rigging tutorials

Chong

Hi guys

I was wondering if anyone could link to videos on rigging in particular.
I would like to add a cloth effect to my next set.

I work in maya by the way.

I'm guessing I would have to add bones and joints to the original skeleton to do this.

I have watched some general videos on creating skeletons from scratch and I have tried adding bones to existing skeletons but whenever I have done this it has distorted the joints I have attached too and thrown the whole skeleton off.

I don't think it's something I can work out without some help.

Thanks
Chong

heboltz3

Stepping back a moment..

Chong wrote: »

I would like to add a cloth effect to my next set.

I'm guessing I would have to add bones and joints to the original skeleton to do this.

You can't add bones to the existing skeletons. Reason being, all the animation, previous skin weighting, and rigging will be disrupted by the addition of new bones.

If you want to add some sort of cloth effect with Animation it would be my opinion that your best bet is to submit a custom animation set that showcases this cloth movement. (Assuming the cloth movement is all hand keyed animation).

If you still want to learn how to rig, or the fundamentals of the practice I think there are some great tutorials on this in the tutorial thread, though I may be mistaken.

AndrewHelenek

heboltz3 wrote: »

If you want to add some sort of cloth effect with Animation it would be my opinion that your best bet is to submit a custom animation set that showcases this cloth movement. (Assuming the cloth movement is all hand keyed animation).

What are you smoking? That sounds like an incredibly large waste of time. :thumbup:

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark.N
Sure I can send you this little guide I wrote for some of the other artists here and they've all had success with the custom cloth effects. I've seen you can already get your objects into the test client (which is really good) so I also assume you know how to compile items by hand using QC. If you don't then that's ok since this guide will cover that as well.

The biggest problem is getting your new rig to properly compile and work in-game. In order to do this you need to compile a new .mdl for your hero. I'm going to assume you're using Doom (the process is the same for every hero) as your hero. Make sure you do this using Dota 2 Test and also, be aware that Valve may reject your entry for using added effects (it creates a lot more work for them on their end apparently & bones are one of the most expensive items when it comes to memory budget).
Quote:
1: Using StudioCompiler, de-compile doom.mdl located in dota/models/heroes/doom. This will give you the following: a .Qc file(mdldecompiler.qc - rename this to doom.qc), two reference .SMD (the LOD0/01), and a bunch of animation .SMD. Save all of these files and import doomlod0.dmx.smd into Max/Maya.

2: Rig your model accordingly. Any extra bones need to be children of the default attachment bone for that slot. Be sure to name your new bones with a proper naming convention, you'll need these names later.

3. In order to test custom physics, we need to overwrite a default item. Be sure to name your item the exact same as it's corresponding default item. I.e. doom_shoulder

4. Export your item and new bones out as reference .smd.

5. Select and export the entire skeleton (added bones included) and the hero's base model as reference .smd. Basically you need to re-export whatever was imported in Step 1, with the addition of your custom bones.

6. Now we need to compile your custom item by hand using guistudiomdl. You'll need to write a basic .qc file, I recommend de-compiling the corresponding default item and modifying the .qc that comes with it. You only need to change names and directories at this point, no code changes required. Once you have a .qc file written, open it using guistudiomdl and be sure to check the define bones option box at the bottom of the screen. Assuming a successful compile, you'll be given a text output of code starting with $definebone and some arguments (one command for each bone and there may be corruption which is easily noticed and deleted).

7. Open doom.qc and paste the block of $definebones just underneath the $lod function. Beneath the $definebones block, add $heirarchy "child_bone_name" "parent_bone_name"

8. Using guistudiomdl, re-compile doom's base. You may encounter errors and need to comment out certain portions of the code. This is entirely dependent on the hero so I cannot predict which errors you will receive, see my attached file for more info.

9. Write a doom.cloth file (just a simple text file) using any other hero's .cloth file as a base (windrunner, tidehunter, invoker, lifestealer all have these files located in their main folders). Replace the relevant code with that of your own and change the variables as needed. Changes require a game restart to see the affects.

10. Using GCFScape, you need to extract all of the source files for dota, located in the .vpk archives, into the main dota folder. Once this is done, rename all of the .vpk file extensions and disable automatic updating for dota 2 test.

11. Copy your newly compiled files, doom.mdl and doom_item.mdl, into the dota/models/heroes/doom folder and overwrite the default files.

12. Launch Dota, view them using either the workshop tool or the customize hero tool in the backpack.
That's basically how it's done. If you need more help with the .qc writing, try looking on the valve dev wiki as it has very good articles on each of the commands and their various arguments.

These pastes should give you an idea of what the finished code will look like.

http://pastebin.com/BZvycUfJ - PL_weapon.qc
http://pastebin.com/J7p7Cgm0 - PL.cloth
http://pastebin.com/KTn1CN6i - PL.qc

Good luck and if ya need any more help let me know.

-Mark

heboltz3

AndrewHelenek wrote: »

What are you smoking? That sounds like an incredibly large waste of time. :thumbup:

Everybody can Dream.


Also QC mumbo jumbo devil magic is not my jam.

Chong

I don't think keyframe animation helps me really.
I don't want the cloth to have an animation cycle I just want it to drop and flow naturally.

Taken from the official workshop page
"Your item's geometry should be skin-weighted to the default hero skeleton from their "_model.ma" maya file. Additional bones may be added but must be rooted to one of the joints in the hero skeleton. That said, there are constraints on the number of bones a hero may have, so be conservative in using them. If this is an issue we will let you know."

So I'm pretty sure it's possible.

Thanks for the info dump Andrew I will have to start wading my way through this when I have a spare moment.

Thanks
Chong

heboltz3

I'll admit when I'm proven wrong and I'd love to see the results and hear about your process!

Education is fascinating! Wowie!!

littleclaude

Lots about rigging in this thread - http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?p=2114334

heboltz3

Cool stuff claude, a lot of great stuff to watch! I have some new tutorials to cram in during lunch sessions now