R-LNull, TongueWidthThicknessNull, Eye_leftlidsNull, Eye_rightlidsNull).

5. Delete the following Pose folders:

a-"Animation_Controls/Face_underlying_controls"
b-"Animation_Controls/FACE Interface"
c-"Show_and_Hide_Rig_Components/hide_face_setup_bones"
d-"Show_and_Hide_Rig_Components/hide_FACE_non_tweaking_bones"

After all of that, delete the "Installation_Poses" folder, run the InstallRig plugin and reset the compensates.


Hope that helps, Eric.

Seems pretty clear cut. Time is getting critical and I'm off to the races.

Thanks David, I'll let you know how it turns out.

Eric