ok, so I'm starting to study the RL rigs -

it would seem that with morphing here to stay - facial rigging - specifically the mouth area is moot - I can get better detail with morph targetting than bones. - The eyes can be done with the character designer ....and not as complex as boning the facial expressions.


Now looking at the body, I'm trying to understand what specific bones I need to get the full motion layer options lit up - many times when I've made rigs in messiah, I didn't retarget enough bones and as a result I couldn't puppet that character correctly. and even though 3DX5 has the options to add extra bones - like neck and spine - in studying their G5 bone structure - it's not necessary and from experience only makes the rig more messy.....

does anyone know which specific bones, including rollovers, are needed to make all the ik points light up in the motion panel ? what would be the optimal rig ( with minimal bones ) to interface with that panel fully ?

and does my weight mapping matter ? meaning, if I spent time smoothing out elbows and shoulders in another program - would it smooth out the same way in iclone - or does iclone round that information down and no matter how much detail I put in it, it will bend like an iclone character. IE - can i weight map something to move mechanical, and have it deform the same way in iclone ?

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ok, i figured one of my questions out ....I was trying to find an answer studying the rig in 3DX5, when I should have been doing it in iclone. #derp lol... see pic below
the 3DX5 display is far more complex than this. - but all that extra detail is not necessary if you skip face bones and jump right to morphing.

this also causes the extra mapping bones in 3DX5 to make more sense, those aren't for regular characters, they are extra bones to map characters like a giraffe that need a long neck.....I suppose same for the spine area - for dinosaur type characters that have a long back and neck. They simply extend the ik chain. It also explains why some characters act erratic when you use the extra bones, you are extending an ik chain where it doesn't need to be extended - hence instead of adding detail, you are adding a greater margin of error. :p

I think the weight mapping is consistent with the software that creates it - my curiosity was if it was being quantized in some way, and if so, to what - but apparently it is not.

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I should also mention, that the iclone characters are not fully implemented by default.

There are settings to make their arses jiggle, boobs bounce, and chest breathe if you fine tuned it!!


Update - the character is somehow hardwired under the hood and I can't make gwynn shake her bum like a hussy!

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Planetstardragon,
I don't know how to help but keep up the good work as I am reading and watching for the same answers you seek. In 3DXchange you can look at the Spring setting but you probably already know that.
TS

ya, but apparently for iclone G5 characters - tweaking the springs and rig is locked. You can make changes but nothing will happen in iclone.

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Yep, I just opened up Chuck in 3DX and he sure has a head/face full of bones. I see what you mean on not being able to change much if anything with a G5.
TS

There is a thread somewhere about adding spring characteristics to other parts than the boobs, simply by editing a file.

I don't have iClone at hand right now, but if you go to the spring characteristics for an avatar in the right-hand panel, you can save those as a file, additional body parts, and reload... Then those parts of will shake and wiggle when they move... Wendy uses that stuff to great effect...

It might even be somewhere in the manual...

I'm attaching a file for G5 characters that includes wiggling of the abs. It includes a description of the parameters. That should allow you to experiment.

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ya, i remember that - a basic text file, wasn't sure if it was locked for iclone characters though ...I didn't check... - but i'd rather make a special character for those effects ...gwynn just isn't a booty clapping kind of girl lol

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Well, it doesn't have to be Gwynn... could be any G5 gal. But, I know you insist on doing a lot of extra work...

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well yeah, the extra work is how i learn

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