Ok so i have a model that i am currently rigging with shape key joints. I want 2 shape keys per joint so that the joint moves more seamlessly, because if i were to try and use one shape key, vertices would morph thru eachother to get to the set position. So to fix this, i made 2 seperate shape keys, one for halfway thru the joint pivot, and one for when the joint has reached its turning limit… for example, i made one shape key for the knees bent at 90 degrees, and one more for the knees bent all the way back. How would i set up a driver so that the second shape key would start up right after the first to make one seamless shapekey??
Shape key morph mesh from position one the position two in linear fashion. It is not recommended to use shape key for rotational motion.
i am totally aware of the way the shapekeys morph, that is why i made 2 different shapekeys, so that way it looks as tho it is rotating. If there is a better way to get the joints to morph or rotate exactly how i want without a huge tedious list of things to do, then im all ears
Well if you’re willing to make the shape keys to make the motion look smooth, you could then add a driver around the joint that then manipulates all the shape keys at once(there’s a tutorial on my channel using shape keys on a face if there’s any confusion as to what I mean), otherwise I’d recommend using armature or the mesh deform modifier. But from the sounds of it I’m guessing you specifically want shape keys??
But anyway, hope I helped 
Here’s the vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daefcfoAGR8
Well i just kind of assumed shapekeys were the only way to make the joints work exactly how i want them to… such as morphing textures and keeping them from moving around wierd and stretching. And especially with the thigh deformation, like moving forward and sideways dont work right… Its almost like it would have to be a whole different weight for each direction, like if i were to weight paint the bones to move forward how i want, them moving them in a different direction would become broken and vise versa… tho u did mention something called a mesh deform modifier… i might look that up, maybe it might be the solution or sumthing like that… but what i was talkin about originaly was that i wanted to kinda, put 2 different shapekeys together… not to work at the same time but to work one after the other, almost like a shapekey with an additional keyframe in the middle, like at 50% in it reaches its first position, then up to 100% it heads to the second
Well for that you can still use drivers, just its a tad more complicated, if you want I can do a short video on how to do it. Basically the equation in the “generator” panel in the drivers section, you can change the coefficients to have the driver affect different shape keys at different intervals. As for the mesh deform, there’s a video on my channel covering that aswell
Good Luck
that would be helpful
No problem, here you go:
Hopefully this helps your model and it turns out to be a masterpiece…good luck
Enigma, you are a genius. I’ve just recently started playing with shape key drivers (made a “fan out” key for when a character bends at the hip). Good information, thank you.
Thank u so much this is exactly what i was looking for, it really helped me out!
Haha, glad I could help, and thanks for sub safetyman(99)