Wire parameters + lookat constraint

Olli.

Ive rigged a jet exhaust for thrust vectoring using a dummy and wire parameters. The bones move when you rotate the dummy on the X or Z axis, now i want to add a helper (the red one) in front of the exhaust and make it so when i move that around the exhaust moves accordingly.

The problem is that when i link the dummy to the helper using a lookat constraint, the wire parameters dont work any more.

anyone have any idea how to fix this?

also: im using 3ds max 2013

edit: ive done enough research on this to know why it doesnt work, but can someone tell me how it would work!

Swordslayer

Adding another rotation controller on top of the constrainted one should be enough. Here is a quick maxfile showing that approach: exhaust_text.max (max 2010). Instead of wiring rotations to a dummy I also added a simple CA UI to it with a spinner controlling the rotation (see the attached picture).

def = attributes controls attribID:#(0x434add38, 0x378d214a)
(
    parameters exhaustParams rollout:exhaust (angle type:#float ui:spnAngle default:0)
    rollout exhaust "Exhaust" (spinner spnAngle "Petal Angle:" fieldWidth:50 type:#float range:[-90,90,0])
)
custAttributes.add $Exhaust def

monster

There are lots of ways to do this. Swordslayer has some good advice, but I thought I'd chime in too. Although I'm not entirely sure how you want to rig it, this has the features I think you want.

Move and Rotate the circle place the entire rig.
Scale either dummy to modify the radius of the rig.
Rotate either dummy to twist the rig.

It's easy to setup because there are no wire parameters or custom attributes. And you just setup one segment and clone it as many times as you want.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2904948/Tutorials/Exhaust.max

Another way to fix your original rig, you can create an ExposeTM object with the Dummy as the target. Create the look at constraint as you described. Wire to the ExposeTM instead of the Dummy.