Connection Editor vs. SDK?

# 1 30-01-2003 , 04:14 PM

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I was just thinking about this. I've done some character rigging using the "Inspired Character Setup" book. On certain things like foot/toe roll rotate etc...(Reverse foot setup)
they showed how to constrain it using SDK on some and then used the connection editor for others. They explain that either way works.

So I was wondering, which way works best? Or which do you prefer?

What are the differences?

Thanks,
George

God Bless you and 3D

Last edited by GCastro; 30-01-2003 at 05:21 PM.

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# 2 30-01-2003 , 06:16 PM

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for something like a character foot, i would use SDK because its more customizable/editable than the connection editor.
example:
with the connection editor, you have 2 objects, and you connect both translate X's. when you move one in the translate X, the other would move the same amount
but with SDK, you can control both translate X's still, but!
you can have 2 objects, and both translate X's could be connected in the same way as the connection editor, but you can also say when one object is 5 units in X, the second is 10 in X

its hard to explain :S

- Simon

My Website: www.Glass-Prison.com

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# 3 30-01-2003 , 06:30 PM

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Nah, that makes sense user added image

What about when you're setting up say the toe roll. You go to connection editor and connect the contraint's say x rotate to bone's x rotate and bam, you're done.
In SDK, you have to key min and max values( or do you?) and just seems to take longer.

I guess each works better for some areas than others right?

Thanks for the reply,
George

God Bless you and 3D

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# 4 31-01-2003 , 12:22 AM

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ah yeah i see what you're saying, kinda like direct feedback, well, yeah i guess that would work, i actually quite like that idea user added image

but to have the foot roll with your method you would need 2 objects, one to control the footroll, and one to control the position of the foot, thats a bit too much hassle for my liking user added image

with SDK, you can have the attribute in the foot controllers attributes (along with foot position etc) then you just slide a slider and you've got footroll, there would be no need to hit the rotate button at all user added image

whereas with your original idea, you would have to hit rotate to do footroll, then translate to move the foot, its all about efficiency user added image

SDK gives it to you without having to leave the channel box, the only downside is, it requires time to set up, like you said.

and no, you dont have to set min/max values for SDK, just leave the boxes blank if you want, but your attribute (say footroll for example) would go on fooooreeeeveeeer user added image

thats not something you want user added image

one last thing, final thing, promise user added image

when people set min/max values, what most people dont know is for the default value, if you want the default to be 0, you dont have to put "0" in the default value box, if you leave it blank, the default will automatically be 0 user added image

just for those who are a bit too lazy, like me, to hit the "0" button on the keypad user added image

- Simon

My Website: www.Glass-Prison.com

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# 5 31-01-2003 , 12:29 AM

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Originally posted by GCastro
Nah, that makes sense

What about when you're setting up say the toe roll. You go to connection editor and connect the contraint's say x rotate to bone's x rotate and bam, you're done.
In SDK, you have to key min and max values( or do you?) and just seems to take longer.

I guess each works better for some areas than others right?

Thanks for the reply,
George

Originally Posted by

The problem with using a direct connection in this case is that the connection is a direct one-to-one relationship. This means that the joint's x rotation will be an exact match to the controller's x rotation. If they are not perfectly aligned to begin with, your joint chain could get seriously messed up. Using a SDK would by-pass this problem and give you explicit control over the range of effect.