This procedure is required to understand the essentials of rotational values (both when creating joints and for editing them afterwards). Joint orientation and translation values are stored in the ball spline shapes which sit at the tip of each joint.
Flexibility as These are altered by selecting the component mode (F8). This allows for the joint rotational value to be altered. There is a great deal of flexibility and control over this editing tool as editing joint tips with this mode on means changes to the orientation can be made without upsetting the rig and does not move. By then exiting the component mode, parts of the rig can be rotated and tested. The rule of thumb tends to be to have all vertical joints (spine, legs etc) to have it's Z axis facing the same way (in this case, to the right when looking through the front view). All horizontal joints should have all Y joints facing upward (arms, hands).
However, the exceptions for this are the head, spine tip, ankles and wrists. The reasoning behind this is that these tend to have a different angle and need to be specific to the mesh or model that the rig will eventually control. For example, the wrists on the ZBrush character I am using are at a 25-30 degree angle on both the Z and Y axis and so the joint would have to match these also. The quickest way to translate this information from one side to the other is to simple delete one side and mirror the updated side. This will translate all rotational changes as well as replacing 'Left' labels for 'Right' labels.
Very quick and easy to use. Joints so far seem to be a little more artist / user friendly as supposed to 3ds Max's Bone system.
No comments:
Post a Comment