Making believable hands animated

[Stephen X]

I was trying to search the forum yesterday for how to create believable 3D hand movements. How are people doing this? Bones? Switch layers?

I have spent a lot of time creting a new character and I wanted for get imput on the hands so that I can have more than one position.

Thanks in advance everyone! If there are past posts that you can direct me to also, I would be VERY appreciative.

S:)

[Víctor Paredes]

hi, i have two hands to offer you. the first is using switch, it's very functional, but there are lots of movements that you couldn't do just moving the bones.
the second is using 3d objects. i don't like much, is a little dirty, but it works.
hand using switch
hand using 3d objects
right clic, save as (remember unzip all the files before open)

pd: there is a 2d/3d complex hand made sometime ago by genete, you can search it.

[AmigaMan]

Well, not 3D but this is a test of a hand rigged using bones.

http://www.dalemation.free-online.co.uk ... ndTest.mov

[Stephen X]

Selgin! The switch layer one is exactly what I need. How Does the order work? I am still learning about Switch Layers. How does the order sorting work. Any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

THanks

S:)

[Víctor Paredes]

it's real simple.
draw your hand, put inside a switch and bone it.

then duplicate the vector layer and reorder the shapes. for example, if the thumb finger is on the front, send it to back. reorder all the shapes thinking that now the hand will be turned around.

move the fingers as if it were a 3d hand. when you need to change the shape order, switch it to the second layer.

the anme file have 3 different shape orders. click on each layer to see them.

[Stephen X]

I thought that might be the case. I did notice that there are also 2 actions abrir and cerrar in the actions window. Do I need to also make actions and if so, please explain.

Thanks again. I can't wait to show this character off.

S:)

[Víctor Paredes]

oh, it's true. i had forgotten the actions.
it's just points movement of the palm. when the hand is on "profile", the palm need to be thiner than when it's open.

so i have two actions.
- abierta (open)
- cerrada (close)

the actions are just points movement, but it's easier to have this movement into actions than to move the points each time the hand turn around.

[Genete]

Great usage of switch technique selgin! I love that use of switch layers!

@Stephen X: I have a pseudo 3D hand a little more complex than that (much more complex) but it can rotate in two axis. Fingers are in different layers and have 5 fingers.

See this post (and the whole thread) for more information:
viewtopic.php?p=37662#37662

Also this one where I show a more dynamic animation:
viewtopic.php?p=37758#37758

Selgin's solution is much more simple and effective.
-G

[Stephen X]

You guys are the best.

Selgin. Instead of using actions, I just created 2 small bones going in the opposite direction of the palm's bone and then just brought them in and out as needed.

AS keeps getting better and better for me. Now I feel like I am working some serious voodoo. Thanks!

S:)

[Stephen X]

Okay. One more thing. Is there any way for me to copy my bones from my bone layer and paste them in a new and improved switch layer.

I swear this will be the last question for at least 5 minutes.

S:)

[Genete]

Okay. One more thing. Is there any way for me to copy my bones from my bone layer and paste them in a new and improved switch layer.

I swear this will be the last question for at least 5 minutes.

S:)

Better do this. You'll save more time than using the copy paste scripts that there are around. BE CAREFUL AND MAKE A BACKUP FIRST.
If you're interested into copy and paste bones search for copy paste bones and look for a thread from "The Narnia" or similar. There should be the final releases of copy paste bones menu scripts. First release don't work.
-G

[heyvern]

Here's my contribution. I think it is similar to Selgin's.

http://www.lowrestv.com/moho_stuff/larry_hands2b.mov

http://www.lowrestv.com/moho_stuff/larr ... pload.moho

-vern

[Víctor Paredes]

Here's my contribution. I think it is similar to Selgin's.

yes, it's similar, but as always, yours are better.

[Stephen X]

Hey there. I looked for that copy and paste script but came up with nothing. Does anyone know the link?

And Vern, you always come through with greatness.

S:)

[Genete]

Hey there. I looked for that copy and paste script but came up with nothing. Does anyone know the link?

And Vern, you always come through with greatness.

S:)

The one that works comes form this post:
viewtopic.php?t=8255&highlight=copy+bone
and the link to the copy that heyvern have in its server.

The original one (that mess up positions I don't know why) come from this thread:
viewtopic.php?t=3691&highlight=copy+bone

Vern is working on a improved copy/paste menu script that would allow select from a list the bones to copy and also allow copy the bones properties (that is not a feature of the working script)

Also I commented in the first linked post it would be necessary to uname the bones that are going to be copied to allow work the script properly. You can use this script to automatically clear the name of the selected bones:
viewtopic.php?t=8550

-G