Help with 3dsmax mechanical rigging?

NAIMA · Jun 2016

Hello , I have been following slavishly this tutorial

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t82pNz7hLqw

But Despite I followed at the letter I can't get it working ... may be there is something wrong ? Can you help me get how to rig and how to make it work ?

here are some images and the file .

httpsigyazocom549f0f46a83a0874812a71cfe28f9aefpng

httpsigyazocom397f7b2786671627d83f072985d9ab0bpng

File

http://www.filedropper.com/landinggear4

NAIMA · Jun 2016

No ideas

?

NAIMA · Jun 2016

The Cause: The parent object was un-uniformly scaled ( the x,y,and or z axis was not scaled uniformly ) and the children have inherited the scalar data, which distorts when they are re-positioned / animated.

Solution: Before beginning, be sure to un-link all geometry. In the 'Hierarchy' Tab ( Third tab over, "big box connected to three little boxes" icon ) In the 'Adjust Transform' window under 'Move/Rotate/Scale:' You'll see the 'Don't Affect Children' command button. Select the offending parent geometry and then click this button. It should be dark grey indicating that this function is enabled. Now, in the 'Reset:' window click the 'Transform' and 'Scale' buttons. Now click the 'Don't Affect Children' button again to disable this function. The children will no longer inherit scale data from the parent, and will no longer distort when moved. Now re-link all your geometry and begin animating.

musashidan · Jun 2016

It's a good habit to reset transforms on all meshes that have been rotated/scaled at object level, regardless of whether they will be animated or not.

NAIMA · Jun 2016

resetting didn't work , the only solution was to create a cube , attach everything to it and then redetach each piece

... I am wondering if I didn't create something too complex to be rigged

....

NAIMA · Jun 2016

Ok I am having another issue here , how is that my Rig flips when I rotate the base root link pin ?

Image: https://i.gyazo.com/d09d3d33ab0eecac5868e93e42bbc426.gif

NAIMA · Jun 2016

Ok I solved by linking theactual joints not to the attached platform but to the one above or under .

Now its working as intended, but I have no idea how to actually connect in a fluid manner, I tried all sort of IK controller options but they always block my rotations or other stuff, the idea is that this thing shoudl now fold up and hide inside an aircraft belly and when landing come out and have also a suspension effect on the main big lower piston ... Can you help me understand how to do it ?

Here is the working file ...

http://www.filedropper.com/landinggear10

Thanks for any help .

musashidan · Jun 2016

The flipping could be from gimbal lock. You can set the rotation to gimbal to help with this. For basic mech animation like this you don't need a rig, simple parent linking will do.

NAIMA · Jun 2016

I did fix as per above but I was looking for a more " constrained " animation , Without having to animate everytime manually simulating the constrains , do you have any sugestions or tut on how to ? Also I need to reduce that scene and import to the spaceship and duplicate the animated gear for the three landing pads ... I fear I cant just clone amd place? Sorry I am new also to eigging

.

NAIMA · Jun 2016

Iam relly not finding any comprhensive tutorial on what I want to do

.

musashidan · Jun 2016

The tutorial you linked has everything you need:fk/ik/auto-pistons. If it didn't work the first time then start again at the very start and keep at it until it works. I will try and view your file if I get the time.

musashidan · Jun 2016

The Max file you've uploaded is corrupted(or my download corrupted) What size is the file?
Also, merging the assets to a fresh scene failed.

NAIMA · Jun 2016

Ok I am uploadig a reduced problem ,Whenever I move no matter what I do the pistons shift rotate andI am not getting why!

They are constrained at each other pins with a look at , their setup is correct but no matter what wheneverI move or roate along X they shift ...

I have spent the last hours trying all solutions from resetting xforms, to hieracrhy exploration of former links , to the final all solving attach to a box resettingall ,but nothing worked, they always keep that absurd motion !

please can anyone check this simple file and see what's theproblem ?

http://www.filedropper.com/1_25

NAIMA · Jun 2016

I had to git that couse I duunno why it keeps flippint ... if anyone has a solution please let me know.

In meanwhile I did a small video of the animation

https://youtu.be/hy10MgvEGOk

Also does someone knows how I shoudl or could organize several animations in the scene so to animate the landing gear only when I want and not all time ? For example if I want to make the ship fly around or do other stuff other than landing?

NAIMA · Jun 2016

Also How can I do to add a suspension movement? I added the pistons and all the necessary , but I don't know how to do so that when the spaceship lands the pistons compress briefly down and then push again up the ship , just like a suspension would .

musashidan · Jun 2016

You can bake your anims with a point cache modifier and save/load. Or you could 'direct' the different animations as shots in multiple files and edit them as a final anim in Pro sequencer or After Effects or whatever.

For the suspension you would use the same look-at constraint setup as the pistons.

You could also wire the parameters through an attribute holder modifier for more control.

musashidan · Jun 2016

Also, I'm still on Max 2016 so you'll have to save out to that version if you want anyone that isn't running 2017 to have a look at your file.

musashidan · Jun 2016

I would also advise using CatRig instead of the pretty old IK solvers that ship with Max. CatRig is a hybrid FK/IK system and also has a layers features that would work well for turning on/off different anims like your landing gear.

NAIMA · Jun 2016

Cat rig has anything for rigging planes or the like?

NAIMA · Jun 2016

I noticed that I can clone a bunch of animated objects and they retain their animations, but not the look at constrains, that seem to be pointing still to the old reference items, since I have too many look at setup objects, licate the landing gears to that they work fine also with the proper look at instead than them looking at older ones and having to redo them all?

musashidan · Jun 2016

Yes, Catrig can be used to rig pretty much anything using ik/fk, you just need to add custom controllers depending on what you're rigging.

Help with 3dsmax mechanical rigging?

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