I'm going to start posting some of the blender projects my daughter and I are playing around with (She's 4) in hopes that someone else might enjoy them or learn from them. Reddog9

Attached Link: http://www.freewebs.com/reddog9/

I have a couple of questions if anyone knows the answer.

1. At one point I was able to set the rotation limits on the jaw bone.. now for that bone and all of the others.. the rotation limit buttons don't appear anymore.. maybe I'm looking at the wrong panel.

2. Grabbing any bone from the jaw to the first neck bone in pose mode and moving it causes the entire body to move. Grabbing the legs or tail and moving it does not cause this. Anyway to lock the torso bone from moving when this is done?

File here: Giraffe3.blend

Message edited on: 01/05/2006 00:16

Message edited on: 01/05/2006 00:17

Ok.. here's a couple more.

My daughter loves shamu.. so of course. I don't think I finished the rigging on this one. When Blender 2.4 was released, I just started rigging it.

Also, my recent shield I created. My main focus here was just to practice using bump maps (Normals in blender). Nothing fancy on the modeling of this one.

shamu.blend

shield3.blend

I love your giraffe :) I think I have some pictures of real giraffes, if you'd like them for reference. Not sure how good they are, mostly it's just distant shots from the san diego wild animal park (I always forget my camera when I go to the zoo), but some of them might be useful. Can't get them to you until I get back home next week, then we'll see if I can find the disk, lol. I can't help you on the bones questions, I haven't got 2.4 yet--next week, when I've got my own computer!! (excited)

Love them...So glad your daughter took the time to explain Blender to you...:} I gather you have sheilds someplace else?

fantastic work.

Really great work! The link for the shields is in the third post of this thread.

Beautiful work :)

I still have not used IK in blender 2.40, but the main problem is that direct IK chain from head to parent bone, when that IK chain moves force to parent bone to rotate. I don't know if that's becouse of that Automatic IK option, but I couldn't break it either changing hierarchy.
I think the best is build again the skeleton, this time put the parent in the hips. Divide spine in two chains, from hips to shoulders and from shoulders to head. Parent those chains, legs to hips and arms to shoulders.
Also make a little arc with legs/arms according their movement, to force automatic IK to run in the right way (I think it will work).