XSI styla rig

[solmax]

grab it here: http://adprom.at/files/xsi_styla_v01a.zip

as mentioned in the blender char animatimation limitations thread i came up with a rig as seen in XSI.

brief description

1 - armature:

armature is not laid out for a particular mesh but simply for testing the control rig. if you want, however, to use it to deform a mesh, you can use the armature on layer two as reference and build or adapt your own creatures. make sure you hit CTRL+AKEY before skinnig to prevent weird deformation problems

2 - control objects:

- foot_L and foot_R (elongated rings) are the ik targets for - guess what - the left and right foot. at the same time they control rotation for the first foot bone
- the cubes named knie_L knie_R are tracking targets for the upper leg bones and thus let you control the direction the knees point at.
- the big ring called hips actually moves the whole armature and some more controllers parented to it. use it to rotate the whole body, but consider the effect is strongest for the upper body.
- the second big ring called shoulders controls the rotation of the shoulders independently from the hips, thus enabling to "twist" the upper body. move it around and rotate it to see how it works.
- the other two small elongated rings control hand position and hand rotation and work exactly the same way as foot_L&R.
- the same applies to the last two cubes, elle_L&R, they work the same way as knieL&R and make the elbows point in the desired direction.

3 - known bugs and limitations:

try it and find out :) i didn't have the time to test it and prove it's functionality in a production environment, but it seems pretty handy for most animation tasks. the only major thing missing is a controller for the toe bones, but you should be able to integrate it quite easily - grab some empties and make them targets for "copy rotation" constraints.

4 - credits:

XSI's ready-to-use rigs, which work pretty perfect and are outperformed only by kaydaras motionbuilder, made me think and try to rebuild them using blender. of course this here is not the same, uses different controlling mechanisms and different techniques, but the result is quite useful and feels pretty much the same.

if you have suggestions mail me or share them with the communitiy

have fun

marin aka solmax

[Rangel]

Very interesting, Solmax. Thanks for sharing the rig! Great to see those advanced rigs being ported to Blender.

Alexandre Rangel

[harkyman]

That's a pretty cool rig. My own has similar functionality, with the exception of rotating the hips as one and the shoulders as one. In fact, I've just cracked into my long-standing character rig and added those two functions. Thanks.

My only criticism is one of Blender philosophy. Although the visual feedback isn't as nice, I've put my control points (Ik solvers, elbow/knee targets, etc.) within the rig, as bones. When you do it your way, you lose the ability to keyframe as actions, and to reuse those actions as NLA strips.

The only other thing I'd add, which my rig features, is an extra bone at the elbows and knees, as well as "scapula" bones. It helps with the mesh deformation of these joints.

Anyway, thanks for sharing. (If you're interested, my updated rig can be found in this thread.)

[solmax]

Originally Posted by harkyman ...I've put my control points (Ik solvers, elbow/knee targets, etc.) within the rig, as bones. When you do it your way, you lose the ability to keyframe as actions, and to reuse those actions as NLA strips.

what about the NLA editor for object animation? can't prove it right now (mac os9 in office) but as far as i remember action editor is available for all objects since.. 226 or something. i just like the visual representation of control objects other then bones and i don't like switching to pose mode all the time. but this is a matter of taste of course.

anyway i hope my rig is helpful. enjoy

greets marin

[JA-forreal]

So you can use other control objects besides Armatures with NLA actions?

Great rig BTW. I was studying a similar XSI rig as I study rig setup tutorials of any major 3d app that I can find.

[solmax]

you can swith any window to the NLA editor (back on my XP machine), enabling you to animate any object like an armature. the only thing that doesn't work, i think, is making action strips. please correct me if i'm wrong.

best regards

marin

[harkyman]

You're not wrong, and that is the power of the NLA system. It's true that you can see any individual key set in NLA editor, but to really crank it up and utilize the built-in modularity, you need to put your character anims into Strips.

But you're right, solmax - it's a matter of style. If you don't use the full functionality of NLA, then there's no reason to constrain yourself to having your control objects be bones. Personally, I wish that you COULD make action strips for everything. Maybe in 2.3.3!

[JA-forreal]

Originally Posted by harkyman You're not wrong, and that is the power of the NLA system. It's true that you can see any individual key set in NLA editor, but to really crank it up and utilize the built-in modularity, you need to put your character anims into Strips. But you're right, solmax - it's a matter of style. If you don't use the full functionality of NLA, then there's no reason to constrain yourself to having your control objects be bones. Personally, I wish that you COULD make action strips for everything. Maybe in 2.3.3!

Hopefully that and Hos and the other coders hooking up some cool "dynamic" constraint additions. WhoaaaaaaYeah!

[Jlsb]

Little late but the [ctrl+a] combo doesn't take prisonners
http://www.zoo-logique.org/3D.Blende.../kompilend.avi
Here is an animation of some early tests done with your rig.
Works perfectly as you can see. It screams for a few more controls and a way to strengthen the spine.
You could add a control for the head and one in the middle of the spine to help bend more realistically the upper body.
I skinned the mesh the hard way by using the "closest bone" function and since I had built the model against the rig in neutral pose it went like a breeze.
I'm going to test now a complexe mesh with vertex groups and weighting and the rest.


What are you still doing here? %| Blend on! :P

[solmax]

Originally Posted by Jlsb It screams for a few more controls and a way to strengthen the spine. You could add a control for the head and one in the middle of the spine to help bend more realistically the upper body.

quite correct :) i'll post an update when i come up with a good solution.
and - nice animation. looking forward for more.

best regards

marin

[LetterRip]

Solmax,

have you had any thoughts on what a good solution might be? Just happened to stumble across this thread and figured I'd ask.

LetterRip

[Jlsb]

Hello Everyone!
Letterip: the solution was posted in another thread.
http://www.elysiun.com/forum/viewtop...%20spine%20xsi
You'll have to append the file to the original XSI style rig or simply study it and replicate it on the complete rig.
It works like a charm for general movments when animating a character.
I wanted to use the new floor constraint of harkyman on feets but his build sadly never worked on my box.

[fakeplastic]

Link seems to be down (broken?). Do you have the file yourself?

If so, could you post it or email me at coryhoneyman<a.t.>hotmail.com?

If its not too much trouble. I am interested in seeing what the solution was.

Thanks

[solmax]

Originally Posted by fakeplastic Link seems to be down (broken?). Do you have the file yourself? If so, could you post it or email me at coryhoneyman<a.t.>hotmail.com? If its not too much trouble. I am interested in seeing what the solution was. Thanks

yea i needed to cleanup (space) on one of the webservers..

i'll post a link today.

marin

[fritzman]

Hi marin,

very cool. Thanx a lot for the XSI styla rig. I learned a lot from it. I'm excitedly looking forward to the improved version.


Have fun, fritzman

[Giangmatrix]

Ah man! I am late again. How can I get the file? I am need a good rig file badly. Can anyone help me? Rigging in blender is too dificult.

[solmax]

here an updated link (but no updated rig so far, sorry - i have a hard time setting up a new office AND doing daily business)

http://www.brainiacs.at/ressources/b...a_ani_01.blend

marin

[jazzroy]

simply perfect!

thanx alot for sharing it!

[Giangmatrix]

Originally Posted by solmax here an updated link (but no updated rig so far, sorry - i have a hard time setting up a new office AND doing daily business) http://www.brainiacs.at/ressources/b...a_ani_01.blend marin

Thank you!

[Gendo]

rig doesn't move!
i opened the styla rig in tuhopuu3 and blender 2.36 and when i select the hip ring the whole model moves! i try selecting the other constraints and they move and leave the rig/mesh behind. am i doing something wrong? do i need to select something or disable something before moving the controllers? i remember opening this a while ago and it moved fine but any time i open it now it won't move. it's the updated styla rig, by the way.

thanks,
-G