Maya Rigging Help please
Hello there,
I'm new to rigging, and completed this rig, but for some reason every time I move my master controller, my characters neck moves forward way more than the rest of the character (probably 2-3x as far). I can't figure out why, if anyone has any input I'd really appreciate it. The link is to download the .mb file, I'm using Maya 2012 Student Version. Thanks again
http://www.mediafire.com/?3duvojrh6y5wyvy
I'm new to rigging, and completed this rig, but for some reason every time I move my master controller, my characters neck moves forward way more than the rest of the character (probably 2-3x as far). I can't figure out why, if anyone has any input I'd really appreciate it. The link is to download the .mb file, I'm using Maya 2012 Student Version. Thanks again
http://www.mediafire.com/?3duvojrh6y5wyvy
Replies
I know that I got a similar problem like you, fixing the scale (by freezing the scale of controller) solved my problem.
I took a look at your file, unfortunately I didn't/don't have time to take a deep look, but still, this is a rather unclean fix that solves the problem.
The screenshot below shows how to fix the problem step by step:
The problem is "double transformation".
What happens is: Lets say an object (a controller in a group for instance) is inside a hierarchy, like in your rig, and has transformation values. When it's parent receives transformation values (for instance in translate z), these values are inherited to the child, making the child (the controller in the group in my example) receive these transformation in addition to its own, so it kind of gets a bigger value than its parent.
This in return makes the child to double transform. In my example it would move further in translate z than its parent.
So, after taking a look at your rig, i saw that a lot of parts of your rig have values (their transformations are not frozen).
Some parts had still junk history on them and when parenting these parts, Maya is forced to create tranform groups that absorb the offsets (for instance a group called "transform1", which VERY often leads to double transformation.
My advice is:
1) Keep your rig clean. Every controller and cluster should have frozen transformations as soon as they are in position. No joints should have rotational values. Every constraint shouldn't have, if possible, unneeded offsets. Delete junk history on every part.
2) I can strongly recommend you the Digital Tutors "Character Rigging for Production" Tutorial, it shows you how to build a group hierarchy that avoids any kind of double transformation and shows you how to rig in a clean way!
Anyway, again, good job Ankea, keep it up and post your results when you're finished!
Rigging can be a pain in the ass, but it still has it's charm in some way
EDIT:
I forgot to explain why what I showed you fixes this problem.
The neck joint was inheriting values from somewhere above its hierarchy.
So what happens by doing the above:
1) We disconnect the neck joint from the hierarchy, because when it doesnt have a parent, it can't receive any transformations.
2) We then bridge this disconnection by constraining the neck to the spine with a point constraint.
3) Then we attach it to the master-controller so it still is affected by its transformations.
MiAlx, Thank you so much! I really appreciate it. I wish I had access to Digital Tutors, I'd definitely check it out. Your fix has helped me a lot. I've never been able to complete a functioning rig before, so I'm hoping if I keep at it, this one will be my first. I'll delete my history each step from now on, I've been following the instructions in Autodesk Maya 2010: The Modeling & Animation Handbook word for word, maybe they assume I know more than I do. I certainly know I never would have figured out how to fix that on my own, so thanks again! I'll definitely post my results if you'd like to see them, I plan to finish it up tomorrow.
But, be sure to delete only the history that is not needed!
For instance you could use "Delete non-deformer history" instead of the entire history and only for the selected objects, because if you delete the entire history of every object in the scene, maya could delete skin clusters and other stuff that is important for the rig's functionality.
I could not see the picture but I have some ideas about what your problem is.
First check if any joints are locked.
If a joint is locked you can't take influences from it,
wich means that if the locked joint has all the influence over, lets say your left foot,
no other joint can take any influence from the locked joint. You can not affect your left foots skinwheights.
When you skinpaint, it will look like usual, like you're paining weights, but if you exit the tool
And enter it again, you will see that the influence you thought you where painting is gone.
One more thing to check is that your "Normalize Weights" tool is set on interactive and NOT post.
If you use interactive, all the influences over one vertex from one or several joints will added together be 1.0. When post mode is active a vertex can for example have 4 joints that has influence over it. But every joint could have the influence 1 over the vertex, added together it will be 4.0 and not 1.0.,
this will result in funkyness.
I know that my explanations may not be the best and that my English is not that good as it could.
But I hope it helps, if not, I will try harder to help you!
/Johanna