3-link watch bracelet rigging ¿?
Hi! I need to rig in Maya a metallic bracelet for a watch I have modeled and I can't find any tutorial that covers all I need.
I know It mustn't be a very difficult rigging, but I lack the skills. I just want the 3-link structure to naturally move and be able to open and close the clasp.
Does anyone know about a tutorial that explains how to do this? Or can anyone give me a clue on how should I organize the joints? Thank you very much!
(the real model in the 4th picture is not exactly the same watch that I modeled, but very similar for rigging purposes)
Replies
You could try it like this:
The red parts are your main bones. The watch face bone should be the root bone. From the root, you'll have one joint chain (Blue) going down towards the second bone - look up a spine rigging toturial if you're not sure how to set that up. From there, you'll have two bones controlling each part of the clasp. On the first bone, add an IK handle (green) so you can control the position of that piece. Since these two joints are in a chain, the second one will follow the first while still having its own additial rotation to adjust the second half of the clasp. After the second bone, set up a second joint chain going back to the root bone.
Let me know if that makes sense! It's hard to explain this way
Thank you! I'll try this way!
Sorry to bother... but the main problem I have now is that I can't keep the end of the chain connected to the root (to the watch bone) so It doesn't move along with the Ik handle or when I rotate the clasp bones. Any idea?
You could try creating another IK handle on the disconnected joint and parenting that to the root. That should keep it in place. If that doesn't solve your issue, look up tutorials on rigging fingertip IK, those should have a similar enough setup to get you on the right track