Maya parenting/constraining/??? problem
polycounter lvl 18
I'm using Maya PLE 5.
I'm building a UT2K4 character with custom animation.
I have a gun blank mesh that, through trial and error, is shaped such that most guns that the character holds will fit that shape. Kinda. So as I animate I can fit the hands to that shape and know that the gun will line up in game. Or at least not look ridiculous.
What I want to do is connect this gun blank to the boneweapon joint in such a way that it will follow the hand and always be in the correct location. Then all I need to do is track the other hand to the gun.
I had this set up before, having stumbed upon some magic combination that I didn't really understand of Constrain->Parent and a couple of other things, but then it stopped being effective. I suspect it may be related to the fact that I put the root node (good 'ol Bip01) in a group by itself, but I'm not sure. That Bip01 group is helping me create TurnL/R animations, so I don't want to lose it.
The other thing about all this is that the previously functioning setup allowed me to see the gun blank in Maya, but the mesh didn't export to UnrealEd.
Does anyone know the "real" way to make this happen?
Thanks.
I'm building a UT2K4 character with custom animation.
I have a gun blank mesh that, through trial and error, is shaped such that most guns that the character holds will fit that shape. Kinda. So as I animate I can fit the hands to that shape and know that the gun will line up in game. Or at least not look ridiculous.
What I want to do is connect this gun blank to the boneweapon joint in such a way that it will follow the hand and always be in the correct location. Then all I need to do is track the other hand to the gun.
I had this set up before, having stumbed upon some magic combination that I didn't really understand of Constrain->Parent and a couple of other things, but then it stopped being effective. I suspect it may be related to the fact that I put the root node (good 'ol Bip01) in a group by itself, but I'm not sure. That Bip01 group is helping me create TurnL/R animations, so I don't want to lose it.
The other thing about all this is that the previously functioning setup allowed me to see the gun blank in Maya, but the mesh didn't export to UnrealEd.
Does anyone know the "real" way to make this happen?
Thanks.