how to set bone translation axis to local instead of default global?

tmtmtm_f56c8d4bda

I'm rigging a prop and everyting is fine, except... I can't for the life of me figure out how to get translation dials to use the local coordinate system of the bone itself.

Whatever I do, the translation only happens at a global level.

To illustrate:

I have a cube, but I rotated it 30 degrees on the Z axis, so if you look at it in the front view, it will be tilted. Rigging a bone and setting its origin and end points such that it is also tilted, looks fine: the Y axis of the bone is rotated 30 degrees around the Z axis of the world.

Alas, no dice, the translation dials insist on using the gobal axis orientations, and not the local bone orientations. What happens is that when you look at it in the frint view, the cube's Y translation dial moves the cube up and down vertically. The expected result is that it moves diagonally.

Does anyone know how do fix this?

Attached DUF file with my cube and bone.

Thanks.

Thomas Windar

Select the Universal Manipulator tool.

In the Tool Settings tab (You can find it under Window -> Panes (tabs) -> Tool Settings) you will find an option called "Use World Coordinates". You can swap it to what you need there, like Local Coordinates.

Does this answer your question?

tmtmtm_f56c8d4bda

Hi Thomas. That's what I was looking for! But alas, I could not find it - i will have to look more carfeully. Thanks.

tmtmtm_f56c8d4bda

Ah, Thomas, I looked into it, and this isn't what I mean. The universal selector isn't elevant during bone rigging setup - since when rigging you'd want the dials to translate according to the bones, not the object coordinates.

 

Surely there must be a way to sort this out, or is this a missing feature? Since scale coordinates work as expected, along the bone coordinate system...

Thomas Windar

Is that what you need? Well, there is no such feature like that for it.

At best you can state a Center and End point for a bone (so they are exactly in the point you wish them to be) and just align the bone afterwards to match its center/End points.

You can also just use the Bone Rotations in the Tool Settings to align the node based on its current position.