Animation question

# 1 01-11-2012 , 02:06 AM

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Join Date: Oct 2007

Posts: 19

Hi All,

I've been using Maya for quite a while now, but never really got into animating. Right now I'm animating a mechanical structure that I want to open (kind of like a flower). I managed to add joints but the orientation doesn't seem right...

How can I make sure that when I move the handle to control the open/close motion of the panels, the panels remain 'hinged' (I have hinges modelled that I want to appear working). At the moment the panels are twisted out of the hinges. It's a little more complicated because none of the modelled hinges are aligned to any x/y/z axis. (I used point and tangent constraints to place the hinges in the correct orientation).

Note: hinges are currently floating because I didn't parent them yet, just playing around at the moment, still have some modelling to do.

Thanks user added image

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# 2 01-11-2012 , 11:55 AM

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It's OK, I think I figured it out.. just unticked y/z under 'degrees of movement' to create a 'hinge' like movement.

Already had the joints oriented in the correct position so that worked!

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# 3 01-11-2012 , 12:51 PM

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OK... now I've constrained the degrees of movement the motion is too rigid.

It seems that the panels rotate only around the root joint, but the other panels don't rotate. The IK handle (I'm really a beginner with this) or the line between the root and end joints doesn't shorten/lengthen, it's stiff. Is there a way to change that or is it because all the local x-axis joint orientations are different? (the hinges are in different orientation)

Also, is there a way to make it fold out rather than fold in?

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# 4 01-11-2012 , 11:12 PM

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I tried playing around with 'preferred angle' and it worked for a basic rig but doesn't seem to work for this one (to get it to fold 'out' rather than fold 'in').

I've attached the files, if anyone can have a look at it, any help will be greatly appreciated, thank you!

.ma and .mb (2013)

Attached Files

ModelRigTest.zip (142.7 KB, 383 views)

Last edited by Sgt_BigZ; 01-11-2012 at 11:17 PM.

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# 5 02-11-2012 , 11:19 AM

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Join Date: May 2011

Location: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Posts: 525

Hi Sgt_BigZ, Is this the kind of effect that you want to achieve? I made the assumption there are distinct "open" and "closed" positions.

Attached Files

Rig.zip (926.0 KB, 382 views)

Earth: The crazy asylum of the universe.

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# 6 02-11-2012 , 05:42 PM

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yes! How did you do that? Is it a different IK solver?

I did a bit more trial and error, basically I was using the ikRPsolver (rotate plane).. and correct me if I'm wrong, but was the rig stiff because of the solver type + the fact that I constrained rotation for each joint around only the x-axis (local), which was in a different orientation for all joints?

What solver did you use? I saw there was multi-chain, 2 bone, spring... and some of those give more movement...

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# 7 02-11-2012 , 06:23 PM

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Location: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

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I kept it quite simple. I used set driven keys. I removed the parent relationships you had and parented each panel to the joint around which each panel should rotate. Added an attribute on the control cube and then used this attribute to drive the x rotation of each joint.

Also, have a look at chapter 4 of the rigging part of the "surfing with an Alien". It uses set driven keys to rig the fingers.

Your file is a bit dodgy. I got some errors opening it and for some or other reason I could not select the cube at the first joint so I just created a temporary one in the same place.

Attached Files

Model_rigTest.zip (183.5 KB, 374 views)

Earth: The crazy asylum of the universe.

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# 8 02-11-2012 , 07:38 PM

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I had a look at this file but not sure I quite follow... I'll look into set driven keys, never used them before, as you can tell I'm a total beginner with animation.

Can you use these driver/driven to connect the vector arrows people use for controls to drive the motion of a rig?

Also, how did you get errors and how do I know what to fix, is there an issue with the model or something?

Thanks

Last edited by Sgt_BigZ; 02-11-2012 at 07:57 PM.

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