How to rig a weapon/shield
Hey guys,
i am new on side, awesome stuff here great art!
I found the thread from Marshal Banana with the same question but i didn't get the point how to do it.
I build a character and a rig but i am a bit unsure how to add a weapon and a shield to an existing rig. I am new in this field and have really no idea how to do it.
here is my theory starting point:
for the shield:
- i will use one bone from the hip(root bone to the shield). From there i would skin the shield 100% to the bone which should be snapped the handbone. -> parent contraint?
Sword:
- two different bones from the hip to the sword.
but how should i append the weapon with the weaponsleve to the rig? they share they rotation values as long as the blade is not drawn or pulled by the Hand. How should i add a parameter/constraint which changes there rotation dependence from the leg to a parent constraint of the Hand. something like a snapfunction?
Here is a screen of the actual character.
And here is the rig.
The character should drag the blade except the weaponsleve which should stay in position and bounce in dependence of the leg movement.
I am a bit on a stony path I hope someone can put me in the right direction.
thanks in advance
Cody
PS: CC is also welcome
i am new on side, awesome stuff here great art!
I found the thread from Marshal Banana with the same question but i didn't get the point how to do it.
I build a character and a rig but i am a bit unsure how to add a weapon and a shield to an existing rig. I am new in this field and have really no idea how to do it.
here is my theory starting point:
for the shield:
- i will use one bone from the hip(root bone to the shield). From there i would skin the shield 100% to the bone which should be snapped the handbone. -> parent contraint?
Sword:
- two different bones from the hip to the sword.
but how should i append the weapon with the weaponsleve to the rig? they share they rotation values as long as the blade is not drawn or pulled by the Hand. How should i add a parameter/constraint which changes there rotation dependence from the leg to a parent constraint of the Hand. something like a snapfunction?
Here is a screen of the actual character.
And here is the rig.
The character should drag the blade except the weaponsleve which should stay in position and bounce in dependence of the leg movement.
I am a bit on a stony path I hope someone can put me in the right direction.
thanks in advance
Cody
PS: CC is also welcome
Replies
Not sure if you can do that in your case though, I've never rigged for a game engine and am not sure if visibility swaps are common practice.
I'd have two "helper" joints (one on the hip, one in the hand) for the sword, then the "actual" joint which the sword is skinned to. It doesn't have to be a child of anything, it can be free in the world. Then you'd just add the two "helper" joints as Parent Constraint targets (turn off "maintain offset" when creating the constraint) and you will now have a list of 2 weights to keyframe on the parent constraint. One for the hip, one for the hand.
Then you can just keyframe the weight at 1 for whichever joint needs control at that time. You'll probably want to use "stepped" keys for those so that you don't get any weird blending when going between parents.
Same method for the shield.
Nice thing about this is you can also set both weights to 0 and animate the sword/shield free in the world (for example if he drops it or throws it).
If you have any more questions about the Parent Constraint, read the Maya Help on Parent Constraints. It will tell you everything. If you don't even know where to start, and don't know what I'm talking about, read the Maya Help for animation or rigging tutorials. There's plenty of information in there that covers what you want to do.
Edit: Nice model, btw
thanks for your help guys.
I used MoP'S method and everthing worked fine. The method is really awesome I will use it for many other push and pull objects.
thanks MOP
cheers
MOP already covered this...he sooo fast
there are actually a few other points on this rig that could be improved to make animating easier, if you have any more questions ask away!
- Woog
before i start with my next rig I will post any spefic questions.
@ Vig where do you think should the clavicles be placed?
Some where higher, so you can lift the clavicle/shoulders up when he reaches over his head. It will give you the ability to touch his shoulder to his ear like yours does when you reach above your head.
If only rotate the bicep up and don't lift the shoulder, you end up with a big hole between the neck and the shoulder.
Take a look at the shoulder area of the upside down guy in this shot the clavicle is placed in the right spot (more or less) but he failed to rotate it when the arms went above the head.
If you're guy is never going to raise his arms up above a T pose it probably won't matter.
The design of the neck/shoulder armor being one big inflexible piece, seems to look like he couldn't move his arms above a T pose, so the rig could be fine. But often with sword wielding knights there is a lot of arms going all over the place.
Personally I would break the neck armor so each shoulder can move independently, and then rerig the clavicle so it can lift above his head.
So where it points at the sternum to where it points the shoulder blade would be a good place to start.The end of his clavicle is in a good spot now, might be a little high and outside, but that's pretty much prefect placement to start with only testing will tell you for sure.
I also do like Rick suggested and angle them down slightly.
I place the end of the clavicle/start of bicep by drawing an imaginary line from the end of where the real clavicle would end (top of shoulder) to the arm pit, it tends to be a 15 or 20 degree angle, I then place it about the half way mark and maybe nudge it in and down toward the pit. Like I said he has some pretty good placement on that joint already.