Page 1 of 1

Tentacle/Snake-ish rigg ?

Posted: 05 Jul 2012, 22:46
by pimeto
Ok Ok, im really going nuts here. I have absolutely no experience with animation, riggin etc.
So i read and read but it seems i can't find the proper info i need to make this rigg that i want.

Ok ok, here is a pic of the object that i need to rig.
This is some monster that i made, the client insist that i should do the animation and rigging, because he is a cheap motherfoker ... But never mind this, i gotta make it...

So, i try the simple solutions that come with XSi - Create spine, create Tail etc... but they dont work as i need them.
I managed to rig it with Tail, but this thing is kinda simulated ? And i just can't figure out how to put some control point's where i need them to animate this rig.
The spine just dont behave like i want it to. It has 2 control points and its a pain in the ass/ impossible for me to create this snake-ish motion.

So what i need is something like this on the picture - a couple of bones and controllers (in the red). So when i move the controlers i get this smooth chain movement, like for example in the Spine rig that comes with XSI.

I feel like its a simple rig ??? Am i right ? Please someone, give some info/tutorials/ or just explain how to do this.

Re: Tentacle/Snake-ish rigg ?

Posted: 05 Jul 2012, 22:51
by pimeto
I found this tutorial, made back in 1912....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TLchsw9ty8
But seriously, i can't understand what and why this guy does but making so many different Nulls
Please, help guys! :)

Re: Tentacle/Snake-ish rigg ?

Posted: 06 Jul 2012, 04:09
by AceMastermind
I'm not an expert on what you're trying to do but you could give MT_spring a try.


mt_spring.zip
(4.83 KiB) Downloaded 115 times

Re: Tentacle/Snake-ish rigg ?

Posted: 06 Jul 2012, 07:26
by mattmos
If you draw a curve with 4 or 5 points along the length of the limb you want to move, you can use a couple of options under the animate/create/skeleton menu

First create chain from curve - small number of bones (to match number of points in curve). Don't constrain to curve.
Second create control spline - high number of divisions.

The parent the light green diamonds to the nearest bones, and animate the bones in FK, you will get a spread along the length of the curve. If you want to get more detailed you can animate the position of the green diamonds on top of the bones.

Re: Tentacle/Snake-ish rigg ?

Posted: 06 Jul 2012, 20:48
by pimeto
Well, i found this scrip over at some closed long time ago thread in Cgtalk.
It works really well for me... i managed to do the animation at a satisfaction level :)

Thanks guys, for the replys and help!

Code: Select all

set oSelList = GetValue("SelectionList")
 set oItem = oSelList(0)
 strStringedSel = oItem
 set oGeometry = oItem.obj
 oNumberOf0DGeometries = oGeometry.Nb0D

 SetUserPref "SI3D_CONSTRAINT_COMPENSATION_MODE", 1

 for i=0 to (oNumberOf0DGeometries -1)
 set PrevNull = GetValue("SelectionList")
 CreateClusterCenterWithNull strStringedSel & ".pnt" & "[" & i & "]"

 if i>0 then
 set CurNull = GetValue("SelectionList")
 ApplyCns "Distance",CurNull ,PrevNull , true
 end if

 next

 SetUserPref "SI3D_CONSTRAINT_COMPENSATION_MODE", 0


 '_________________________________________________'
 ''''Change the variable below to change the number of bones'''''
 '--------------------------------------------------------------'

 NumberOfbones = 5
 CreateChainfromCurve oItem, NumberOfBones , True

Re: Tentacle/Snake-ish rigg ?

Posted: 06 Jul 2012, 23:38
by AceMastermind
i found this scrip over at some closed long time ago thread in Cgtalk.
Here's a link to the source in case folks want more details:
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showpost.ph ... ostcount=5

wmendez also mentions in that thread using Isner Spine as alternative.
http://www.isner.com/isnerspine/spine_introduction.htm

Re: Tentacle/Snake-ish rigg ?

Posted: 22 Jul 2012, 20:44
by Boris

Re: Tentacle/Snake-ish rigg ?

Posted: 22 Jul 2012, 20:55
by Boris
AceMastermind wrote:
i found this scrip over at some closed long time ago thread in Cgtalk.
Here's a link to the source in case folks want more details:
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showpost.ph ... ostcount=5

wmendez also mentions in that thread using Isner Spine as alternative.
http://www.isner.com/isnerspine/spine_introduction.htm
Thank you for sharing !