[3dsmax] Some help with rigging Highpoly character with clothes?

OccultMonk

I do not really know where to start with rigging. I want to rig a high poly character for posing (not animation) purposes. I tried ZBrush Transpose master and a ZSphere rig but it just won't work well.

I also do not really want to learn very advanced rigging for animation. I just want to be able to pose a Highpoly character (with neat geometry and displacement and normal maps for details.  Some clothes and props should not deform too much or even not at all. The Polycount wiki on rigging is not much help (more about low-poly rigging, characters without clothing and somewhat outdated).

• Tutorials on rigging a high poly character with clothes (for 'simple' posing mainly)
• Useful scripts and plugins? Would this be helpful?: http://km-3d.com/produkt/weight-pro-3ds-max-plugin/ 

Eric Chadwick

There are some newer rigging features in 2017+ worth checking out, if you just want something quick
https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/3ds-max/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2017/ENU/3DSMax/files/GUID-B94BF35E-4AC5-4C46-B61B-566BB80BAA60-htm.html

thomasp

i'd look at the skinwrap modifier. create a simple proxy model of your character, bind that to a CAT rig or similar then use it to drive your highpoly via skinwrap. it'll need a bit of cleanup once the highpoly is in pose but should save a ton of time normally spent on skinning vertices. you can even convert the skinwrap to skinning at the end if needed.

try with something simple for a start to get the principle.

musashidan

I would recommend skin wrap mod as well.

But really, if you're just posing then you should look at transpose master again. Hard props you can place after the fact. Then tweak sculpt the dynamic interaction between objects. A large move brush can be used to easily move clothing into place. 

OccultMonk

@thomasp

Thanks for the advice! I will try these options.

Are there any good tutorials about posing Highpoly with clothes using CAT + skin wrap?
Should I combine the CAT with the Voxel Skinning

OccultMonk

musashidan said:

I would recommend skin wrap mod as well.

But really, if you're just posing then you should look at transpose master again. Hard props you can place after the fact. Then tweak sculpt the dynamic interaction between objects. A large move brush can be used to easily move clothing into place. 

Thanks, are there any good tutorials on CAT + skin wrap?
Are there any good tutorials for posing complex characters in Zbrush (Transpose Master / ZSphere RIg)?

musashidan

This one is good for skin wrap:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSzWg7aF5Zw

As for Zbrush posing I don't know of any. You don't need to bother with the Zrig. Posing now in ZB should be a lot easier since you can use the new gizmo. If your topology is flowing edgeloops you can ctrl+drag a mask and it will follow the topo. So if you drag on the elbow joint it will draw out your mask away from the elbow whilst masking everything from where you started dragging, backwards. Then blur the mask to give you a nice falloff for deformation.It's almost as good as having a basic rig once you get the hang of it. I've posed many full characters like this that were just for illustration purposes. And that was with the transpose line. As I've said, it should be a lot easier now with the new gizmo.

Plus the great thing about doing it in ZB is that it's so fast to use the move brush to tweak everything(just like you would with corrective morphs on an actual rig)

Then it's a matter of just giving everything a sculpting pass to clean up collapsed geo. Then finally you can palce all your hard props and do another sculpting pass around the intersections, or areas where belts, straps, and the like compress the clothing.

OccultMonk

@musashidan Thanks! I will look into the new ZBrush gizmo. I remember seeing something at the time about posing and masking using it but I never used it and forgot about it :-) Also thanks for the video and the detailed description!

I was trying to use transpose, but the clothes just won't work well. They get pulled in the wrong direction by other spheres in the rig. I will keep trying, but I will first test the new transform gizmo like you mentioned.

OccultMonk

@musashidan I tried using the gizmo 3d with transpose master but masking has the same effect as using the transpose line. One Polygroup gets partially masked based on topology but all other poly groups are masked fully. I want to be able to mask the body and the clothes together base on topology, but that is not possible I think.

musashidan

What sort of clothes is the character wearing? Why not delete all geo that is hidden under clothes? That way you only have to deal with the outer clothing layer.

hansolocambo

Amazing Youtube vid you shared there Musashidan. So damn useful, thanks. It blows out of the water any paid or free tutorial I've seen about skinning. And it's fast and straight to the point. Soooo cool.