odf opened this issue on Oct 27, 2008 · 13933 posts
odf posted Fri, 20 March 2009 at 6:33 PM Online Now!
Quote - Good luck and break a leg tonite, odf....... :D
As for the feet, what has been postulated is valid =only= if the figure stays in shoes or sandals. The whole 'two toes are all you need' is otherwise known as the infamous Poser Shovel Foot. It works fine if you only walk straight ahead, wear sandals, etc. It utterly blows if the figure is really throwing its virtual weight around, is moving over uneven surfaces, or doing pretty much anything that introduces vectors in a rotational or angular manner. It isn't a matter of being able to move your toes in consciously independant ways; the big toe is the force point and pivot of the foot, but the other toes -conform- to the surface for grip, added force, or balance. They spread and grip in relation to forces applied from the muscles and the exterior surfaces. If morphs can do it, cool....but so far, the morph jobs I've seen create too much deformation of the digits. Boning can get to be a real pita to keyframe, but if you could ERC the more common motions to the rig, it might do just fine.
Interesting points. I guess my strategy would be to try morphs first, and if that doesn't work, think about a more complex rig.
I think maybe the thing to do for now is establish a set of controls for posing the toes. These should live on the foot actors and include such things as 'Toes grasp', 'Toes up', 'Toes spread', 'Big toe grasp', 'Big toe up', 'Big toe spread' and maybe one or two more that I'm forgetting right now. If people use these controls for posing, they should continue working even if we decide to change the rig later on.
-- I'm not mad at you, just Westphalian.