Rigging - best way to rig soft things, e.g. a human heart

JesseMilesChainsaw

So I need to rig up a human heart, the animation is relatively basic, but I'm not sure about the best way to go about rigging it. I thought i might try something using clusters, but I figured I'd ask here to see if anyone's done it before. It's going in to UE4, if that makes a difference. 

Thanks!

kwyjibo

how detailed/realistic does it need to be? Maybe you just put in a joint or two for each chamber (and maybe a few along the main arteries) and then animate their scale rhythmically.

JesseMilesChainsaw

kwyjibo said:

how detailed/realistic does it need to be? Maybe you just put in a joint or two for each chamber (and maybe a few along the main arteries) and then animate their scale rhythmically.

not all that detailed by the looks of it. that seems like a good option.

Mark Dygert

It really depends on the scope of the project and the importance of the object.

You can use bones with a lot of soft skin weights, or you could morph target, blend shapes or vertex animation.

JesseMilesChainsaw

The animation focuses right on the heart, but it doesn't have to be too detailed, just an accurate representation of how/where the heart expands when it beats. 

The only thing I need to consider really is the fact that this will end up in UE4. I think soft weighting some bones would be easiest way. if that doesn't work out, i'll use blend shapes probably, assuming they work in UE4.

JesseMilesChainsaw

i went with rigging it normally with some soft skinning and it seems like it'll do, thanks everyone!