Bone Warping

MikeF

I'm having a weird problem when setting up the hierarchy of my bone system in max5.... I'm using boxes as bones (game engine requires it) and when i set up the hierarchy of my bones, then test them they stretch out and become extremely elongated while rotating on the X Axis. I've used boxes as bones before, but i've never had this problem, any ideas?

FatAssasin

Make sure you reset the XForm on all boxes before linking. Or turn off Inherit Scale in the Link Info section of the Hierarchy tab.

The boxes that are warping are getting scale values from the box it's linked to. So make sure that all scale values are 100% before linking them.

MikeF

resetting Xform did it, thanks.

MikeF

hmmm, while i'm on the topic of bones, i've got another question. Is there a way to set up some sort of stretching threshold in the skin modifier? I've got a first person hand rig, and when rotating certain bones in the fingers, the model stretches to fairly unrealistic extents, so is there some way to force the bone to curl the finger instead of stretching it? i'm still trying to grasp this animation thing...

FatAssasin

I don't exactly know what you mean, can you post a picture? Most deforming problems can be solved with tweaking the skin weighting, and rotating the bones properly. I've seen people rotate bones in ways that aren't physically possible in the human body, and then wonder why the model doesn't look good. I'm not saying that's what you're doing, but it's something to keep in mind.

MikeF

unfortuanately i cant post a screenshot, the model is for a game that had me sign a NDA, but i'l try to be a bit more specific. Heres an example

I have 3 bones in my model's index finger, one for each of the models segments. When i try to rotate the top segment (tip of the finger) all rotates well, but the model itself does not maintain its dimensions, it stretches out slightly. What i am looking to do is keep all the segments at their original demensions (or fairly close to them) to avoid any kind of stretching like this, i simply want a roation without the stretch.

Hope this is a bit clearer... Thanks for the help

FatAssasin

So the bone isn't stretching, but the model is? Well, that's just strange. How are you skinning the model to the bones? If you're using Pyhsique, try Skin, or the other way around. Or maybe it's not skinned properly. Make sure the verts are weighted to the proper bones, that there isn't any influence from another part of the body.

Scott Ruggels

You have to reset X-form, and you have to collapse the stack on the mesh before you put the skin modifier on it.

Scott

MikeF

i guess it must just be the way that i wiegh the verts... I'm using skin, but maybe i'm not getting it fully. I dont use envelopes or anything, just manually selecting each Vert and assigning to the bone, if anyone has some tutorials demonstrating a better way of doing things i'd apreciate it

FatAssasin

It's hard to figure out what the problem might be without being able look at the file first hand. But I know you can't do that. If you're using Skin, check the Weight Table to see which bones are affecting each vert. I posted this in another thread, it might help:

Some tips for working with the Weight Table:

- Change Options to "Show Affected Bones"
- Change the lower drop down option from "Show All Vertices" to "Show Selected Vertices"
- Select groups of verts to work on at once
- Highlight all the verts in the Weight Table by clicking on the first and then dragging down
- When more than one vert is highlighted, changing the number for one vert changes them all
- Right-Click on a weight value to change it to 0
- Ctrl-Right-Click to change it to 1