Pauldrons

[Domarius]

Exactly, I've just submitted the updated rig. It's simply done by selecting the shoulder joint, select pad joint -> Constrain -> parent (in animation toolbar). If you want to unlink the parenting either delete the contrain(parented under the pad joint in the outliner) or set the weight to 0 in the toolbox menu.

Is that the same as pressing the "p" key? If not, what's the difference? I noticed that when I pressed the p key, the bone connector re-routed to the new child, as if I'd modified the skeleton...

[greebo]

I assume the md5mesh needs to be re-exported due to this change?

[squill]

Is that the same as pressing the "p" key? If not, what's the difference? I noticed that when I pressed the p key, the bone connector re-routed to the new child, as if I'd modified the skeleton...

 

nope. It's more like using the connection editor if your familar with that. But because it's a seperate node it's easier to attach or break connections between objects. Constrains are very usefull for rigging and animation.

A parent constrain acts the same as you would normally parent using P but you can also choose to only constrain the translation, rotation or scale.

 

 

I assume the md5mesh needs to be re-exported due to this change?

 

nope, just animation files that have arms rising above the shoulder area.

[Springheel]

Some animations now look good with the pauldrons, but others (several idle ones, like the sneeze) still clip significantly. Have they simply not been re-exported?

[squill]

Some animations now look good with the pauldrons, but others (several idle ones, like the sneeze) still clip significantly. Have they simply not been re-exported?

 

either not exported on the last rig version or people forget to animate the shoulders which drives the pauldrons. I've fixed a few idles but i'm not able to export/upload those until i'm fully synced which i'll do tonight.

 

I found 1 or 2 animations(believe it was idle_eat and stretch) that have different rotations orders on the arms which should be fixed by the animator who made them because i'm don't know what settings are used.

[Noisycricket]

Ok, im trying to finish the re-exporting but im not clear on how to do this. Do i need an updated rig or can i change something on the existing rig with the animations? When i try to simply raise the "shoulder_rotate_ctrl_R upwards it has no effect after re-exporting.

 

Which one is an updated rig? After i get the updated rig, do i simply need to transfer the keys to that rig or is there something else i need to do first?

 

I saw your nosewipe animation in Maya, looks very very good in there.

[squill]

Ok, im trying to finish the re-exporting but im not clear on how to do this. Do i need an updated rig or can i change something on the existing rig with the animations? When i try to simply raise the "shoulder_rotate_ctrl_R upwards it has no effect after re-exporting.

 

Which one is an updated rig? After i get the updated rig, do i simply need to transfer the keys to that rig or is there something else i need to do first?

 

To update your animation to the latest rig you need to create an animation clip which is explained here.

 

You can load these clips on proguardmesh_rev2.mb which is located in the proguard src folder.

[Noisycricket]

To update your animation to the latest rig you need to create an animation clip which is explained here.

 

You can load these clips on proguardmesh_rev2.mb which is located in the proguard src folder.

 

I loaded the keys from my arm_scratch onto your nose_wipe animation, which i assume has the v2 mesh. The pauldrons then moved with the existing shoulder animations, but not nearly enough. I'll have to change the animations a little bit, likely all of them, which will take some time.

 

One strange thing i noticed: The arm_scratch in particular has a little up and down movement with each scratch. I selected the shoulder_rot joint and tried to uncheck "inherits transform" and all of the body control handles on the arm shifted in space a little bit.

[Noisycricket]

Ok, i don't see a way to animate the shoulder_rotate_ctrl's without totally ruining the animations.

 

When i try to click on the shoulder_ctrl and uncheck "inherits transform", it still moves with the should_rotate_ctrl joint. If i try to uncheck inherits transform on the Dummy joint, the right arm falls off sort of. Can we rotate the end of the "right pad" (3) without problems? What is that for anyway? I can rotate it if i select it and change the channel box option "Right Shoulder W0" to 0. But not 1, no clue why... Anyway, some of the verts are weighted to it, so if it rotates, some of the skin on the shoulder will move. Fine for guards with pauldrons, not so fine for guards without...

 

1. Shoulder_rotate_ctrl_R (the one the Pauldrons are bound to current i assume)

2. Right Arm Dummy

3. Right pad

4. Shoulder_ctrl_R

 

[squill]

Ok, i don't see a way to animate the shoulder_rotate_ctrl's without totally ruining the animations.

 

When i try to click on the shoulder_ctrl and uncheck "inherits transform", it still moves with the should_rotate_ctrl joint. If i try to uncheck inherits transform on the Dummy joint, the right arm falls off sort of. Can we rotate the end of the "right pad" (3) without problems? What is that for anyway? I can rotate it if i select it and change the channel box option "Right Shoulder W0" to 0. But not 1, no clue why... Anyway, some of the verts are weighted to it, so if it rotates, some of the skin on the shoulder will move. Fine for guards with pauldrons, not so fine for guards without...

 

1. Shoulder_rotate_ctrl_R (the one the Pauldrons are bound to current i assume)

2. Right Arm Dummy

3. Right pad

4. Shoulder_ctrl_R

 

 

right/leftpad joints are used for the pauldrons. If the arms still clip thru the pauldrons and you can't go any further with the shoulder ctrl's you could use those joints to animate the pauldrons manually. But you'll always get some minor clipping if the arms comes above a certain height.

 

btw animation clips works much cleaner also for future animation/rigging work instead of manually copying keys.

[Noisycricket]

I added animation to some of the shoulder_pad joints. It looks just ok IMO. I still have one other of mine to do, then i'll work on some of the others. Just so modellers and skinners know, a small amount of the model's verts are weighted to this joint were animating, so on guards with black shirts on, the movement might be fine, but brighter or contrasting art on the shoulder might show quite a bit. I'm thinking the verts should be unweighted, but im not sure if thats the best solution.

[Springheel]

Just so modellers and skinners know, a small amount of the model's verts are weighted to this joint were animating

 

There should not be any models with verts weighted to the pad joints (other than the ones that have pauldrons)...where did you notice this?

[Noisycricket]

Using the proguard models in Maya. I just tried to look for it in the game, but i can't. So i looks like your right. Good.

[Noisycricket]

All of the pad animations are done that i can see. I got rid of the majority of clipping. I noticed one thing about the verts near the sleeve, they come out quite a bit, i assume its intended, but i thought i'd mention it just in case. Having the sleeve not no out quite so much would likely eliminate the remainder of the clipping.

[Noisycricket]

Should we keep the new idle_animations with the pad animation separate for now? Or should i go ahead and overwrite the existing ones?

[Springheel]

I don't see any reason to keep the old ones, as long as you're confident the new ones are better.

[Noisycricket]

I'd recommend taking a look at the test/idle_animations map yourself. In part because of the way the paulrons are far off of the model and in part because the sleeve verts demand for the pauldron to be raised or rotated a ton in order not to clip, it can make the pauldrons seem awkward. I wonder if it might look better if they were simply built into the model.

[Springheel]

I'm not sure what you're talking about. The pauldrons ARE built into the model in the citywatch. That's why the pad joints need to be animated in the first place. The pauldrons on the builder and generic guard are def_attached, and already move fine with the arms.

 

'd recommend taking a look at the test/idle_animations map yourself.

 

What's new that I should be looking for?

[Noisycricket]

The pad animations i just uploaded. I only uploaded 3 animations that to begin with, but nevermind that.

 

The ones that have new pad animation (as of this last week) are:

idle_eat, arm scratch, armwipe, cough, nose wipe, sneeze and stretch.