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When tracking a target helper of any other object for that matter, the thing that is tracked is the hot point of the object or helper.
So, if the shoulder joint is supposed to track a target helper, then the hot point of the target helper should be over the hot point of the shoulder joint, or at least fairly close to it.
When I tracked a target helper with the feet, I would place the target helper over the ankle, which is where the joint's hot point is located.
The other thing to remember is that you don't have to parent the target helper to the figure. For the IK bike ride, I parented the targets to the pedals and handle bars, then I posed V4 on the bike, and then activated the IK tracking. As the sprocket rotated (and the pedals counter rotated), the feet tracked the targets parented to the pedals and moved the legs.
Thanks Evil. Yeah, when I tried hooking my figure's shoulder to a Target Object, my goal was to freeze the shoulder while I positioned a 2nd Target the Hand was tracking. As mentioned, I never got that far because the shoulder would deform and shoulder Target jump upward when I activated it... even though I positioned XYZ of the Target to the shoulder using the Align tool. Maybe I messed up, or my PC needed a reboot or something, I'll have to check.
But was I on the right track though... if I want to "Pin" the sholder, I should create a Target Helper tracked by the shoulder... is that right?
BTW: the whole issue of me using the Bone Chain tool was because other posts talked specifically about using IK Helpers, which I think only get created when you use the Bone Chain tool. I tried it, seemed like they were just placing IK Start and Terminators in the chain, where they had been already... with the addition of the IK Helper.
If Target Objects are preferred, I'll just use those... haha, my goal is to try to make things easier :)
- Don
The IK helpers are just visual aids, which are easy to "grab" when you click your mouse on them. When you use IK tracking to track a target helper object, it is essentially the same thing.
The most effective wat to keep the shoulder in place may be to go to select the shoulder joint, and then the Modifier tab, and add an IK terminator.
If you're using a V4/M4 or earlier, it should already have an IK terminator. If you are using a Genesis figure, it may not, and you may need to add one as I mentioned above.
When you get it set up as desired, it can be great fun to use, and can help ease or simplify some tedious posing and/or animating chores.
Ahhh... now that makes perfect sense. TY EP!
- Don
I guess I'm at fault for turning this into a general figure animation thread.
Not sure how many are following this and are interested in that, but I'll continue my standard practice of talking to myself in the hopes there's someone who's interested.
I mentioned before that much of this 3D stuff is about subtlety and detail, if you're interested in captivating or even interesting an audience other than yourself. And it's those little details that often are what it takes to sell the concept.
For example in a walk cycle, the tiniest details of timing and balance and weight are critical.
One small example is in what's called the "passing" phase of a walk cycle, when all your weight is on one leg, and the other is "passing". At this point your hip is rotated, so that the "stiff leg" side of your hip is higher than the "passing leg" side.
Now if you go into Carrara and take your T-posed and rigged character, and rotate the hip a bit in that manner, you'll get something like the first image below. And clearly something looks wrong. That's because there is no balance. When we walk we tend to automatically keep our head and torso pretty much upright, while our hips and legs do their thing. So if your hip rotates like in the image below, your torso and head tend to rotate in the opposite direction to stay aligned and upright.
Now, you can do that manually by manually tweaking the character's abdomen, then chest, then neck, and maybe the head to somethign that looks good.
But that's a lot of work. What some apps have (and this is no criticism of Carrara, just some info on what the options are) is, like I mentioned before, a set of expression and controller features where you can set up an automated system to counteract any hip rotation with an opposing torso/head rotation. And you can customize the counter-rotation values, depending on the character. For example if the character is a bit stilted by nature, you'd have a different setup than if the character was someone who had a more exaggerated body motion. Y'know, like a sexy girl versus a military guy.
And you can even add a variable factor to control, via slider, how much exaggeration you want in the body counter-rotation. So for example, if you rotate the hips by, say, 20 degrees, you can counter-rotate by the equivalent of 15 or 20 or 25 degrees.
And this system is of most use when you can set up your rigging system of targets and tracking objects, and apply a set of sliders and controls that, for example, allow you to dial in a "slouch" pose using your own rig. Kinda like the Carrara parameters sliders, but they are user configurable and work with whatever rigging system and targets, etc., you come up with.
Hi Joe,
This is a quick reply to thank you for the additional contributions to the thread since I last passed through!
With 380 views, you haven't been talking to yourself but I need to take a little time to re-read and digest the new material from you and others.
As happens all-too-often, I haven't had a chance to return to the project which started the thread. I hope to return to it soon and show any results - if they are show-able!