bones

laverdet_943f1f7da1

Hi!!! I have an object, imported from zbrush, and then positioned in C8pro... I want to use some bones to modify it, but once I apply bones, if I go later in the timeline, the object "folllow" the main bone, and move ... I suppose that an hot point has been in memory at the beginning, at the import, and I don't understand why the fact to attach some bones modify the place where the object stay!??? hope it's clear, as my poor English is complicated with 3d problems!!! thank you for help!

evilproducer

So you are saying that there is an unwanted animation? Or are you saying that you move the first bone and the model follows it?

laverdet_943f1f7da1

no... ok: I import an object, then move it in carrara to assign the "beginning" place... then, build an animation,... now, I want to attach bones to that object, but once done, when I move the cursor of the time line, the object seems to "come back" to an old hot poin place, maybe the initial one when I've imported it... without bones, it stays in place, but with bones, it rise, although I didn't touch any bones... mystery...

evilproducer

Sounds to me as if at some point you've created a keyframe. Is the imported object one that you created? Perhaps something was animated in the original file?

I would look for unwanted keyframes. Also, try changing the tweener for any keyframes you have added on purpose to use the linear tweener just eliminate the possibility that the bezier tweener is the issue.

Dartanbeck

You definitely want to create the bones and attach the skeleton before attempting any animations.

Here are some tips - as I cannot truly understand the issue:

Isometric Views - When applying bones, try to use the isometric views as much as possible. That means to use "Top", "Front", "Left", etc., views from the camera selection in the upper left of the work space. This will help to ensure that the bones get placed in the right spot. So for example, if you begin by placing your first bone (see placing your first bone below) using the "Front" view, before moving on to the next bone, go to the Left or Right and/or Top or Bottom views to check the placement - make sure that the first bone is exactly where you want it.

Placing your First Bone - After you place your first bone, and double-check to make sure it is exactly where you need it to be, now is the best time to scale that bone to be the size you want it to be. If the bones are too large, it can be difficult to add several bones near one another. To do this, simply select the bone and use the Scale tool.

Branching out Bones from the Main Point - Your first bone is often the main control bone. From this point on, you're often going to be making children of this bone. To do this, select the first bone, then activate the Bone tool, and click in an isometric view to place the next bone in the line. Check the other views, as above, to make sure it is in the proper position. With that same second bone selected, you may now add a third bone, which will become a child of the second. Alternatively, you could go back to the first bone and make, yet another, second bone, if you want it, too, to be a child only to the first bone.

An example of branching out - Let's look at a human figure from DAZ 3D, like M4. The first (main) bone on M4 is the Hip. From the hip there are several second bones: Abdomen (up), Right Thigh (down right), and Left Thigh (down left). From there, the abdomen bone has a child bone, Chest, from which there are three more children extending from it, Right Collar, Left Collar, and neck, while the thighs both continue their chains down through to their respective toes.
In this example, the Hip is the main starting point of everything. Move, rotate, or scale it and all other bones will follow suit - because they are the children, and the hip is the parent. Rotate the chest, and the children Collars and neck - and their children, will follow.

Orient Joint - Before you attach the skeleton to the object, Carrara has a feature that will allow the software to attempt to optimize the bones in the skeleton rig for you, by scaling and rotating each bone to how it thinks you intend them to follow the shape of the model. This is found in the upper menu: Animation > Orient Joint. There will be some choices to make in a dialog that pops up - as to whether or not you wish for Carrara to automatically scale the bones. Some models are best rigged if you use Orient Joint, others might not. Undo works, so go ahead and try it. Keep in mind that rigging can be a daunting task, so I prefer to often save at various stages, so I can always go back to a "Safe" saved version. After all, you can always go back and delete saves that you no longer need, once you've completed the task.

Attach Skeleton - With both the model and the skeleton selected, Animation > Attach Skeleton will attach the skeleton to the model. In doing so, it will attempt to make its best guess at assigning weight mapping to the mesh of the model according to where the bones lay compared to the mesh. At this point, you may select a bone and manipulate it, and the part of the mesh attached to that bone, along with any children, will move along with the manipulation. It is not uncommon to have some issues with the weight mapping at this stage. Again, this all depends upon what you're doing.

Weight Mapping - To adjust the weight mapping, select the model and either click the edit button in the upper left or enter the model room. In the right panel, at the top you'll see three tabs, the center one being the Animation tab. Select that. Now you'll see that the tool bar along the top only has one, possibly more, tools to use. You want the Weight Map tool in the middle of the tool bar.
Now use the panel on the right to select each bone in turn and, using the tool setting for add, subtract, size of the brush, strength of the brush, etc., paint the area of the mesh that you need to be affected by the selected bone. No part of the mesh should ever be assigned to nothing at all. So, in the example of M4, I would begin with the Hip bone, and paint the whole, entire model - paying less attention to anything far away that I know will become painted in another bone selection.

With this tool, yellow means 100% and it drops to orange with less authority. This is how you determine how sharply or softly the joints are in between the bones. Take care and be very patient with this tool and go through each and every bone.

This is truly a pro topic, so I've left a lot out - but I hope that it helps to answer your question as to what's going on - or not going on.

Dartanbeck

There is also quite a bit of discussion regarding modeling and rigging in
The Carrara Community Movie Project - This is a consolidation of CMP links
In one of those, pjotter has a really detailed post regarding optimizing weight maps, that is very much a worth-while read for anyone rigging an advanced shaped figure.