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Vue F.A.Q (Last Updated: 2025 Jan 30 6:52 am)
You cannot create a rig for a character from within Vue, to my knowledge. Sorry.
Instead, you must use some other 3D program, such as MAX, MAY, XSI, Lightwave, Truespace and the like. These programs have special tools for creating jointed "bones" for a creature or other object - this is called "rigging." Rigging is its own skill set, just like model-building or lighting a scene. There are two relevant technologies of joint control, known as IK and FK, but I won't go into that subject here. Rigging can be fairly complicated - and as usual, higher end 3D programs have tools that make the process of rigging easier than do inexpensive 3D programs.
Actually, the process of rigging must start early on when the model is being built. Normally, your model should be specifically designed to carry a rig. (That is, not all models can carry a rig very well. In fact, the majority of static models cannot.)
The basic goal of a modelbuilder who intends for his or her model to be rigged and animated is to create well-designed "edge-flows" (mesh lines and contour lines) and more dense quads or triangles in the mesh areas where the model will be expected to bend - so that deformation at the expected joint areas will not "show." Also, a modelbuilder should have a pretty good grasp of how the model is intended to be animated - that is, the mesh design often should be planned and designed for specific kinds of movements. (This is why character design and rigging typically are their very own skill sets.)
And, we're not done yet. After a model is "rigged" (has a jointed skeleton or several), you also must bind the model mesh to the jointed bones in a process called "skinning." This also can be a fairly complicated process. The most commonly used skinning method, "smooth skinning," has you assign different degrees of attachment of the vertices to a joint, so that the mesh deforms smoothly when the joint is bent. That is, vertices near the center of the joint should be completely assigned to the joint in a perpendicular fashion, while vertices further away from the center of the joint should have a "looser" amount of attachment. They respond less strongly when the joint is bent. This business of assigning different weights to the vertices near a joint allows bending of an elbow or a knee to look "natural." Skinning can be relatively simple for characters like cartoon characters, or it can be a very painstaking and difficult process for photoreal characters, animals or plants.
And last, there is the whole business of properly getting a jointed, and or animated character into Vue from the source 3D application. A process now made simpler by the use of Collada format files, but still - sometimes a little tricky.
These are the reasons that we don't yet see a lot of rigged characters for Vue. (Although I and some of the other modelbuilders are working to expand our knowledge and tools so that we can provide more such items for Vue.)
The Vue models you may have seen that do have rigging were created (mostly) in 3ds Max and exported using the Vue Export plugin that comes with Vue xStream.
Recently, Vue apps have been importing Collada objects that have rigging.
I use Poser's PZ3 format to import rigged objects into Vue. It's not the popular way to do things these days, but it's something.
www.youtube.com/user/ShawnDriscollCG
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How dose one Rig characters in vue for animation thanks!!!