But I don't know how. Any rigging guru out there can get me started?

My first attempt I grouped the whole thing according to Tyler's rig and it broke apart when I posed it.

The second attempt I grouped it myself, but got the internal names different than the bones so it didn't work.

I was going to try the hybrid, but I just want this thing to be a conforming figure. I thought about making up my own grouping names and bones, so that I could pose it in the trademarked bat configuration, but I am not sure how to do that.

Anybody know of any good tuts for this?

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?unignore=15858&thread_id=2755438

here's a thread on it from 2008.

Rigging really doesn't make sense for a cape, but if you want to do that to yourself, the thread above might help. 

the easiest way would likely be to smart-prop parent it to the figure - neck or chest most likely - and then create pose morphs, which you could do via the cloth room and wind generator, magnets, etc. 

You can also create pose handles, much like how dresses and robes are sometimes done. Unfortunately I don't make dresses, I make clothes that guys wear, so I'm not too familiar with the ins-n-outs of that just yet. I do know it can be tricky.

~Shane

I am no good at all at making morphs, so I was going to try to rig it so that I can "pose" it in some of the most iconic batman stances and poses.

I have never messed with magnets nor handles. I wouldn't know where to begin.

I may just leave it as a dynamic object; the problem being I see a lot of people not comfortable with the cloth room.

Thanks for the link. I'll give it a look right now.

FYI - if using a more recent version of Poser that features Weight Maps and Affected Actors - you can probably take a look at the image I posted in that thread and the bones along the sides (left and right) can be ghost bones or just not exist. The center bones would be enough really (though with the ghost bones you'd have more control via Dependencies and what not).

Quote - FYI - if using a more recent version of Poser that features Weight Maps and Affected Actors - you can probably take a look at the image I posted in that thread and the bones along the sides (left and right) can be ghost bones or just not exist. The center bones would be enough really (though with the ghost bones you'd have more control via Dependencies and what not).

I saw that image, and was interested in that approach.

I am using Poser 9/SR3.

The only thing I don't understand, being such a rigging newb, is how to use ghost bones and how to apply them. Is that the bones I see in Miki 4 named pelvis, right breast and so forth? I think I know what to do, but a little more clarification would be awesome.

My idea is to have the core from the head to the hip groupings, then add the ghost bones along the sides, if that would work. I could then use them to create master parameter dials for the different cape poses.

Is this a sound approach?

A ghost bone is simply a bone with no group assigned to it.  So in the case of the cape you'd have - Cape 1, Cape2, Cape3, Cape4, Cape5, Cape6.  These would be the groups. Then you'd draw corresponding bones to match those groups. To create ghost bones also, you would then draw a pair of extra bones - maybe as children of the Cape 5 bone - that were for controling the corners of the cape. These bones would be given a name like rCapeCorner and lCapeCorner or something.  The wouldn't have groups.   Then you'd exit the setup room. When adjusting the joints, you'd want to make rCapeCorner and lCapeCorner have groups Cape2-Cape6 as affected actors probably and you'd want to paint their weight influence so that it was strongest in Cape6 and transitioning to weakest in Cape2.

Not sure if that makes sense to you. I can make a video of it.

Yeah, a video would help. I really want to learn this stuff and understand what I am doing. I haven't tried to rig anything from scratch yet, so it would be a new one for me. I still have to figure out how I am going to group it. I really would prefer that posing the figure would not affect the cape beyond where it attaches to the body. I am hoping to simulate a dynamic type of pose with the cape without having to enter the cloth room. I may be asking too much.

Thanks for all your help. I will try to see what I can do without a video tutorial, but I don't know if I will be able to.

I need to get into UVMapper and see if I can assign groups in there. It might be better than trying to do it in Wings, since the cape is subdivided and smoothed out to 11K polygons.

Ok. I have a Batman model on my HD somewhere that I can use. I'll put one together for you tonight after I'm done with work.

Outstanding! Thank you so much!

I tried the old trick with the grouping tool and spawning a prop, but that isn't really good for this application. I will patiently await your video.

No worries. Yes, UVMapper will be able to assign groups to your model. Question - you may have said this and I probably missed it - are you looking for the cape to be a stand alone prop that gets conformed? That will affect my approach to the rigging issue.

Yes. Either a stand-alone figure or prop. It's part of the costume, obviously, but I want to be able to pose it separately. As in, if I conform it to Tyler, only the neck and collar or shoulders will follow the posing, the rest of the cape will be free to pose alone. I don't know if it will work, but I am going to try it. If not, I will release it as a dynamic cloth. I already have a dynamic version of it with constraints built in.

Arch, that hurts.

Please, and please Rokket, this is NOT personal.

Please give groups meaningful names.

I HATE Cape1, Cape2, Cape3, Cape4

it is like morphs; Mouth1, Mouth2, Mouth3, Mouth4 and so on.
Or Abdomen1, Abdomen2, Abdomen3, Abdomen4 and so on.

And then try to build something for those items.
Poser starts adding "decimal1", and so on. . Then you's completey out of control.

Only the creator knows what is is all about. And even then. . . . . . . .

Put 2 figures like that in a scene and everybody is lost.

Use,
CapeTop
Capeshoulder
Capechest
Capeabdomen
Capehip and so on

Whatever, but use something that can be identified.

Vilters, Cape1, Cape2, Cape3, etc - allows for EASYPOSE. It makes the entier process easier so it's not done arbitrarily, there is a reason for everything.

Within a week, you will see

Cape2.2.1 Setup_NO_Bone1.1

Now, then try to figure out what and where it is. .  Good luck.

That green area, Rokket - that should all be green. Is the red an overlap warning or did you make a separate group up there? Tell ya what, pass me the file, It'll be faster that way, as I'm having a hard time hunting Bruce down on my numerous hard drives (and I'm now worried that I deleted the model - which was based on the Alex Ross Batman and pretty kick ass...so I'm mad now lol).

talexander@smithmicro.com

My dog's name is Charly.
My seconds dogs name is Henry.

Not dog1 and dog2.

Would be funny with children. LOL.

Kid1, Kid2, Kid3, Kid4.

Hey Tony,  what a nice boy you have, what's his name?

"Kid5".

LOL.

EasyPose? ? ?
Is that standard in Poser?
Must have missed some pages then.

so what do you call your finger joints?

Teyon, you know I love your work.

But some things are better understandable for the general public when you follow some standard guide rules.

Everything has a name, and those names should be clearly identifiable for everybody.

When creating 10 mouth morphs, and you name them ; Mouth01 to Mouth10?
After a single week, even the creator does not know what each does any more.

When I see bla1, bla2, bla3, bla4 ("bla" being whatever)

The first question is? Where did it start?

Is the Hip aera Bla1? Well, the hip is the "key", so it is logic the hip aera gets the "1", unless there is a "0" involved..

Or did "this" particular creator put Bla1 as the head?

Or did "this" particular creator start at the bottom and is the lowest group Bla1?

Quote - That green area, Rokket - that should all be green. Is the red an overlap warning or did you make a separate group up there? Tell ya what, pass me the file, It'll be faster that way, as I'm having a hard time hunting Bruce down on my numerous hard drives (and I'm now worried that I deleted the model - which was based on the Alex Ross Batman and pretty kick ass...so I'm mad now lol).

 

talexander@smithmicro.com

 

The green area is "cape", the black and red are left and right shoulder for right now. The cape drapes over the collar area of Tyler, so you are seeing that in the map.

Right now my groups are neck, left shoulder, right shoulder, cape, cape1 to cape5. Of course I will capitalize or what-not so that the bones match Tyler's bone names later on.

Check your email for the files a little later on.

I have to run some errands, so I will be off for a few hours.

I see tongues, fingers, toes, and animal tails all labelled with numbers. If I want to know what part it actually is, I hover my mouse over the UI window and it highlights red. But that's just me. I know there are people out there who wouldn't get it.

But I'd ask that you guys not get into it in my thread, please.

Yay I found him! lol. He was hiding in my Bane mini-sculpture. So happy now. Ok, so I'm going to get on that tutorial for you.

Very sorry for derailing.

I sent the email already. You can take a look at my work and offer some tips, pointers or send the trash can you vomited in after looking at it.

Or you can use it to do your video, it might make it easier for me to follow...

Quote - Very sorry for derailing.

No problem. You are a great help to me. I just didn't want this thread to get locked.

Editing the video now. I am hopeful that I can do a voice over - I think it would make things more clear - but the video should be easy enough to follow. I will say, that I think you should delete the inner cape. I've re-uvmapped the cape  and re grouped it so that should be possible for you now.  I've also assigned material zones that would make selecting the outer and inner areas simpler. Will email you the file asap and post the video shortly (I hope).

So while Camtasia is busy producing the video, I just wanted to make sure you got the obj I sent. Did you?

Attached Link: http://youtu.be/IMWpF7G6rIw

http://youtu.be/IMWpF7G6rIw

I got the new cape. I'll look at it in a little bit. I will watch the video. I wish you could still download from YouTube. Oh well, I can bookmark it.

Poser 9 doesn't have the ability to do weight maps, but I can still do regular fallout zones, so I will do that. I was able to follow the video, but the soundtrack was off a couple seconds.

I am going to sit down and figure out exactly what I want this cape to do and then get to work on it.

I may remodel to remove the inside of it too.

I will also have to delete the bones on the DEV rig one at a time. The menu tab you had for selecting them is also not part of Poser 9.

Teyon I just watched this with the sound off and by far it is the easiest rigging tutorial I've seen in some time. Time to watch again with the sound on. Thank you for doing it.

Glad to hear it!  Nice to know the video was helpful. I have a somewhat nasaly voice too in that vid - got a bit of a cold. 

Rokket, I'm sorry it didn't cover your specific situation, I don't have P9 on my system anymore but you are right that falloff zones would be the way to go. Obviously it won't be quite the same as the weight map version I showed but you should still be able to get something useful done.  Looking forward to seeing your final result! :)

Quote - Rokket, I'm sorry it didn't cover your specific situation, I don't have P9 on my system anymore but you are right that falloff zones would be the way to go. Obviously it won't be quite the same as the weight map version I showed but you should still be able to get something useful done.  Looking forward to seeing your final result! :)

I can still do it, I just need to adjust what you were doing to fit my version of Poser. I won't get started on it for a couple more days.

I am am civil service mariner who works for the government. My job puts me on ships overseas (away from the USA), and I am in Japan right now waiting for my next assignment to pull in to port.

Once I get settled there, as soon as I finish it and get internet access, I will post my result.

Since that was such a good tutorial, I expect my results to be just what I am seeing in my head...

Quote - Rokket, I'm sorry it didn't cover your specific situation, I don't have P9 on my system anymore but you are right that falloff zones would be the way to go. Obviously it won't be quite the same as the weight map version I showed but you should still be able to get something useful done.  Looking forward to seeing your final result! :)

Teyon, it looks like I have to regroup the original cape. Check your site mail.