Joints

jordanek · Post by **jordanek** » Thu Aug 24, 2006 9:53 pm

I spent some time today developing a good way of creating joints that bend and overlap correctly while still maintaining their shape. I thought I'd share the results with you all.

Here's a swf preview:
http://www.jordanleary.com/mohojoints.html

And here's the Moho file:
http://www.jordanleary.com/mohojoints.zip

Enjoy. You know what they say...

"Give a man a fire and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life."

J. Baker · Post by **J. Baker** » Thu Aug 24, 2006 10:58 pm

Very nice! Looks like the cogs method that some Hash A:M users use.

Green Walls · Post by **Green Walls** » Fri Aug 25, 2006 4:24 pm

Reminds me more of the Loaghaire character rigging method....very creative way of rigging a character. Gives your char. a more orgainic feel instead of the classic cut out approach.

BA · Post by BA » Fri Aug 25, 2006 10:41 pm

that is awesome. thank you.

Post by **Víctor Paredes** » Sat Aug 26, 2006 5:06 pm

well done
does your method work with more complex characters?

jordanek · Post by **jordanek** » Sat Aug 26, 2006 8:54 pm

Yes, it would work with more complex characters. However, I used manual point by point binding, so characters with a lot of points would be tedious to rig.

wizaerd · Post by **wizaerd** » Sat Aug 26, 2006 8:59 pm

Thank you for sharing this, it looks very nice... Could you post a message describing what you did and how you did it, to help me re-create it... Looking at it is interesting, but learning how to do it would be more beneficial to me... Specifically the body itself, it looks like a single shape, but I'm assuming it's not?

Celeryhart · Post by **Celeryhart** » Sun Aug 27, 2006 4:13 am

Wow... that is really smooth. Nice job. I can't figure it out yet but hopefully someday I will.

Anything else that you'd like to share..?? This is how most of us learn... and I know it is appreciated.

Thanks..

Celeryhart

jordanek · Post by **jordanek** » Mon Aug 28, 2006 10:50 pm

wizaerd,

The body consists of several shapes. It looks like a single shape because they all share some of the same points. There are shapes for the forearms, the biceps, and then the main body. It's necessary to have multiple shapes to make overlapping work.

Patmals · Post by **Patmals** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 4:00 am

Thank you very much Jordanek!

It's a wonderful rigging style!

wizaerd · Post by **wizaerd** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 5:43 am

jordanek wrote:wizaerd,

The body consists of several shapes. It looks like a single shape because they all share some of the same points. There are shapes for the forearms, the biceps, and then the main body. It's necessary to have multiple shapes to make overlapping work.

I have looked and looked at this file, and have tried to create an arm the same way (specifically the overlapping part) and just can't seem to figure it out.

This is an instance where seeing the final product doesn't really tell me how to create it. I have the points assigne correctly according to the example, but I still get that overlap space... WHat steps do I follow to create an overlapping arm?

Patmals · Post by **Patmals** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 6:18 am

If i am going to bone a character from now (ahem).. this is my rigging of choice.

Wizaerd, the 4 smaller bones on each bone is used to manipulate the bend to make it look however you want it to appear.

Jordanek, thank you again!

wizaerd · Post by **wizaerd** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 6:26 am

I get the bone setup, that's actually the easy part. What I can't figure out really has nothing to do with the bones themselves, but with the shapes and how they were made.

Open his example, and go into Bone Manipulate mode. Rotate the two main bones (not the fan or cog bones as they're also known as), and notice there's no overlap in the lines.

It has something to do the arm being three seperate shapes, yet along internconnected control points.

Patmals · Post by **Patmals** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 6:37 am

Hi again Wizaerd,

When i played around with his technique, creating my own test 'body' it seemed to work fine.

are you using flexible binding or regional?
Actually, when i did it i used regional and binded the points to the bones etc like it is mentioned in the manual

I will try it again and post it for you..see if there are any differences with each of our versions. The only difference i think is that i am using region binding

wizaerd · Post by **wizaerd** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 6:51 am

They are set to Region binding, and the points are assigned correctly. Beside not being a full character, the bones setup is the same as in jordanek's example. (I don't believe that flexible or region matters if assigning points, but I did try it both ways)

Unless I'm being particularly dense, again, this has nothing to do with bones. Create a rectangle. Give it a fill and an outline so you can see this better. Along the bottom section of the rectangle, add two more points. Then translate each of them across from each other

That's overlap, and the placement of the bones in jordanek's example doesn't control that. Its the shapes and how they were constructed and conencted.