Track With Symmetry Modifier?

Zig Zag

Hi,

Is it possible to have one object track another one with symmetry? Which means when one object moves along the Y or Z axis the other object moves the same amount on those axes. But if the first object moves on the X axis the other one moves the same amount but in the other direction.

My intention is to animate Michael 6 using Target Helper Objects, and when I animate one side of him the other side's limbs follow along. Think for example M6 swimming breaststroke.

Thanks

Zig Zag

Woo hoo! For anyone also interested in this. I started to dig into Fenri's ERC controller and just succeeded in having a Target Helper Object track another one with symmetry :-)

This should substantially reduce the time needed create my animations :-D

Mosk the Scribe

Hey Zigzag -

Let us know how that worked. I have Fenric's ERC as well and would love to learn some creative uses for it.

Zig Zag

Hi Mosk,

I'll try to upload a video this evening detailing the steps involved. It is not that difficult...

TangoAlpha

PhilW covers ERC on his Advanced Carrara Techniques tutorials. It's one of the free demo videos you can watch here: http://www.infiniteskills.com/training/advanced_carrara_techniques.html

Zig Zag

For some reason, the screen capture software I use doesn't like Carrara. The left mouse actions don't work properly when recording a video. So I won't be able to upload a video explaining how to use the ERC as a tracker with symmetry today.

Do you guys know a good free screen capture software (under Windows 7) that works with Carrara and that I could use to record the steps involved, preferably with a microphone?

Thanks

Dartanbeck

I started with Cam Studio, Open Source.
Since then I picked up Corel's VideoStudioPro, and it has an excellent screen capture tool.
EDIT: Corel often has incredible price cut sales, if you keep an eye out ;)

Zig Zag

Hmm tried out Cam Studio yesterday but it didn't record with sound. I'll try again this evening...

Max Turlad

Hi,

or try this:

http://faststone.org/FSCaptureDetail.htm

Zig Zag

I tried again with Cam Studio but it kept crashing on my PC. Maybe I'll invest in Camstatsia next month, I have a side business where I could deduct it as professional expenses and where I could find a use for it.

Meanwhile, I'll give you the written instructions about how to use ERC to have the left arm mimic what the right arm does, but with symmetry:

* Load Michael 6 (or any other figure)
* Create an IK chain from the right collar to the right hand (optional, but helps for posing)
* Now for the left collar, left shoulder, left forearm, left hand, do the following:
** Add an ERC modifier via Edit->Fenric->Add ERC Modifier
** Open the Basic settings of the ERC modifier for each bone of the left arm, as we will only use the settings under that section
** Select the matching bone on the right arm as the controller
** Under Rotation, select the "Some" radio button
** Under Rotation, check the X, Y, Z and all Inv checkboxes.
** Check the "Use Basic Options" checkbox

Voilà! If you do this procedure for each one of the left arm bones, you'll see that the left arm tracks the right arm movements. Nice :-)

Dartanbeck

Sweet how easily the whole thing sets up, isn't it?

Zig Zag

Yes in basic mode :-)

It requires some studying to understand how all the different options work.

I located the manual on the CarraraCafe site, otherwise I would have never understood how this thing work. Odd that the manual isn't available on the DAZ site. And there are some annoying bugs where sometimes two radiobuttons get selected at once. And more video tutorials wouldn't hurt either.

To sum up IMHO it's a good plugin but it really needs more love from its developer in the form of bug fixes and documentation.