Ok so I found this great sight http://www.katorlegaz.com/index.php?a=download&c=Blender_3D_Model_Repository
and I decided hmm lets use some of the human models and try to use them as a basic character in which to derive others. I downloaded the female and male model and after I appended EVERY thing in the stupid file. I manage to get the armature and the body together (hey even with the same meshes) I then try to parent the object with the bones and when I move the armes half of the wast goes with it. (NOW the old TUTORIAL off blender sight has a real snazzy group thing but I have yet to completely understand how to do it with the 2.37 version.) I tried ALT-P to parent to vertices but the computer crashes. NOW the reason I was using the models in the first place is I didn’t have a very good mouth rigged. SO is there an alternate way fo fixing my rigging problem. Or shoudl I ask is there a way to assign bones to specific parts of the mesh besides using alt-p (I hope that mean I was assigning bones to vertexs) ANY HELP AT all would be great. Even a URL to a good tutorial that USED 3.7
Thanks
Black Manta :Z
PS is there a way to append the parent(or child status)?
Yes you need to set up vertex groups using the dialogue in the edit buttons for your mesh.
Quick tute (from memory so Fligh% will kindly correct me where neccesary. )
Import your mesh and armature.
Select armature and turn on Names for the bones.
Select the mesh and enter Edit mode.
Use the B select tool to select verts in the head.
(Depending on bone names, change where applicable)
Now go to edit buttons, look in the bottom right corner for the vertex group buttons. (These will only appear in edit mode for a mesh.)
Click New, then left click the ‘Group’ name that appears and type in Head.
Now click on the assign button to assign those selected verts to this group.
Repeat for all body sections of the mesh, with a new group of the same name as the corresponding bone name.
Now exit edit mode and Shift select the armature.
Parent the mesh to the armature with CTRL+P.
If you get leg verts moving when you move the hand bone, then you need to remove those verts from the hand vertex group. (Remove button in vertex groups dialogue.)
Select a vertex group, then press the select button in the vertex group dialogue. This will select all verts in that group. A good way of checking which verts are in which group and if any need to be re-assigned.
If you want to append a parent or child and retain the parent chain, import both. If you only want one, import both and un parent with ALT+P & keep position/scaling, then delete the unwanted object.
CTRL+P & closest groups needs some tweaking afterwards. Use the select, deselect, assign & remove buttons in the vertex group dialogue.
Thatnks for the reply hower the model is WAY to advance for me to re-rig. At least in this point of time. I HAVE figured out how to rig correctly therefore my own meshes shoudl start working. I thank you for the advice. I am curious is there any part of the file I can append (scene, world …etc) that will have the rigging in it? Otherwise (for now) the nice mesh is not going to work for me.
Well thanks for the help if anyone knows of a way to import the vetex rigging I woudl be greatly appreciatie.
I just downloaded the dolphin, and it is just the outer mesh (shell) on layer 1. To animate shells with openings, you have to first complete the mesh. For this dolphin you have to 1) add an interior mesh for the inside of the mouth, 2) add eyeballs and lids. Then texture the surface. To animate the mesh, you have to add armature and actions. manually.
Some zip files I have downloaded include the blend file, tex files, actions, etc. Some do not, depending on the time the developer can spend.
If you want the Mesh-Object and its Armature then goto Shft-F1 (append library), navigate to the FROM file and goto the “Object” menu. Shft-RMB select them both and hit Enter to append them to the TO file.
Select the Armature and Ctrl-Tab into Pose mode and see if the parenting is good or not.
If not, then Tab into Object mode and select the Mesh-object and Shft-select the Armature then Alt-P to unparent. Use a pen and paper to make a list of the bones and check Sonix’ instructions on Groups in the Mesh; check that every single bone has a Vertex Group that corresponds to the name of its bone (spelling, spaces and Caps very important here). It doesn’t matter if there are some groups that don’t have corresponding bones, but it won’t work if there are bones that don’t have Groups.
Now you can parent them with Ctrl-P, choose “Make Parent to Armature” and from the next popup choose “Don’t Create Groups” (because you already created them). Goto Pose mode and try again.
Thanks for the help,
Yeah after I posted my last message I realized I could select via which bone they were connected. (what can I say I am still mastering the interface) This should make it a lot easier. Although the high polygon count may be to much to really render. I will probably make my own characters but I do know how to rig a mouth now! so it should be ok. Thanks again and perhaps I will try re-rigging the human model.
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