making rigged character passive rigid body?

# 1 16-07-2010 , 09:36 PM

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I was wondering if I would be able to take a character that I have rigged, skinned, and painted weights to, into a passive rigid body? I want to be able to make this character interact with other objects in the scene (ex. Character puts his hands in front of himself and pushes a large block across the scene).

Is there a way to do this once the character has been rigged, skinned, and weighted? I can't seem to do it. Any tips, ideas, or just something I'm missing here?

- Mike

https://rhetoriccamel.blogspot.com

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# 2 17-07-2010 , 03:47 AM

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Hello Mike,

I tried to make a skinned object a passive rigid body on my system and just received "Error:" in the script editor. I tried several things to resolve this and found that if you select the rigged geometry and unlock it attributes it seems to work as a rigid body as expected.

I cannot find any adverse effect on the rigged model either. you may try that.

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# 3 17-07-2010 , 06:46 AM

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hello again mike.

after I had more of a chance to test this, I have found that active bodies collide into the skinned model just fine.

for instance, i can get the model to catch a falling ball in its hand.

however i cannot get the rig to "push" the active bodies as you described.. I will continue to troubleshoot this scenario.

although i expect a solution from one of the many friendly and knowlegable simplymaya users will surface before I get this one figured out.

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# 4 17-07-2010 , 07:13 AM

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Well thank you very much for the help so far. I will look more into that idea. Of course if you figure it out before me, please do share.

- Mike

https://rhetoriccamel.blogspot.com

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# 5 17-07-2010 , 09:44 PM

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I think generally you would use constraints for this type of exercise as they are keyable to the rigged character. Adding the rigid body is real overload to the whole calculation of the animation and will really slow you down. Give parent constraints a go.

cheers
Jay

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# 6 18-07-2010 , 01:43 AM

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ha ha ha there is one of the friendly knowlegable ones there.

i was just working on a different angle to this...

what if you parent a low poly representation of the model to the skeleton. similar to a low poly control rig. and make the pieces of that a passive body.. it didnt seem to slow my simulation down as bad.

just a thought.......

although one of the many important things i have learned from this site, mike, is that when jay speaks.......... you listen!

Rick

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# 7 18-07-2010 , 02:20 AM

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yeah I'll definitely give Jay's advice a go, I wasn't even considering the time it would take to animate it with a rigid body.
Leotikansas I really do appreciate your help thank you!
Jay you happen to have a link to a quick guide for doing this type of idea? Just something I could use as a quick reference?

- Mike

https://rhetoriccamel.blogspot.com

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# 8 18-07-2010 , 06:49 PM

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I'll have a look mate, its a tip I picked up on a job, plus Ive also seen it on a tutorial before. I will look and get back to you.

If the lo res proxy works then go for it. As with all things maya theres more than one way to do something. I recalled the contstraints thing as it just seemed to make more sense....anyway I'll get back to you

cheers
Jay

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# 9 18-07-2010 , 07:12 PM

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I did a search on google and it comes up with the usual 'ahem' places to download various tutes on the subject.

But I just had a look in my character animation book - and there it was!!

The book I have is by Jae Jin Choi, its most likely PDf'd somewhere so check it out on the web. The section for pushing a cube is about halfway. I'll have a look on the dvd and see if there is a scenefile and I'll mail it to you. he uses simple orient and point constraints...

Cheers
Jay

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