Hi folks,

I was wondering if anyone could help me here. Basically, I would really like to know how to properly 'rig' a car model within Poser, and there are a couple of specific things I want to do.

At the moment, I usually import what I call the 'main' part of the car, being the body shell and any parts connected to it which won't be movable, then import wheels, hubs, doors, steering wheel etc independently. With each part, I parent it to either the main shell or a part which is parented to it (such as front wheels being parented to the hubs, which are then parented to the shell, enabling steering by manipulating the Y axis of the hubs). After that, I go into the joint editor and move the rotation points to where they are needed (door Y rotations to the door hinges, for example), then rename those rotation parameters to, for example 'Open / Close' and set the limits.

What I would really like to do is to have, for example, the steering wheel, track rods (steering arms) and front wheels move at the same time and correct rate when, for example, the steering wheel is selected and turned. This would be especially helpful with cars such as open-wheel racers, where the track rods are clearly visible.

It would also be really neat if I could take the suspension wishbones and shocks of cars like this and have them all rotate, compress and move with each other to create suspension compression. I've a feeling all of this would require the same techniques.

All of my previous car models parts have been imported as props.

I would like this to be as easy to do as possible, as I'm planning to create a large number of such cars for a personal animation project.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, but please treat me like a complete novice, because that's what I am when it comes to this.

Thanks,

Glen.

The best way to do what you want will be use dependent parameters by assigning the different mechanical parts to seperate bones and then linking them using Poser's dependent parameters feature. For example you can link turning of the steering wheel to the left-right movement of the steering rack.

-K

That sounds good, thanks. How would I do that, is there a tutorial anywhere out there?

The manual has a pretty good one tutorial to get you started. There are a few others out there as well, such as this free one: https://www.renderosity.com/mod/freestuff/?item_id=71136

Dark Edge Design has all kinds of good tutorials (for a fee.) I can strongly recommend them. The two you will want to get is:

"Figure Creation from ZBrush to Poser" which covers all the basics of building figures in poser. You will also want to get his "Advanced Vehicle Rigging Techniques" which covers lots of mechanical rigging techniques.

For good measure, he has an open vehicle called "SandRail" which you night might want to get as it is a worked example of what you're trying to do. Studying how others solved rigging problems is a good way to learn.

DarkEdges stuff is on another store that ends in DNA for now. Since it's closing, you might want to grab his stuff now before it disappears. DarkEdge also haunts these forums, so he might also pop up with advice on vehicle building.

The best way to learn rigging is to start simple and try it hands-on. For example, take two cubes from the primitives folder. Slave one cube so it turns when the other is moved up and down.

Cheers!

-K

if you have separated parts Props it is the best way to start up rigging a car as it has no bending parts. start assembling the parts in Poser. creating a logical Prop hierarchy, make sure to use the Hierarchy editor to do it by drag and drop the props until you get a good tree. it is the basic of figure creation !! the moment you have the Props in a good Hierarchy mark the main top part that holds all parts together in the editor.

On the bottom right of the editor you will see the option to create a New figure. Click this option and it will save it as figure in poser the path will be in the root New figures of Poser.

Make sure that every Prop has no spaces in there naming else it will not work properly ( Left Door ) must be named LeftDoor. if you have spaces it could cause to lose parts when saving the geometry later on.

you now will find a new figure in the New folder it is boned , and Grouped. Load this new Figure you made and before you work on it save it again in your Librarie as new figure were you want to work with , this stepp is important as it will generate the External geometry file.

now you all ready to rigg your Car. open this file then check every body part disabling Bend in the properties of the bodypart , an important part as a car has no bending parts. when done you will have to start to use the Joint editor found in the Window options of Poser.

When the joint editor is open you can select the bodypart you want to adjust. you will see two lines a red and green one. you have to position the green cross where you want the bending to be. the red cross is not important as you have no bending. use the front and side view to get an exact position of the green center. for a wheel the green cross is in the Center back of the wheel for correct bending and spinning. do this foe every bodypart that will need a correct movement . make also sure that the angle of the green axis fits to the rotations position as the bone is always zero.

by trying these simple starting steps you will slowly get into the things as you will try the options and learn fast. it will not work the first time so just try over and over again until you are content with the results.

most tutorials are complicated using the Setup room witch is not really the place to start off with boning as Poser does automatically in the Hierarchy editor so try it this way and I am sure you will get fast into things.

After the steps having a car Figure same as you asked as assembled props you will have to create the morphs for steering and rotations. I call these Interactive morphs.

to create interactive morphs it is the same as animations! you will need to check the main bodypart of the figure. there on the dial ballete on the upper right click the triangle , and create a new master Parameter.

in the master Parameter you have to record your movements just the same way as creating a clip using your bend morph options of the body-parts that have to be affected. a new Morph start with 1.000 click start recording , move the bodyparts how you want them to be. When done set it to 0.000 and move back the dials you have changed , stop recording and close the master parameter. Done you have a full movable morph for steering or rotations of all wheels.

google

Free freedom Poser Ds

you will find some freebies with tutorials that have these Interactive morphing system you are looking for

Good info there folks, thanks very much! :)

Dependent Parameters is the easy solution. Really easy to use and setup, you just have to think backwards when setting them up.

1. StartTeaching-Dial to 1
2. Move everything to it's destination
3. Dial to Zero-Reset all movement
4. StopTeaching

Good info here, thanks! I also have been trying to rig my cars for Poser, but unsure how to go about it. I will try the separate import of the pieces.:)

@ kanaa

it is also possible to use a static Car , in such a case if you do not use any other Program just wanna do it in Poser go to the grouping Tool after you loaded the Car. now check if the car is already grouped ! Check if the Groups would match your idea of movable parts like Door steering Wheel Wheels etc. in case that it is not grouped you will need to do it manually.

first create a new group in the list for wheel ex. rFrontWheel NO SPACES now paint a few Polygons , then go to Modify grow click grow until the whole wheel is marked red. Do this steps for every Wheel and parts you want to have articulated. Make sure that the Marked polygons for every new group correspond with the Part that you need. You do this until all polygons are filled checking if you have non-grouped -faces.

When done with all parts you can click Spawn Props , it will create for every grouped part a new Prop ! now you can delete the static car that you used to get the new Props. this is an easy beginner way to get the needed Props that you can now use to build your figure like I explained above.

Note: sometimes you want to have parts that will not work by using the grow tool in such a case you will have to paint the polygons manually. try the options Grow shrink mirror , or add materials in groups these help sometimes to work faster. the more you use that little tool the better you will get in creating Figures.

Thanks, Gate. When I open my car as a saved Poser prop, opening the group tool I get a list of all the parts of the model (named in 3d max), including the ones I wish to rig. So, avoid spaces in the names...:) I will be coming back to read this thread many times, lol! If you see my store, you will see what I am after..so far I can only offer rigid Poser Props. Thanks, Glen, for opening this cool thread.

Yes, using spaces screws with code sometimes. Another option you might see or use is underscore. You_Are_Cool. I use this method quite often. It doesn't have to make sense to anyone else...just you, you are rigging it! All that matters is once you are done it works for the you and the end user. I could care less what you call it just point me to the dial that controls it! lol

Jup especially in chain based figure you create with Props to figure when converting it to a figure and you have Prop names Chain 1 chain 2 Chain 3 it will work in the first instance when you save with integrated Geometry , but as soon as you save it again it will extract the geometry canceling the number code of the space you will be left with only one chain part all others will get lost . I usually name the Groups the way I want to have the bodyparts named , Also because when creating a new figure in the Hirarchy Editor it will not read the Groups it will rename the names from the Props as new groups in that figure..

So even if a static Prop is already Grouped you might wanna merge some , or rename these for your own confort , just by creating a new Group then copy the existing group to your created and then delete the original one , this way you also automatically check if all is grouped correctly.

in addition I usually add a Group that has the whole Prop marked red , as I create a new group I reduce that part to the full group this way I see at the end if i missed polygons as the full group should be zero Polygons when done .

just had a look at your Store , Models look good and sure would be worth Rigging some of these , could increase the interests of Poser/DS users. the way of construction of these models would nor require hard rigging , you will just have to get used to the positioning of the center's , just a little training for the eyes :)

it gets a little more complicated when rigging Hydraulic Parts that have to fallow the articulations , Not sure but I think Darkedge made a Tutorial for such a matter. you see these type of Articulations in the Cyber Bot V4 M4 that are well done.

Hydraulic Animation

This is the Z-Whale I started to create the third time I had to make the Groupings but now I finally could start creating the WM Rigging and Facial Expressions. Guess the Mouth movements were the worst part of it all. Weight mapping in Poser is a great feature and seems to work very well.

Just wanted to say that is a damn fine mesh and texturing Gate. My only critical comments would be that some of the topology is a little peculiar (strange smoothed extrusions, almost like poles, circular/star/convergences configurations that don't seem to have any apparent purpose), and the mesh is over subdivided. Especially in light of SubD and the fact that it's probably weight mapped. But... I've seen way stranger topology on some of DinoRaul's models, and his figures are gorgeous IMO. I think your concept and texturing is top notch, the thing would be damn near perfect if it were a little lower res, you could easily lighten it without any structural sacrifices I think. Kudos.

Thank you Eldritch , jup noticed these Convergences I had the mesh done in LW and somehow LW has an issue importing the Grouping when I wanted to overwork the mesh as first I had the subdivision to low so to avoid another grouping I just Subdivided it in Poser LOL well that was the result, Poser seems to add a smoothing level in subdivision that cant be adjusted , sometimes it even generates a nice mesh full of Stars. guess the mesh has now 140'000 Polygons . Actually it was just a Learning scenario at the beginning I thought to rig a asymmetrical mesh to get a better hand on Weight Mapping , the result came out way better then I ever Planed.

Jup I purchased some of hes Models they are neat , but actually I never really tried them out , sometimes I saw some things in the store and just bought to give a little support for the Creator's works , guess I should check once one of these on how the meshes are done and also the rigging :)

ok just started to do some fine tuning on the bending , surprised how well that fish is moving the image shows an extreme bending value of over 45 degrees. glad it did not rip the mesh apart.Still have to rig the Tail fins so just 8 parts to go

Hello Glen,

Read part 3 of my tutorial on Poser Dependent Parameter (See link below). There are some explanations about wheel rotation in this tutorial. I can help you for the setting of dependent parameter. Just contact me via Renderosity site.

Part 3 of the tutorial

Allstereo