Yet Another Random TD Blog...

Correctional blendshapes

2012-02-04T03:44:00.001Z

I always had nightmares creating correctional blendshapes for rigs, having to work on the duplicated default mesh whilst watching the result mesh update (still trying to get over how I ever did this on a single 15" monitor...),

and then I found out how blendshape weights aren't limited from 0 to 1... and less than 0.

Now creating correctional blendshapes is far more enjoyable and takes up much less time, using a very simple setup.

Its actually very basic math (the way I see it anyways)

a + b = c

which therefore means...

b = c - a

so if "a" was a pose, "b" was its correction, and "c" the result of both. Now if you take the pose away from the result, your left with... the correction!

Corrective blendshape wise, you need to put your character into its pose you want to correct,

duplicate the mesh and create the correction ("b"),

duplicate the mesh orginal mesh off again (to get "a")

Then you duplicate the mesh with no deformations on it (as you would creating a normal blendshape), and assign the pose mesh and the corrective mesh ("a" + "b"). You finally want to turn on the correction blend weight to 1, and the pose blend weight to -1.

Your then left with just the correction, which you duplicate off and apply as a corrective blendshape target for you character.

This can be taken so much further to do live pose updates (above is all automated), but I wont go into that yet.

I hope this helps!

Mel/Python: Adding number padding

2012-01-31T22:26:00.000Z

I was looking through some older scripts and hit across my dirty attempt to add number padding, and I was surprised it actually worked.
I went about tidying it up and came up with this little number in mel.

global proc string rt_addPadding(int $num,int $padding){    int $lengthNum=size(string($num)) ;    string $padString;    if($lengthNum<$padding)        for($i=0;$i<($padding-$lengthNum);$i++)            $padString=$padString+"0" ;    return $padString+string($num) ;}

Which works ok, and then a couple of minutes searching I came across a post by Nathan which instead uses python (and is far better).
string $pad = `python ("'%0"+$padding+"d' % "+$num)`;
This then is used as this.global proc string rt_addPadding(int $num,int $padding){ return `python("'%0"+$padding+"d' % "+$num)` ;}
Useful :)

Bird Rig: Current WIP

2012-01-26T08:50:00.002Z

Geraint Wright asked if I could build a quick rig for a sparrow animation (model would be supplied).

This is where it is atm. (still alot of work to go into it) but alot of the base ideas are there.

The separation of the feathers was far simpler than I though actually, using a couple of curves and the very useful pointOnCurveInfo nodes (same nodes used in motionpaths but without the extra crap), then just a basic heirachy of dependencies of controllers and aim constraints (the feather bending is hideous but was only quickly thrown together, needs more thought behind it so expect that to change).
One issue (kinda solved, looking into better solutions) was due to the aim constraint, feathers wouldn't react accordingly to folding or certain positions, especially when pulled about a fair bit. Simple solution was to declare the aims up object as another controller (well, one for each segment).
Alot of automation (of course each with manual overrides and on/off blending) will be needed to get a smoother transition and to 'hide' any smaller issues, included with a smart system to fold the wing (some scripting required).
The animation it'll be used in you wont really see much of the detail but I'd rather put the work in now if any shots/ideas for closer cuts are thrown in...

References:
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=7&t=836433&highlight=wing
http://www.brendanbody.co.uk/flight_tutorial/index.html

ld_animateMe v1.0.0

2012-01-18T12:50:00.000Z

ld_animateMe now available! - Download
current version 1.2.1

Re-arrange, offset and reverse keyframes, plus other useful tools.

To Install:
Place the downloaded "ld_animateMe.mel" file into one of your Maya scripts directories, restart Maya and use the following code to load the UI.

ld_animateMe;

To Use:
animateMe is designed to be compact and clutter free, giving you the valuable screen space you need.
Besides minimizing the frames for each section, you can remove it from the tool under the "Display" menu by unchecking the related box. If you cant it back, simply re-check the box.
As well as clicking the relevant buttons, you can use the sliders to adjust the value you want and once released, it will run that tool, making it as quick as possible to use.

- User Info:
The user info is designed to quickly let you know some useful information regarding your scene that could potentially save hassle later, such as; Forgetting to turn auto-save on, or whether your animating to 24fps or 25. The information is reloaded on creation of the UI, or by clicking the refresh icon to the right.

- Adjust Animation - Shift mode:
To adjust animation, you must select keyframes from either the timeline, or the curve editor.
Entering a number will shift the selected keys by that value, whether positive (ie "2" = shift selected keys 2 frames later, or "-2" = shift selected keys 2 frames earlier.)
EDIT: 19/01/2012 - v 1.2.0
- If no range in timeline or keys selected in curve editor, animtaion will be adjusted from current point onwards.

- Adjust Animation - Offset mode:
To adjust animation, you must select keyframes from either the timeline, or the curve editor.
Offset animation works with your selection order. It will offset every selected object's selected keyframes by X amount of frames relative to the object selected before it.

1. object1, 2 and 3 each has a key on frame 1.
2. You select them in numerical order (object1 first and object3 last).
3. You use Offset mode with value of 2.
4. object2's key will now be at frame 3 and object3's key will now be at frame 5.

- Adjust Animation - Reverse mode:
You can reverse your animation by selecting the keys from either the timeline, or the curve editor.

- Scale Keys - Individual Pivots:
To use scale keys, you must have keys or curves selected in the curve editor.
For every key selected, it will scale it at the point between its previous and next value, as if it was blending the key between the keys either side. It works great for toning up or down, facial expressions, poses etc or even adding overshoot.

- Scale Keys - Pivot on 0:
To use scale keys, you must have keys or curves selected in the curve editor.
This mode will scale all the selected keys the same pivot of 0.

- Selection Sets:
Compact version of ld_selectMe (Link).
Maya's own selection sets are node based, meaning that creating a selection set for a character will only work in that file, which is and very limiting. This tool, instead, compiles a selection script and saves it to shelf to be used in any file, along with a toggle selection function by ctrl+clicking the shelf button.
"Name" is to enter the name of the button as it will appear on the shelf.
"clear" clears the list and name field.
"+" adds selected objects to list.
"-" removes selected list items from list (can also press "delete" key).
EDIT: 19/01/2012 - v 1.2.0
- Now creates selection shelf button that will attempt to use namespace of the FIRST currently selected object, if no objects currently select, default one is used.

News/Updates:
Version 1.5.0 is underway, automating the user info with extra information displayed, such as the last saved time for the current file, snapping tools (including component snapping), and a new Scale Keys mode, called "Falloff".
Thanks to quick feedback, I've been able to make some adjustments to the functionality of the tool.

Version 1.2.0:
19/01/2012 -
Edited functionality of Adjust Animation.
- If no range in timeline or keys selected in curve editor, animtaion will be adjusted from current point onwards.
Edited functionality of Selection Sets.
- Now creates selection shelf button that will attempt to use namespace of the FIRST currently selected object, if no objects currently select, default one is used.

Version 1.2.1:
19/01/2012 -
Fixed issue with Selection Sets update.
- If current selection's namespace didnt't contain an item in selection list, it would error, it will now instead just use default namespace.

Any suggestions, please let me know.

RigReel 2010-11

2012-01-15T16:07:00.001Z

Finally got round to uploading last years rig reel, still finishing off current one, will upload as soon as its done.

Reel Breakdown:

Sequence 1 (0026):
Rigged character ('Skitter') in Maya.
Setup nCloth dynamics for screen and node-based rig for timewarp in Maya.

Sequence 2 (0201):
Rigged character, 'Skitter', in Maya;
- Modular built, stretchable and dynamic tail rig based on hair dynamics with full Fk control system and blending, and control over main dynamic attributes to tweak shot specific and avoid intersection with props.

Sequence 3 (0937):
Rigged prop (table) in Maya;
- Fully driven by expressions to assist animators and provide continuity throughout show.

Sequence 4 (1034):
Rigged all characters and props in Maya;
- Including all facial rigs.
- All characters include controllable dynamic tails and ears, to assist animators and to assist retaining animation continuity.

Sequence 5 (1225):
Rigged character (Splish) in Maya;
- All rigs scaleable to assist animation.
- Stretchable Ik/Fk style spine rigs, identical setup and control for all characters to retain familiarity and allow interchangeable animation.

Sequence 6 (1655):
Rigged characters (Splish and Splash) and prop (controller), in Maya.

Sequence 7 (1855):
Rigged character (Splish) in Maya;
- All rigs with squash/stretch limbs, Ik/Fk blending, auto-flatten and foot-roll.

Sequence 8 (2173):
Assisted in animation in Maya, once rigging was complete.
Co-created Studio specific Animation and Pipeline Toolsets, including;
- Ik/Fk snapping,
- shared user creatable and customizable selection sets,
- animation key/curve cleaning, blending and re-timing,
- customizable animation trails,
- animation HUDs and automatic notification of shot completion and versioning.

Maya: Starting scripts on load - userSetup.mel

2012-01-13T12:56:00.000Z

To execute scripts, whether custom or local, each time you startup maya (in the studio ours check important prefs, timeUnits etc) is very simple.

All you need to do is create a mel script called "userSetup.mel" and place it into you maya/scripts folder in your documents (of course there are instances, depending on what the script is doing, if its messing with mainWindow states etc, you need to make sure they load first by using the "evalDeferred" command - at least that's what I've come to believe.

For example if you created a mel script like this;
string $win=`window` ;columnLayout -adj true ;text -label "Hello World" -align "center" ;setParent.. ;showWindow $win ;
called it "userSetup.mel" and placed it into maya/scripts/ folder, on starting maya, you can expect to see a window with the text "Hello World" pop up when maya starts.
Generally this idea is taken further (if in a studio) and either each user's environment vars point to a userSetup.mel on the network, or each have their own userSetup.mel on their local machine that points to a separate startup script on the network, which then its fairly simple for the user to modify their own startup, based on their preferences.

At some point, once I get some time, I do intend on revisiting and furthering most of my posts, taking the time to actually explain what's going on and why, and giving links the right documentation.

Comments welcome.

Maya: IK Handles not updating on undo

2012-01-13T12:40:00.000Z

I had this problem a few times (even back on maya 5), where you set up a rig, and you point constrain the ikHandle to a control object. It moves around fine, up until you undo. The handle just doesn't seem to behave properly, and scrubbing or moving it again will snap the ikHandle to where it should be.
So I thought I might give a workaround.
Directly constraining an IkHandle seems to have the issue of not updating when undoing.
It seems to be a clash with the way the ik handles and constraints evaluate, and something seems to get missed.
You can avoid this by parenting the ikHandle under the controller, or (if you want the outliner to be tidy) you can parent the ikHandle under a null or locator and constraint that instead.

EDIT:
Brad Clark (Co-founder - riggingdojo.com) provided more info and suggested a better solution.
You shouldn't have this problem if you turn off the snap setting on the ik handle. Then it won't be trying to get back to the end of the chain and should stick with the constraint target.There is a bug with Maya Undo though that if you are moving a node and hit the undo hot key before releasing the mouse button for the current transform, it will undo the previous transform, leaving the move you just did outside of the que, causing an offset that has to be fixed by hand.

Comments welcome.

Maya: Typical Sound/Audio issues during playback.

2012-01-13T08:08:00.001Z

Another frequent problem is not being able to hear audio during playback, but working fine whilst scrubbing.

Typically, the issue could be down to your playback settings.
Just open your maya preferences, and under "Time Slider", check your "Playback Speed" is at Real-time. If its at anything else you wont hear the audio during playback.

Maya: Window display issues - "...Panel is torn off."

2012-01-13T08:01:00.000Z

This seems to be a frequent problem, in which some people result in doing a complete reinstall!.

Problem:
Cant show my graph editor/outliner/etc window, keeps telling me "... Panel is torn off."

What this typically means is that somewhere along the line the window has been placed off-screen, usually happens when users either switch monitors around or remove a monitor.
A few very simple fixes, and any one of them should solve your problem.

1. You can reset your maya's window preferences simply by deleting the "windowPrefs.mel" located in your maya prefs folder ("USER\My Documents\maya\2011-x64\prefs\") whilst maya is CLOSED. Dont worry, once opening maya again, it will automatically create the "windowPrefs.mel" file again, all windows should now load at their default position.
2. You can edit the "windowPrefs.mel" file, to tell maya where to place the windows, just open it in a text editor (notepad usually does the trick, and again whilst maya is closed), and for each window you'll see a "-topLeftCorner" flag with 2 numbers after it. Change them to something like 10 10, save the mel file and load maya.
3. If you only have 1 rogue window you can use mel to reposition the window (you will of course need to know the name of the window, found when trying to load the window - as long as you have "Echo all commands" ticked on in the script editor)
window -e -tlc 10 10 "graphEditor1Window" ;
Now depending on the window your trying to reposition, the naming convention might differ from ending in "Window" or "Panel#Window" ("#" is the number id of the window, typically its 1).
Again, any questions etc, please feel free to comment.

Python: Create a file listing a folders contents

2012-01-12T23:21:00.000Z

Our co-ord was just trying to get some info together so I come up with this simple little script to print the contents of a specified folder into a dated file.
I'm aware there are better methods of writing the file (using the list and write each item individually in loop etc), but it was short and does the job.

To get the date, I simply used the datetime module and retrieved today's date (as stipulated on local machine), then converted it to a familiar format.
For writing the file, I simply joined a sorted list of files found into a string separated by a newline, opened a writeable doc, deposited the data and closed it to allow access.

import osimport datetimedef ld_listFiles(path,resultPath):    fileString='\n'.join(sorted(os.listdir(path)))    d=datetime.date.today()    date=d.isoformat()    filePath=resultPath+'filesListResults_'+date+'.txt'    thefile=open(filePath,'w')    thefile.write(fileString)    thefile.close()    return fileString#  ld_listFiles('C:/Users/Lee/Desktop/Documents/','C:/Users/Lee/Desktop/')

...and of course this can then be furthered for error checking (making sure paths exist, folders contain files etc), nativePath conversion (not sure of correct terminology), specify file extensions/types, folder contents, file sizes, modification date etc. This is just a very simple example (and perhaps not a great one, but it works).
In fact I think I might spend some time in creating a decent version.
Any tips, suggestions etc, are more than welcome!

Mel: Parenting shape nodes to new parents (ie polyMesh to Joint)

2012-01-10T13:10:00.002Z

Was asked about combining a polySphere/nurbsSphere to a joint, so selecting the sphere still selects the joint.

Its fairly simple actually, its the same way as you would combine two nurbs curves under one transform node (to get more complex/detailed control objects).

string $parent="joint1";string $shape="pSphereShape1";parent -add -shape $shape $parent;
As simple as!

Mel/Python: Splitting a string by a string (tokenize vs .split)

2012-01-07T21:47:00.000Z

I know its only a small post and I don't go into detail, more of an outline... it really did bug me was how there are no expressions for tokenize.
I spent a bit of time trying to split a string (ie "L_clavicle_bind_jnt") by with the string "_bind_".
What I found with using tokenize was that it will split the string by the characters instead of the entire string, which to me, was a pain in the backside as I wanted {"L_clavicle","jnt"} but what i'd get with tokenize was {"L,"clav","cle","j","t"}. Now this wouldn't do, and I could find any out of the box way of doing this (I wanted to replace "_bind_" with "_IK_", etc to search), so I ended up turning to python (yet again).
It couldn't be simplier.
"L_clavicle_bind_jnt".split("_bind_")
Which translated as -
python("'"+$child+"'.split('_"+$namespace+"_')") ;
Thinking about it now, im sure there is a command to do this in mel, I just cant find it...

Using Python list comprehension

2012-01-05T11:01:00.002Z

Just a quick example of how I use list comprehension to search for matching entries in two lists (of course there's x amount of ways to do this, and results will vary depending on usage).

# two lists with some matching entriesa=['jon','mary','frank']b=['lewis','frank','jon','clive','betty','toni','jim']#typical method using for loop with if/in statementresults=[]for i in a:    if i in b:        results.append(i)print results# with list comprehensionresults=[x for x in a if x in b]print results

Adding notes to nodes in Maya through mel

2012-01-05T09:23:00.000Z

Its fairly straightforward to add notes to a node in Maya (under Attribute Editor, add text to under Notes section), but through mel there's one more step you need to go through before you can.

Simply put, the node needs a "notes" (or s/n "nts") attribute first, then its plain sailing (manually writing a note creates the attr, which then stores the string - or so im assuming, looks like that's handled through a scriptJob)

So to add a note to a node, first check whether it already has an attribute called "notes", create one if not, then write something.

string $node[]=`polyCube` ;if(!`attributeQuery -node $node[0] -ex "notes"`)    addAttr -ln "notes" -sn "nts" -dt "string" $node[0] ;setAttr -type "string" ($node[0]+".notes") "This node now has a Note. You can store various bits of information here." ;

(The note on this script example is on the transform node of the polyCube object ($node[0]) as $node[1] would be the shape object)

Iconicles VFX Showreel

2012-01-04T18:05:00.000Z

My work includes;
All Character/Prop Rigs, as well as - Animation, Dynamics, Animation Tools and Pipeline Development/Tools.

Still sorting current showreel, will be up asap.

Selecting animated objects

2012-01-04T10:54:00.000Z

Quick little script for selecting any (dag) objects with animation on.

string $allObjects[]=`ls` ;select -cl;for($i=0;$i<`size($allObjects)`;$i++)    if(`keyframe -q -keyframeCount $allObjects[$i]` != 0)        select -tgl $allObjects[$i] ;

I was already aware that mel doesn't need curly brackets "{}" following if statements or for loops (will only execute the next line of code), it seems that it doesn't need them even if your incorporating another statement or loop :) such as the above code shows...

Toggle lighting script

2012-01-03T17:36:00.000Z

simple script to toggle the lighting between "default" and "use all lighting" on the current panel.

string $currentPanel=`getPanel -withFocus` ;string $mode="default" ;if(`getPanel -to $currentPanel`=="modelPanel")    if(`modelEditor -q -dl $currentPanel`=="default")        $mode="all" ;modelEditor -edit -dl $mode $currentPanel ;

Maya 2012: Changing channelBox decimal places (precision)

2011-12-12T12:33:00.001Z

Most maya users know that you can use more decimal places then Maya displays by default.
For example, it is possible to translate an object by 1.11111 although maya will display "1.111".
When you use getAttr, it will return the correct values, but to display in the channel box, very simply under Edit in the channelBox go settings -> Change Precision...
Simple as, decimal places range from 1 to 15.

Outlook 2010 - Filter e-mails between specific dates

2011-12-09T11:10:00.001Z

Sounds to be much simpler than it should be (tbh only really searched for a few minutes), but...
Say you want to filter your emails between dates?
Atm, a specific date was easy enough, but between dates seemed more hassle and the only way I could see was to create a new search filter.
Under "Search" tab, search Tools -> Advanced Find, then "Advanced" tab - and under Define more criteria dropdown select "Date/Time Fields" -> "Received", Condition to "Between", and Value to "<start Date> and <end Date>" then under "Browse", make sure you check "Include Subfolders", then "Find Now".
It was a pain in the ass, and would love to hear a simpler way of doing it...

Getting the RSS feed from your blogspot blog?

2011-11-27T20:52:00.001Z

Very simply, just add "/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss" to the end of your blog address.eg http://ldunham.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

python dictionaries

2011-11-27T19:47:00.001Z

Python dictionaries are really, really damn useful in a pipeline. As you store information in a "key: value" type structure, like storing information on a character they repeatedly needs to be called throughout the pipeline, like its rig file path or characterId number.eg "chaInfo={'johnnyId':564,'davidId':565}", so when you call "character['johnnyId']", "564" is returned.Which can then be taken much further..."chaInfo={'johnny':{'num':'cha01','id':546,'file':{'mesh':'johnny_mesh_master.ma','rig':'johnny_rig_master.ma'}}}", so to get the right information you step through them, so for the rig file path you'd call "chaInfo['johnny']['path']['rig']", or the id number "chaInfo['johnny']['id']".So you could have all the information you need regarding an entity or object within a single file, which is very easily called as and when you need it.

Automating Hotkeys

2011-11-27T18:00:00.001Z

Some people have asked about automating the creation of hotkeys as it can be abit fiddly for them to do it manually. The problem is, like scripting most things, you really need to understand what is actually going on and why.For example, to automate the creating a hotkey to print what is currently selected.The script is simply "print (`ls -sl`);"First of all we need to create a runTimeCommand, which ties the entire script needed to execute under a single runTimeCommand, just like most of maya's own scripts do.runTimeCommand -annotation "Prints whatever is currently selected" -category "User" -commandLanguage "mel" -command ("print (`ls -sl`);") printSelection;This sets up everything we need to display the command in the hotkeyEditor, without it, you can still assign a command to a hotkey but when your try to find it in the hotkey editor, maya will have no knowledge of it.
Now we need to create a nameCommand which ties the a script to execute under a single string command, just like most of maya's own scripts do.nameCommand -annotation "printSelectionNameCommand" -sourceType "mel" -command ("printSelection") printSelectionNameCommand;Finally we assign a key which runs this command withhotkey -keyShortcut "~" -name ("printSelectionNameCommand");Now that does seem like alot of work, but it sets up everything you need and with abit of wotk, most of it could be automated, but the things you would need to check and the info you need to enter, theres pretty much no point creating an alternative version of the hotkeyEditor as it requires the same information.What you could do, however, is to create perhaps hotkey presets, so instead of having to take 3 scripts as you move to a different station (3 being the pref's scripts "userHotkeys.mel", "userNamedCommands.mel" and "userRunTimeCommands.mel"), you could have them those hotkeys into a single custom script which saves its setup as a preset in its own script file.This could be furthered by doing the same with shelves, window prefs etc, all executed from one script rather than having to transfer the entire prefs folder. Its fairly simple, definitely not the best way of going about it, but its certainly possible.

switch cases' and variables

2011-11-27T17:40:00.001Z

Whilst writing up a switch statement, it appeared that you cant use variables (arrays in this case) as a case statement.

for exampleint $mode=0 ;string $currentNum="One" ;string $array[]={"One","Two","Three"} ;if($mode==1) $array={"Three","Two","One"} ;switch($currentNum){ case $array[0]: print ("Next in array is "+$array[1]) ; break ; case $array[1]: print ("Next in array is "+$array[2]) ; break ; case $array[2]: print ("Next in array is "+$array[0]) ; break ;}However swapping the case $array[...] with a value like so...int $mode=0 ;string $currentNum="One" ;string $array[]={"One","Two","Three"} ;if($mode==1) $array={"Three","Two","One"} ;switch($currentNum){ case "One": print ("Next in array is "+$array[1]) ; break ; case "Two": print ("Next in array is "+$array[2]) ; break ; case "Three": print ("Next in array is "+$array[0]) ; break ;}Works just fine, which ended me using the old 'else if' instead. I haven't found anything that seems to mention this, and I know there are probably better ways anyway but it did stump me for a while.

Creating 'custom' Hotkeys

2011-11-27T12:09:00.001Z

Something not everyone seems to be sure about, its fairly simple really.

1. To assign a hotkey, go to the hotkey editor (Window -> Settings/Preferences -> Hotkey Editor).2. On the left field, you can select which category you would like to create the hotkey under, I recommend "user" as so you can organise custom hotkeys.3. In the lower right of the window hit “New”, give the command a name and a description.4. Finally you need to put the command you want to run in the "Command" field, taking into account whether it is mel or python (eg print "Hello World!\n" ; )5. Hit “Accept” and it will appear in your hotkey list.6. Select the newly created Hotkey and on the right where under “Assign New Hotkey”, enter the Hotkey combination you want to use and hit “Query” check whether it is currently already assigned.7. If its not and your happy to continue hit "Assign".

Done.

Toggling Camera views

2011-11-27T12:03:00.001Z

Thought i'd start posting up some of the more useful answers i've given on forums.Start off with toggling through camera views, (i believe already possible in 2012 with [ and ] hotkeys) but this script would allow you to enter in the cameras or the order you want to toggle them in, obviously being able to cycle backwards also. Simply just use this script in a hotkey as is to cycle forwards and change the first line from $mode = 0 to $mode = 1

int $mode = 0 ;string $panel = `getPanel -wf` ;string $cam = `modelPanel -q -cam $panel` ;string $view = "persp" ;string $order[] = {"persp","front","side","top"} ;if($mode == 1)    $order = {"top","side","front","persp"} ;if($cam == $order[0])    $view = $order[1] ;else if($cam == $order[1])    $view = $order[2] ;else if($cam == $order[2])    $view = $order[3] ;else if($cam == $order[3])    $view = $order[0] ;lookThroughModelPanel $view $panel ;

HTML and CSS

2011-11-26T01:05:00.001Z

As i was re-designing this blog, checking out examples etc, I noticed a few things i didnt seem to be able to do, like bordering specific code etc (virtually no HTML knowledge btw), so a quick look and i created a nice template using <code> and <breakquote> etc, but there seemed to be alot of code needed for what I wanted and it wasnt very practical. Thats when I found CSS.
So far its been absolutely lovely, very simple, quick and useful (so far anyways) so I took the html template and remade it into css, with a few differences, add tied to the <code> class, which now allows me to use white space, padd, fill etc very quickly, so I thought i'd share it as I had to take pieces from here and there (mainly the css documentation actually).
(I only bothered commenting on the not 100% bleedin' obvious)

.post code{width:613px;margin: 10px 0px 10px 0px !important;background-color: #444444;font:13px arial,sans-serif;line-height:20px; /*spacing between lines*/color: #df7401;white-space:pre-wrap;/*preserve white space but keep word wrapping*/border:solid 1px #777777 !important;border-collapse:separate;padding: 8px !important; /*inside margins of border and text*/float: left; /*objects orientation (not text, but whole object)*/}

A proper post...?

2011-11-25T00:30:00.001Z

I've been messing more and more with code recently, mainly python in effort to understand what im doing and how I could do it better.
Well it started off like that anyways, ended up creating spam mailers to some of the guys at work when setting up email notification on tool issues and task completion etc.
I decided this blog needed a paintover and some more interesting posting... so i gave it a paintover, still waiting on the posts :(

Had to delge deeper into shotgun's api (well not that deep...) and come out with a much better sense in using dictionaries and error checking, but only after wanting to deck my monitor and then having the 'oh... ok' moment.

I have been meaning to put an up-to-date(ish) showreel together, and now I've finally got the motivation to get it (well, 'them' really) sorted and sent off before the end of this year, which I will get done alongside the development and release of the animation toolset.

and now... a man chasing his dog.

ld_selectMe

2011-11-22T21:20:00.000Z

a useful tool for building script based selection sets (mayas own are node based, so will only work in the scene you build them in). Selection Sets build with this also allows toggling of selection with ctrl+LMB.
Download it here free:
http://www.creativecrash.com/maya/downloads/scripts-plugins/c/ld_selectme-selection-sets

Currently building a customisable animation toolset (ld_animateMe) which will have a range of useful tools that'll save people time (possibly include links to external tools and ablity to add your own).

Its gotta be simple, quick, customisable and FREE!

simple offset script

2011-11-01T10:54:00.002Z

very simple but useful offset script which will offset every selected objects SELECTED keyframes (selected in the timeslider) by 1 (can be adjusted by changing $offset var)

int $offset=1 ;string $mySel[]=`ls -sl` ;float $range[]=`timeControl -q -rangeArray $gPlayBackSlider` ;for($i=0;$i<size($mySel);$i++)    keyframe -edit -relative -time ($range[0]+":"+$range[1]) -timeChange ($i*$offset) $mySel[$i] ;

PyQt4 for maya 2012 x64 (compiled against qt 4.7.1)

2011-10-21T09:55:00.000+01:00

heres PyQt4 for maya 2012 x64, also a x86 version in the comments section

http://nathanhorne.com/?p=322

handy script

2011-09-19T11:51:00.000+01:00

just found this script whilst looking for a way to write maya's scriptEditor output to a file (scene kept crashing, couldn't make out errors etc)

//turn writeHistory on and specify fileNamescriptEditorInfo -wh 1 -historyFilename "C:/Users/lee.dunham/Desktop/myScriptEditorLog.txt";//turn writeHistory offscriptEditorInfo -wh 0;

its damn useful, cant believe i've never used this before! (as it writes history as its going)

alembic

2011-08-23T08:36:00.000+01:00

my god... Alembic.mp4

good on houdini, would love autodesk to now use the alembic research, not just support, but proper integration, i really dont think they can afford not to...

just look at those speeds!!!

http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2005&Itemid=66

Updating...

2011-08-18T20:19:00.000+01:00

phew... far too much has happened to post it all but...

Few weeks into new job at Red Wire Media, down Cardiff Bay and I haven't stopped :)

Started with a compact animation toolset, then onto rigging the main characters (with some lovely work on the faces, even if i do say so myself), now onto setting up the maya and deadline to shotgun api, which is surprisingly easy actually. Just abit more practice on a dummy project and should be up and running soon.

Got so many scripts to upload at some point, so started with a modified version of David Lightbown's 2006 "dlUtils_Profiler.mel" (www.davidlightbown.com) which allows you to compare the difference in speed between two mel scripts (example used, compares difference in speed between multiplication and division in maya - multiplication is about 30% faster from what I remember - so instead of using a /2, use * .5 instead! - added bonus, use to avoid / by 0 errors!)
link:
http://www.creativecrash.com/maya/downloads/scripts-plugins/utility-external/c/mel-python-speed-profiler

I use it fairly often, from comparing simple procs to deciding the best/quickest file management solution, and even started to use it to compare the difference in speed between connected multiple nodes, constraints and expressions (I do also use the fps, but it can vary too much).

Nearly over...

2011-07-10T15:54:00.000+01:00

Here it comes... about to start the final week on Iconicles, my first contract for Dinamo.

I could never have guessed how rewarding an experience it would be, being in the industry. Also, how lucky we were, getting a year-long contract to (pretty much) build from the ground up a TV show for the BBC straight out of uni.

What I've learnt in the last 12 months has been staggering, and as sad as I am to be leaving, I'm also excited to put everything I've learnt back to start something from scratch again.

Main job will be rigging the characters, props etc then onto animating again but initially I'm guessing I'll be writing the pipeline and animation tools alongside Milan, which will be cool, its pretty rewarding actually, and I'm hoping to start posting up more of my findings as I go along this time, which tbh will probably just be during the first couple of months.

recorder

2011-03-27T16:26:00.000+01:00

matt simpkins showed me a neat little node in maya on friday, and asked for an interface for it.

it turned out pretty awesome, when you set it up and start recording, any movements you make on the objects, on almost all attributes (even most custom ones) get recorded in real-time, and gives you an almost mo-cap-like set of keys on those attributes.

theres a few issues with re-recording or keyed object, but hopefully when i get some time, i'll tear into the command scripts and see what i can do.

time permitted, i think i could get a very simple rig set up, animatable with this command, being able to literately animate in real-time :)
that's a looong way off yet, and probably not even possible (otherwise some bright git would've done it by now) but in the mean time, this has probably got the potential to be as useful as the greasePencil tool, but in 3d.

mel. using the "eval" command

2011-03-27T15:55:00.000+01:00

just quick note:
using mels "source" command can be a pain in the backside when your trying to combine it with "internalVar" or something.
I noticed this before in scripts but didnt bother trying myself so here goes:

//get user script directory.string $SCRIPTDir=(`internalVar -usd`+"SCRIPT/") ;//create string with source command and script pathstring $sourceSCRIPT=("source "+"\"" +$SCRIPTDir +"scripts/SCRIPT.mel"+"\"") ;//eval stringeval $sourceSCRIPT ;//run sourced scriptSCRIPT ;

shoddy shelves

2011-02-16T22:05:00.000Z

just thought of something, been using maya2011 64bit at work and seem to have an issue with shelf commands defaulting to "mel" even if saved as "python".

instead of thinking about it, i just put my python scripts into a mel wrapper, rather than;
closing maya, and editing the shelf pref flag to -sourceType "python".

duh.

updates...

2011-01-26T22:33:00.000Z

been a while, thought I'd update. (I know its all boring text...)

locOnJoints scripts is up and running, can be found on http://www.creativecrash.com/maya/downloads/scripts-plugins/character/c/ld_loconjoints

been very, very busy lately, alot of updating and improving rigs and scripts. let alone a couple of projects for myself and a couple of other projects on the go.

One of which, is the Animal Wall project, and I spent a few hours filming in Cardiff Centre the other night, was well worth the cold for the results :)
Should start putting some more interesting bits up here...

RE: mel. Place loc on Joint

2010-10-25T09:58:00.001+01:00

Update to previous post now ive had chance to test script, so couple of minor changes.

//script to place a locator at position of every joint in scene (if nothings selected) or at the position of every joint in heirachy underneath selection and rename to match joint.

string $mySel[]=`ls -sl` ;string $joints[]=`ls -type joint` ;if(size($mySel)==0)   for($i=0;$i<(size($joints));$i++)   {      float $jntPos[] = `xform -q -ws -piv ($joints[$i])` ;      string $loc[] = `spaceLocator -p $jntPos[0] $jntPos[1] $jntPos[2] -n (($joints[$i])+"_loc")` ;      for($b =0; $b<(size($loc)); $b++)      {          select ($loc[$b]) ;          CenterPivot ;      }   }}if(size($mySel)>=1){   select -hi ;   string $selJoints[] = `ls -sl` ;   for($a=0;$a<(size($selJoints));$a++)   {      float $selJntPos[] = `xform -q -ws -piv ($selJoints[$a])` ;      string $loc[] = `spaceLocator -p $selJntPos[0] $selJntPos[1] $selJntPos[2] -n (($selJoints[$a])+"_loc")` ;      for ($b =0;$b<(size($loc));$b++)      {         select ($loc[$b]) ;         CenterPivot ;      }   }}

mel. Place loc on joint

2010-10-24T01:51:00.000+01:00

just thinking bout speeding up my productivity led me to just write this little script to place and rename a locator at the position of every joint in the scene (if nothing is selected) or just on the current heirachy of the selection. (i havent even tested this as im on the laptop with no maya :( ) all just from top of me head :)

its not a global proc as its meant to be assigned to a shelf button, but may include into rigging toolset currently WIP (as is an animation toolset and modelling toolset - latter already has a beta version i use at work often already, so the v01 release wont be too long and will be found on here, my website - once finished - and creativeCrash.com)

//script to place a locator at position of every joint in scene (if nothings selected) or at the position of every joint in heirachy underneath selection and rename to match joint.string $mySel[] = `ls -sl' ;string $joints[] = `ls -type joint` ;if (size($mySel) == 0){   for ($i =0; $i<(size($joints)); $i++)   {      string $jointPos[] = `xform -q -ws -piv ($joints[$i])` ;      string $loc = `spaceLocator -p $jointPos[0] jointPos[1] jointPos[2] (($joints[$i])+"_loc")` ;      //rename (($joints[$i])+"_loc") $loc ;   }}if (size($mySel) >= 1){   select -hi ;   string $selJoints[] = `ls -sl` ;   for ($a =0; $a<(size($selJoints)); $a++)   {      string $selJointPos[] = `xform -q -ws -piv ($selJoints[$a])` ;      string $loc = `spaceLocator -p $selJointPos[0] selJointPos[1] selJointPos[2] (($selJoints[$a])+"_loc")` ;      //rename (($selJoints[$a])+"_loc") $loc ;   }}

Update

2010-10-24T00:45:00.000+01:00

so, besides some heavy rigging and rigging tests (including some awesome FK tails made from IK splines switching to scalable and controllable auto-tails), ive started to learn python (to later move on to pymel) and i still cant click with it yet... nether the less, i've also still been helping few people out with mel.

managed to pull off my first scriptJob too, after few minutes reading up on it and bout 20 mins playing with tests. its fairly simple and really powerful, just dont want to get too caught up in using them too much.

it was as simple as creating a global proc to update two opposite curves with position and apply to the others limit (to use them as a min and max) then with one scriptJob line to run on a new selection, it worked perfectly, including setting it into the startup expressions with the relevant file (the only problem was cancelling the bugger when its not needed automatically as the "if (objExists ("object") ==1)" loop didnt seem to work :( still though its something i think i'll implement to the rigs with scripts to run on selecting certain controllers etc.

its all good fun...

Mel and QT

2010-09-26T01:26:00.000+01:00

I've kept on scripting on the side of rigging and pretty happy with progress, thought i'd share a couple of useful tips...

as most know, Maya 2011 uses QT for its interface now and makes things far, far easier and quicker to create UI's for it, however full use some QT functions are a little difficult to command with mel. However the benefits far outway the cons as you replace a 500 line code with as little as 5 lines and have full docking capabilities and a good 2hour scripting slog for the UI with 5 minutes in QT Designer...

first things first, plan ahead -
the hardest bit i find is not the scripting at all, but knowing what i need to "connect" etc to get the desired effect/control, so as Milan pointed out, make a flow chart so you can see what needs to drive what and so you avoid cycles.

be experimental -
most of the progress i've made with QT was just playing around.

QT Designer is more flexible than you might think... for example to assign a global proc to run on a button click, you add a new dynamic attribute with a "-c" (or "-command") and then put in the proc name. Simple. but you can take this further, say with a list view, if you want to add a double click command you add a "-dcc" and then the proc name, or if you want to cut down your script size and don't particularly having an entire global proc for one line , write the script in the command line in QT instead, as once the button's pressed in Maya it runs whatever is in the cmd line anyway.

if your not sure how to perform and action with mel, try turning on "Echo All Cmds" and watch how maya performs the task.

use maya help!! (and check the flags for commands) it really is there for a reason :)

one final note, im annoyed atm with a major bug with maya 2011 and even traces of it in 2010 - where gimbal has seemed to become default with no recovery. this has appeared to have come on in the last week or so in various companies and were still waiting to hear from autodesk about this.

been a while

2010-08-08T22:40:00.000+01:00

found a spare few seconds to update...

now working as Maya rigger (and probs animator) at Dinamo Productions (Grandpa in my pocket :) ) and it is awesome.

learnt ahellover lot in last few weeks, brains on overdrive so will have to post up some personal projects and ew hints and tips to rigging laters on :)

that is all.

mel auto scripts

2010-07-09T13:11:00.000+01:00

i've been developing a couple of mel scripts that will be developed further for practical use.

the first was a ballOverlap script which was developed to be applied to a tail or pendulum etc, but after somethought, it could be developed as a cheaper alternative to Ncloth for specific tasks, such as a hanging sleeve or the tails on a characters tux.

this second script was the start of my auto rig script. It rigs a flexable and stretchy spine that will bend in FK and translate in IK, with an advanced twist too.

After the development of this flexable, almost toony, rig, i've sketched and researched into creating a hyper-realistic bipedal character rig and a completely cartoony character rig (which will use a more developed version of the ribbon spine technique).

I am hoping to move onto quadropedal rigs after this and then developing auto rigging scripts that are strong and flexable enough for the user to decide how many arms, legs, heads and torsos they would want to be setup.

Showreel

2010-06-04T10:53:00.001+01:00

awesome short...

2010-05-28T14:27:00.000+01:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blH7XDfgdHg

cars... (cont...)

2010-05-26T10:04:00.000+01:00

heres couple of renders of the finished car for Ken Ghann's film...

comments welcome.

cars...

2010-05-26T04:55:00.001+01:00

finished (questionable) my film, will be up soon, been helping few people out and collaborating still, got little bit behind so went up a notch - already had base model and designs but managed to finish the modelling, texture, rig and quick anim test for the car.

will post renders once happy.

Useful Texture sites

2010-05-10T13:15:00.000+01:00

came across some nice texture sites, think they all free etc.

http://designbump.com/
http://slodive.com/design/50-sites-for-discovering-free-textures/
http://www.grungetextures.com/
http://www.royaltyfreetextures.com/
http://www.textureking.com/
http://www.texturise.com/
http://www.texturespot.com/
http://patternwall.com/
http://www.3d-resources.com/3d_textures.php

Granny

2010-05-08T02:25:00.000+01:00

heres the quick shot of the granny flash shot, was initially a test to get the cloth to deform without an influence before its grasped then being able to key the blend simply.

More Ncloth...

2010-05-06T16:40:00.001+01:00

had a go trying to get paper falling with a bit of wind...

Rig Reel Snippet

2010-05-06T15:48:00.002+01:00

heres a quick look at the main rigging i've done for Short Film. Includes Face Rigging and Ncloth setup.

Picking Up Object Tutorial: Shortened version

2010-05-02T19:07:00.002+01:00

ok, heres the shortened version for previous post...

Automated script for tutorial here. Download

1. create 3 locators, one for hand, object then prone.
2. add a 'Grasp' attribute for hand locator, float, scalar, min 0, max 10.
3. shift-select hand, prone then object locators in that order add a default Point and Orient constraint.
4. with driven keys, set 'Grasp' as 0 (Driver), and object_pointConstraint, Hand W0 and Prone W1 (Driven) with Hand W0 value at 0 and Prone W1 with 1 and add key, same for oreintConstraint, then reverse with 'Grasp' at 10 (so pointConstraint - Hand W0 is now 1 and Prone W1 is now 0 and same again for orientConstraint).
5. position and Parent Hand locator to characters hand and prone to wherever and then group and parent the object picked up to the object locator.

Simple Picking Up and Object in Maya Tutorial

2010-05-02T00:40:00.000+01:00

Real Easy Pick-up-Object Tutorial for Maya EDIT: Please see following post for shorter version

http://ldunham.blogspot.com/2010/05/shortened-version.html

This tutorial is now scripted.
Get the script here - Download

Simple Tutorial i've picked up to solve alot of problems with getting a character to pick up an object and to put it down again or throwing etc. Its almost exactly the same as the original found at www.jonathanrnelson.com

1. Create 3 locators equally spaced apart and name (left to right);

Hand

Object

Prone

The locator name siginifies what role the locator will have.

2. Add a new attribute to the 'Hand' locator (select the 'Hand' Locator, in the channel panel click 'Edit' - 'Add Attribute')

Name the new attribute 'Grasp' and select 'Float' and 'Scalar', 'minimum' as 0, 'maximum' as 10, and leave 'default' blank (you actually have two options for creating the 'Grasp', this one creates a blended attribute so you can blend the object between the hand and prone position which is recommended but if you want an 'Off' and 'On' function, instead of selecting 'Float' choose 'Boolean' and no need to enter maximum or minimum values).

(or if you want to be a smart-arse about it select 'Enum', click on 'Green' under 'Enum Names' and rename 'Prone' and rename 'Blue' to 'Hand').

Then click ok.

3. You want the object to be receive its 'position and rotational information from the two other locators by way of constraints', basically shift-select 'Hand', 'Prone' and then 'Object' in that order. The press F2 to select the Animation Toolset and under 'Constrain' click 'Point' - 'Options' - 'Edit' - 'Reset Settings' then 'Add' then immediately do the same for 'Orient'.

Both constraints from both 'Hand' and 'Prone' Locators are fully influencing the 'Object' locator now, well need to be able to control the influence with the 'Grasp' attribute we made using 'Driven Keys'.

4. Select 'Hand' locator and press F2 again (need to be on the Animation Toolset) and select 'Animate', 'Set Driven Key', 'Set'. A new window pops up, and with the 'Hand' locator still selected click 'Load Driver'. 'Hand' then appears in the top section along with its attributes, we'll use this to blend between the locators, so then open the 'Outliner' under 'Window' and expand the 'Object' locator and select both the 'Point' and 'Orient' constraints that appear.

Then with them both selected on the 'Set Driven Key' window click 'Load Driven'. So the 'Hand' locator and its attributes should be in the top section (Driver) and the 'Point Constraint' and 'Orient Constraint' should be in the bottom (Driven). You need to decide the value structure will be for the 'Grasp' Attribute, but ideally when 'Grasp' = 0 the object will not be held and will be controlled by the 'Prone' locator and when its 10 it will be controlled by the 'Hand' locator.

Click on the 'Grasp' Attribute in the 'Set Driven Key' Window and make sure that the attribute is 0 (or 'Off' or 'Prone').

Then select the 'Object_pointConstraint1' and then select both 'Hand W0' and 'Prone W1'.

Click on the 'Object_pointConstraint1' to select the object and in the channel editor on the right change the values of 'Hand W0' to 0 and 'Prone W1' to 1.

In the 'Set Driven Key' window, click 'Key'.

Repeat for 'Object_orientConstraint1'.

Dont close the Driven key window.

5. We've told 'Object' locator to be controlled and to be in the place of the 'Prone' locator now, and so we need to do the same for the 'Hand' locator.

So, select the 'Hand' locator and set 'Grasp' to 10 and in the 'Set Driven Key Window' select 'Object_pointConstraint1' again and then 'Hand W0' and 'Prone W1' and in channel editor change values of 'Hand W0' to 1 and 'Prone W1' to 0.

Click 'Key' and repeat for 'Object_orientConstraint1' again.

If everything went as it should then when you scroll the value of the 'Grasp' attribute on the 'Hand' locator, you should see the 'Object' locator blend between the two.

6. You can now put this into your scene to use to pick up a cup or throw a ball. Just parent the 'Hand' locator to you characters hand or whatever, parent the 'Prone' locator to wherever you wan the object to start from and then on the object you want to pick up/etc, select it, press 'Ctrl' + 'g' to group and parent that group to the 'Object' locator (we group it because parenting causes the object to inherit its parents vales, which can cause problems so easier to avoid that by parenting a group instead).

Personally, when animating a character, instead of animating the locator 'Grasp' attribute which involves finding and selecting the locator, its easier to select my characters hand controller, add a new attribute called 'Grasp' (and has exactly the same values as the original 'Grasp' attribute) and setting driven keys for the new 'Grasp' attribute on the characters controller to control the 'Grasp' attribute on the locator.

Hope this helps, I know its a bit lengthy and if you know what your doing it could be cut down to a couple of sentences but its supposed to be in-depth.

Anyways, have fun you crazy kids.

Scene 02...

2010-04-24T01:09:00.000+01:00

a quick shot from short film still in production

and a tweak on the cloth coat

Cars...

2010-04-22T03:07:00.000+01:00

Here's a taste of a little side project I've been collaborating on with an amazing 2D animator...

Original version...

Revisited version after chat...

Still low-poly WIP...

Useful script

2010-04-10T16:02:00.001+01:00

found a fairly useful script for creating poly grass (much quicker than using the fur preset, and far less daunting for someone not very tech savvy.

http://www.creativecrash.com/maya/downloads/applications/misc/c/grass-generator-rd

only problem is they made a few mistakes with the generate script, so copy the script to your script folder, restart Maya and in MEL write the following;

source generateGrass;

generateGrass long low 20 0.1 1 0.1 1;

thats it, might need to run it a couple of times with different values then combine the polys at the end.

Texture-wise, create a new Lambert, add a RAMP node to the colour output, set bottom colour to a dark brown, middle colour to a dark green and the top colour to a light green. you could go further and add a transparency RAMP, delete the bottom colour, set middle colour to black, move it closer to the top colour and set the top colour to white.

This is a very basic image but gives an idea of whats possible with 5 minutes to spare.

Progress

2010-04-05T12:05:00.000+01:00

havent post any of my actual work in a little while, thought i'd do it in big chucks (animation soon to be posted)

heres how I got on with Maya's Ncloth

Test 001

Test 002

Test 007

Test 010

Test011

Photoshoppin'

2010-04-01T15:28:00.001+01:00

been doing some work recently involving some photoshop stuff...

here's one of the bits so far, for Tattoo Studio in Kent...

(still WIP)

What time is it?... CV time...

2010-03-25T23:52:00.000Z

heres my new CV...

extra

2010-03-22T02:18:00.002Z

... in addition to last post, my new rig is about 90% Ncloth now :)

difficult...

2010-03-22T02:16:00.000Z

after the last post i made regarding the coat finally working, well unfortunately, even though it worked 'well' had a major issue with conflicting constraints etc, so even though it would have been fine for any movement other than opening its coat, its not very helpful...

Spent most of last night and today completely re-rigging the coat, so instead of the coat skeleton/rig been split about under different blendshapes to allow me to blend inbetween a whole body skin to the coat open rig, i've had to build and constrain the entire rig on the low-poly coat on the rig itself, which is exactly what i didnt want to do as it'll make things hader when deforming the body...

and as usual after spending all the time re-rigging it, after a short walk into Cardiff i realised the ideal way to rig it instead, and after an hour of re-re-re-rigging, come up with a 'sucessful' (questionable) flash.

working flash test from Lee Dunham on Vimeo.

I'm fully aware thats its a hidious example of animation and theres problems all over the place, but the final foundations are there and also, the way its now rigged i can finally start working full time on animating it (and part time on making it pretty :)

ITS ALIVEEEEE!!!!

2010-03-20T19:44:00.000Z

finally... after what seems to be years, I've finally got the entire rig to work as it should...

Theres still a few tweaks to be made to get the type of cloth i want and to add the belt, tags etc, but it works!!!!

no intersection problems that cant be solved, and I've also got a fully functional coat with controls coming out of its ears (not literally)... heres the actual first working deform test (ive put it through much more rigorous deforms too) and im just taking a break from it, then will post up a full flash deform...

WOO!!!!!

Stretchy bones tut...

2010-03-20T05:06:00.000Z

almost sorted the coat, thought i'd show how I made the stretchy bones for it from a couple of bones with an IK Spline, clusters and a NURBs circle controller.

oh and the mel I type after i select the IK Spline curve ( at about 2:20) is 'arclen -ch 1;' (it allows you to select the curve info node)...

apologies

2010-03-18T20:12:00.000Z

... unfortunately, i wasnt able to show another finished character (Minus Texturing) last night due to yet another setback, but to save myself time later on, I've added a couple of new additions and fixes to the automatic eyebrow animation seen earlier on the Gran rig... just trying to make things easier and quicker in the long run.

Teaser 2...

2010-03-16T23:31:00.000Z

As promised another character...

having alot of problems with main rig atm, hope to fix them soon!!!

Teaser

2010-03-15T23:38:00.001Z

Heres a teaser for one of my characters in my new film...

Lost most of the texturing and a few misc controls that might not need to be added, bust she works!!

Check tommorrow for another character!!!

Damn buggy thingys...

2010-03-15T23:34:00.000Z

...great, got home and started testing for breaks on Gran rig and came accros huge problem I encountered before. Most of the facial controls wouldnt set keys and everytime I scrolled the timebar it would deselect anything selected... luckly im the sort of person who manually saves to a new file every 10-15 mins now, so I went through the last few days worth of files and tested each one for the issue and found it to be caused from pre-maturely rigging the cloth to the character, tried to sort it on latest but wasnt having it so had to spend most the evening re-doing the work from the past 3 days... just great...

making more work for myself...

2010-03-15T01:57:00.000Z

... had been plagued with figuring out how to add Ncloth to my characters coat, solved that, then how to control the coat, solved that, how to rig the characters faces, solved that... Now im up against putting it all together, as its not as easy as the tests showed. For them I used a simple 4 bone setup to control the coat as it opened and the Ncloth is attached to the coat mesh and the final coat is attached to both the mesh and the cloth...

Thing is i cant really use a direct bone setup on the coat mesh due to having to skin the coat to the bones of the original rig, and so any extra bones added would just cause fighting over who controls what...

I've created a setup to conrtol the openeing of the coat the same way I've rigged the face, using Clusters and blendshapes and then blendshapes and driven keys to fix and intersecting etc, but i've also just started sketching a more complex, but better controllable way which is the create stretchy bones, spline IK and FK, clusters, blendshapes and driven keys... Just hope it works...

Will post if solved, if not, i've got backups i'll post/use.

think, think, think, part 2

2010-03-11T18:59:00.000Z

think i've sorted some form of messy solution for a part of the issue i was having to do with driven keys and animating the sections too...

... heres the notes I made and a vid showing it working... (I know its not pretty atm either, just figuring a way to make things look abit nicer and UF...

'Eyebrows

Create eyebrow as separate object, 'Parent' it to 'R_Brow_CTRL', create separate clusters for sections of eyebrow object, 'Parent' all those clusters also to 'R_Brow_CTRL' create seperate controllers for each cluster, select the controller then shift-select the corresponding cluster and select 'Parent' CONSTRAIN, then 'Parent' the individual controllers to 'R_Brow_CTRL'. now when you move the 'R_Brow_CTRL' it'll move the eyebrow as well as the clusters and the individual controllers that you can move and key seperately also.

Now the aim was to be able to use the 'R_Brow_CTRL' to move the eyebrow as well as the skin but also to have driven keys so parts of the brow stick to some form of realism.

I do understand you could also have simply created a low poly version, parent each one to a bone, set a driven key to the bones and them 'wrap' deform the actual brow mesh to the low poly version, then finally created clusters and controls on the actual poly mesh for the extra control, im simply exploring all means. (and you could also create blendshapes of the brow and set driven keys to them with the 'R-Brow_CTRL' and had extra clusters and controllers on the final brow also)

So this particular (and complicated method) now needs for you to create a single bone for each cluster, (not parented to each other), select the bones and finally the brow mesh and smooth skin.

This then gives you 3 levels of control over the eyebrows, one of which you can set driven keys to and still have another set of controllers that can controller seperate sections of the brow.

So far this would only really work with simple meshes and try to stay away from having any more that 4 or 5 sections of brow to control otherwise when you skin the bones, it'll be more work than its worth.'

Something for our generation...

2010-03-10T00:10:00.002Z

give them a go, a good laugh and nostalgia...

Spider in the Bath!!!

2010-03-09T23:40:00.002Z

Who remembers this?!!!

think, think, think

2010-03-09T22:22:00.000Z

... i've come to an annoying problem whilst rigging (well I actually found it a month or so ago, but I just left it be). Ideally for my facial rig, along with individual controls for the face (R_eyebrow_01, 02, 03 etc), I would have a single controller to the side of the face with custom attributes for 'Smile', 'Angry', 'Sad' etc and driven keys onto the ready placed controllers, so in theory, I would crank the 'Smile' att to 10 and the driven keys would tell the individual controllers to place themselves appropriately the make the character smile...

... however such that is the annoyance of driven keys, am I'm still trying to find a simple method to do this that avoids mel scripting (don't have the time, perhaps after uni I'll spend a few weeks cracking it properly), as once you set an object to 'driven' with the driven keys, it immediately becomes non-keyable, however if you thought you could simply parent it to another controller and set driven keys on that instead, hide the parent and still be able to animate the original, because if you parent an object (or even create a new group from it) to another, and move the parent, the child object will still have values of 0, as if it was never moved and therefore wont affect the mesh with the cluster/blendshape setup...

... haha, I wanted to avoid 'geeking out' too much and keep it simple, hahaha...

... anyways I was also thinking about perhaps using parent/point/orient constraints, but then I know that using the constraints will render the object immovable anyway, grrr, think I'll just have to have a go every now and again, and keep working on making my rigs better and more animation. Will post as soon as I crack it...

Blendshapes

2010-03-09T13:35:00.000Z

Grr, sodding blendshapes in Maya, forgot how to creat in-betweens so started playing about and wrote it down. Finding it really helpful nowdays im getting old...

"Adding in-between blendshapes

To create inbetween blendshapes for say opening an eyelid you'll want an in-between to get a nice slide over the eyeball instead of going through it,
this is because Maya will transition between the base and the blend through the shortest route.

Select your ending blendshape and then shift-select your Base object (that the blends will be applied to).

If its your first blendshape on this object you'll wanna go ''Create Deformers - Create Blendshape - Options', name the group of blendshapes under the
'Blendshape node', make sure envelope is 1, local origin and check topology (should all be Defaults anyway) and create.

If its not then go 'Edit Deformers - Blendshape - Add - Options and select 'Specify node' with the correct node selected and check topology. ('Add in-between
should NOT be checked at this point). Click 'Apply and close'.

You'll notice under 'Window - Animation Editors - Blendshape you'll have a new node you created and if you slide up, your object will transition
between your original object to the object you set as a blendshape.

To add a blendshape in-between the two states you created, create and mold the object for the in-between, select it, shift-select the base object
then select 'Edit Deformers - Blendshape - Add - Options', click 'specify node' (it tells Maya what node this will be placed under)

then select 'Add in-between target' and under the 'in-between weight' select something like 0.5, and under 'Target index' you need to count
what blendshape this will be placed on, for example if the in-between will be on the 1st blendshape you made you need to type '1',
if its blendshape later down the list, count how many over it is and type its corresponding placement number. (you could always re-name your
blendshape objects before you add them as eg. '1_R_TopEyelid', '2_R_BotEyelid' etc.

if you now slide you blendshape, you'll notice the inbetween has been placed at the value you selected (0.5)."

Hope peeps find some of the stuff I post useful...

geeky geekerson

2010-03-08T21:15:00.000Z

...heres the latest test from using bones to control mesh which controls cloth, basically trying to imitate a coat opening with the bottom half made of cloth, also hitting 'legs'...

heres the simpliest/briefest of notes i've made for myself to remember the steps i needed to follow;

"NEW MESH/CLOTH TESTING

start with 2 pieces of mesh with no visible joins, and creat skeleton to control them
skin - smooth bind top mesh

select bottom half as cloth - presets - heavy denim

select joining verts of cloth then shift-select joining verts of mesh and constrain with 'component to component'

add any 'passive' objects and animate."

these are the settings I used for the loose cloth belt (and like a sad geek decided to manually write all the values in just to make myself remember them, and then I CAPPED the values i frequently played with with a little description for myself so I could try to know what I was doing...)

"CREATED ENTIRE CLOTH AS 1 MESH, IE JACKET + BELT, ADDED LOOPS WHERE CLOTH BEGINS AND MESH ENDS, SELECTED CLOTH FACES AND 'MESH' - 'SEPARATE'
added Ncloth to loose belt, mde sure doesnt intersect with anything, selected CV's of where cloth ends, then shift-selected CV's of where mesh ends and added 'component to component'. made anything that may touch belt as 'create passive'.

Works well, may not need as too much interferance with cloth coat...

if object fast moving, increase stretch resistance

is dynamic - on
PLAY FROM CACHE - N/A (until final V./animation made)
THICKNESS - 0.1 ----- (GUESS - DETERMINATION AS TO HOW HEAVY/THICK CLOTH PIECE IS - INCREASE = LONGER CALCULATION TIME)
Bounce - 0
FRICTION - 0.355 ----- (HOW MUCH THE OBJECT IS AFFECTED BY FRICTION - INCREASE = MORE FRICTION)
DAMP - 4.57 ----- (AFFECTS HOW MUCH THE CLOTH WILL APPEAR 'DAMP' IE HEAVIER)
STICKINESS - -0.5 ----- (HOW MUCH THE CLOTH WITH STICK TO A SURFACE/OBJECT/)
collision flag - Face
self collision flag - vertex face
max self collision iterations - 10000
POINT MASS - 2.02 ------ (GUESS SIMULAR PRINCIPLE AS TO HOW MUCH MASS THE CLOTH HAS - GUESS SIMULAR TO SPACE SCALE - !!IMPORTANT!!)
rest length scale - 1
COLLIDE - on
SELF COLLIDE - on
collision layer - 0
wind shadow diffusion - 0
wind shadow distance - 0
air push distance - 0
air push vorticity - 0
push out - 0.5
push out radius - 5.183
crossover push - 0
trapped check - off
FORCE FIELD - double sided ----- (ACTIVATE CLOTH FORCE-FIELD ALONG NORMALS/INSIDE/INSIDE AND OUT - KEEPS DISTANCE FROM OTHER OBJECTS)
FIELD MAGNITUDE - 1 ----- (HOW POWERFUL FORCE FIELD IS)
FIELD DISTANCE - 0.755 ----- (HOW MUCH DISTANCE FORCE FIELD COVERS)
point force field - off
point field magnitude - 1
self attract - 0
point field distance - 2
local space output - on
display color R - 1
display color G - 0.8
display color B - 0
STRETCH RESISTANCE - 35.3 (NOW 80)
compression resistance - 30.4
bend resistance - 5.149
bend angle drop-off - 0.371
restitution tension - 1000
restitution angle - 360
shear resistance - 0
RIGIDITY - 0.1 ------ (HOW RIGID AS AN ENTIRE MESH THE CLOTH IS - IE 0= LOOSE CLOTH, 1= FROZEN CLOTH)
deform resistance - 0
input mesh attract - 0
input mesh damp - 0.5
wrinkle map scale - 1
bend angle scale - 1
sort links - off
add cross links - off
stretch damp - 0.1
self collide width scale - 1
self crossover push - 0
self trapped check - off
pressure - 0 ------ (ADDS MOVEMENT/WIND FROM ALL DIRECTIONS TO CLOTH AND BY HOW MUCH)
start pressure - 0 ----- (GUESS - WHEN PRESSURE WILL BEGIN ON TIMELINE)
incompressibility - 5
pressure damping - 0
pump rate - 0
air tightness - 1
seal holes - on
ignore solver gravity - off
ignore solver wind - off
wind self shadow - off
lift - 0.05
drag - 0.05
tangential drag - 0.102
lifespan - 1"

I found out today there was loads and loads of ways to creat stretchy bones in Maya, after using a long tutorial and a quick chat with Toke, I tried to find another easier way;

"create a single bone.

create 2 locators and snap them to each end of the joint.

rename the base joint to 'joint1' and the nub joint, 'joint2' and each corresponding locator as 'joint1_Loc' and 'joint2_Loc'.

select 'joint2_Loc' then shift select 'joint2' and add a 'point' constraint.

select 'joint1_Loc' then shift select 'joint1' and add a 'parent' constraint.

select 'joint1_Loc' then 'joint2_Loc' and add an 'aim' constraint, then vice versa as in;
select 'joint2_Loc' then 'joint1_Loc' and add an 'aim' constraint.

select 'joint1_Loc' then 'joint2_Loc' and add a 'point' constraint.

you should now be able to control the 'stretchy bone' with each corresponding locator (ie 'joint1_Loc' control will move entire joint,
and 'joint2_Loc' will control the nub joint making it stretchy.

i havent tested this out properly with a full rig, was just something i tried."

After creating the stretchy tongue, I found that I could only really control one section of the tongue at a time and I wanted to influence each section of the tongue with one controller (without using Driven Keys) and seeing as though I went through a slightly confusing tutorial using Nodes and the Hypergraph to creat stretchy tongue I felt adventurous enough to try on my own;

"add half influence from one object to another from an action (without using driven keys)

(eg tongue stretchy, 4 controllers linked to control 4 clusters on tongue. one controller doesnt affect any other clusters besides the one its parented too, when you want the tongue to stretch you want the other clusters/controllers to be influenced down the heirachy)

1. select all controllers you want affected, open Hypergraph and under 'Graph' select 'Add to Graph'

2. on Create Maya Nodes, scroll down to 'General Utilities' tab and add a 'Multiply/Divide' Node.

3. on the first controller (the one that'll affect the rest of them ie TongueTip_CTRL) click on the right arrow of the node, and select 'translate - translate Z' (dependant of character orientation, might need to see what axis the tongue will move 'forward') and connect it to, the 'Multiply/Divide Node - input1 - input1 Z (Z dependant on axis left controller from you just need to match them appropriately).

4. select the Multiply/Divide Node and under 'Attribute Editor' select 'Multiply' and change the value of input2 Z to something like 0.5 (dependant on how strong you want the 2nd controller to follow, 1 = 100% etc) and then on the channel box, lock the Input2 Z (you dont want that value to change to 0 ever, lots of badness.)

5. then from the multiply/Divide Node select 'Output - outputZ' and connect it to the 2nd controller under 'translate - translate z'

6. follow the same steps for each controller, keeping the same 0.5 value each time.

What we've just done is told Maya that whenever you move the 1st controller on the Z axis, the controller behind will follow it by 50%, and then the controller behind that will follow the 2nd controller by 50% and so on and so on."

phew, damn im boring and tbh, most of this is probably crap, but it's given me more understanding as i've gone along, no harm in sharing...

Maya Ncloth Results!!

2010-03-08T20:59:00.000Z

... thought i might as well stick them on here, think i'll probs also post the very un-friendly notes i've been keeping along the way for various things i've noticed/picked up...

heres one of the original tests getting to grips with cloth as a cape...

heres one of the first successfully working full coat deform testing, with a few tweaks here and there... been a complete nightmare as I cant/couldn't find any tutorial's that dealt with a cloth or Ncloth controllable coat, only t-shirts, dress's skirts etc...

this is one of the tests made whilst attempting to make the cloth coat deform nicely to a walk-cycle. NOTE - HUGE mistake made creating the cloth as an extruded mesh and not a flat plane BEFORE setting it as cloth... (i am just learning by trial and error...)

will finally also post what ive managed to do with the whole mesh/cloth coat thingy...

Mo-Cap-POW!!

2010-03-08T20:52:00.001Z

... few of us travelled to Swansea Uni to have a look into Motion-capture software, how it works and have a little play ourselves.

It didnt go entirley to plan, but was still pretty damn interesting, and I did manage to fool about for an hour or so acting on some strange requests...

... also thought i'd post the models for main characters in FMP

and;

also just uploading some cloth tests ive been working on, realising today how much of a tit i've been trying to do it solo, but efforts haven't been too bad, managed to get a nice formula for the main character to actually work nicely!!!...

GRAGH!!!!...

2010-02-19T00:30:00.001Z

... I had been spending hours and hours swapping back and forth between two types of facial rigging I've been trying for my main character, a mix of stretchy bones, curves and clusters and then a mix of clusters and blendshapes and driven-keys and bones for the tongue but due to too many problems with skinning with the bones and curves, I have had to settle with the latter method.
For good measure though, I had been advised to use stretchy bones for the tongue, and I tweaked the controls abit to add better deformation, a tutorial which i'll post up soon.
I'm also at the end of my teather with maya Cloth, I can get a very nice smooth cape, but a coat its just too much for the time I have left, and so I'm cutting out a weeks worth of work by scrapping it and spending the time catching up and finishing a nice coat rig instead...

02/2010 showreel

2010-02-14T02:19:00.001Z

whoa, its been a while...

2010-02-14T01:29:00.000Z

...been working on final film, solving problem after problem with either facial rigging (using a mix of bones, clusters and blendshapes) or maya cloth and cloth/cluster-hybrid... grr...

anyways, had a visit from Dinamo so had to rush together some sort of showreel, needless to say most of my old works needs some serious revisiting, but its just finding the time with work now taking up 27 hours a week... fun, fun, fun.

anyways, will defo get round to posting up some semi-decent tutorial regarding the facial setup i'll be using (thanks to Matt Simpkins!!), hopefully someone might find it useful at some point...

its about time...

2009-07-24T20:33:00.000+01:00

Hey all,
ive been trying to sort out my own online portfolio, but snag-after-snag...

next best thing right here :)

too embarrassed to show some of my work atm, but will try this whole 'blog' thing, phew what will they think of next?!

cheerio

Lee