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animating skeleton along a path

murph63murph63 Posts: 0
edited December 1969 in Carrara Discussion

I'm trying to animate a skeleton along a path in a snake-like manner.

Anyone???

Comments

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,528
    edited December 1969

    Try this first?
    Creating Motion Paths by Cripeman

  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,050
    edited December 1969

    murph63 said:
    I'm trying to animate a skeleton along a path in a snake-like manner.

    Anyone???

    A snake like skeleton slithering along, or a human like skeleton walking a winding path?

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,528
    edited December 1969

    Oh... snake-like as in the rig? I was thinking a snake-like shape of motion path.
    fabaone at ShareCG has a snake rig tutorial for use with Fenric's ERC plugin. The ERC ain't cheap, but according to faba, it's the best thing for snake, tail, etc., animations. I've not tried it yet, but I did buy the ERC.

  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,050
    edited December 1969

    Dartanbeck said:
    Oh... snake-like as in the rig? I was thinking a snake-like shape of motion path.
    fabaone at ShareCG has a snake rig tutorial for use with Fenric's ERC plugin. The ERC ain't cheap, but according to faba, it's the best thing for snake, tail, etc., animations. I've not tried it yet, but I did buy the ERC.

    You could very well be right, Dart. The OP could go either way with it, which is why I was asking for a clarification. Good call on the ERC.

  • wetcircuitwetcircuit Posts: 0
    edited April 2014

    Find Faba's ERC Chain tutorial. I've animated a cat tail following that tutorial and it is very cool.

    Post edited by wetcircuit on
  • murph63murph63 Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    sorry for the delay here. Specifically, I'm trying to move an arrow along a path and have it flex around the curves. I have a skeleton wrapped with a vertex arrow model. The constraints are set as ball joints. When I create a motion path for the arrow to follow, it moves along like a bar of soap instead of bending around the curves.

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,528
    edited December 1969

    evilproducer said:
    Dartanbeck said:
    holly wetcircuit said:
    Oh... snake-like as in the rig? I was thinking a snake-like shape of motion path.
    fabaone at ShareCG has a snake rig tutorial for use with Fenric's ERC plugin. The ERC ain't cheap, but according to faba, it's the best thing for snake, tail, etc., animations. I've not tried it yet, but I did buy the ERC.

    You could very well be right, Dart. The OP could go either way with it, which is why I was asking for a clarification. Good call on the ERC.


    Find Faba's ERC Chain tutorial. I've animated a cat tail following that tutorial and it is very cool. Yeah... Faba is an excellent animator. Her work inspires me to no end.

    I'm not sure I'm reading your rig correctly. You mean that you have the arrow rigged in sections from point to flights, like a tail?

    If so, then the ERC suggestion, following fabaone's ("fabaone" is Faba's ShareCG name) tutorial is a powerful automated way to let the path control the bends for you.

    Otherwise, you might be able to simulate the effect without the skeletal rig on the arrow, and simply using the Bend modifier instead.

    Using this method, you'd have to manually adjust the amount and direction of the bend along the timeline, as the arrow follows the path. But if there aren't a lot of corners to take, (well... even if there are) this is an easy and controllable way to go about it.

    If such a though interests you, but aren't exactly sure what I mean, let me know and I'll step you through the process ;)

  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 38,182
    edited December 1969

    maybe your bones need to track target helpers that follow the path

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,528
    edited December 1969

    wendy♥catz said:
    maybe your bones need to track target helpers that follow the path
    Most cool plan, Wendy... bravo!
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