The Simplest Rigging Tutorial In The Universe

[creative madman]

i just wrote a tutorial for a fellow GTAF members, on how to Rig... and being the thoughtful and friendly GTAF member I am, I thought id post it for all of you here.

 

its really simple to rig, everyone seems to be intimidated by trying. i suggest just giving it a go, and in no time you'll be doing it with no problems.

 

Warning:

it will take you a lot of trial and error to work out which verticles go to which bones, but eventually you will get it, and can have GTA SA Quality Pedestrians and player models.

 

While this tutorial is written for pedestrians, the same logic applies for rigging player models, however i may soon be writing a separate guide for player models.

 

Have a look here at My Webpage

[Blackadder.]

Nice tutorial CM, will try it out ASAP, and post my results

 

EDIT: Got a good way through it, then realised I screwed up. I'll try again later

Edited January 19, 2007 by blackadder18

[Gouveia]

Very goos tutorial!

[FLeeF]

Thank You!! I've been searching for a tutorial like this for months. I worked out most of this stuff the hard way through trial and error, but the little details you've included are priceless and answer the final mystery for me.

 

Great job!

 

FLeeF

 

Edit: I look forward to your SA player tutorial. Trying to rig all of the different clumps and body parts is still hit and miss for me -- especially how the game handles the player's materials in relation to which mesh is used.

Edited January 19, 2007 by FLeeF

[92F]

If this is the simplest riging tutorial, whore it as much as possible.

 

Fire it into the tutorial thread

[creative madman]

i tried about 4 times it just wouldnt work. so i just posted it here, maybe one of the mods can move it

[92F]

Weird, should be just a case of creating a new topic...

 

Usually threads have a led-by/mod. Find out who he is and pm him asking it to be moved into the tutorial thread.

[illspirit]

Not to nitpick, as the guide is excellent as it is, but there's a simple way to skip a few steps in it...

 

After reshaping the new mesh to match the rig, go into poly/face level in the rig's mesh, select all the faces (might want to assign them a material id of 20 or something in case reselection is needed). Then attach the new mesh from the editable-mesh level, go back to face/poly mode, and delete the old faces (hopefully still/only selected, if not select by mat-id 20 from the last bit in parenthesis). Just be sure all (or none) of the verts and polys are selected now before going back into the skin modifier.

 

Not only can one skip x-form'ing and such, but most of the envelopes from an auto-skinned import will remain intact. Vert weights will need some touching up (especially around the joints and pelvis), and there will probably be a few renegade verts the old envelopes missed, but otherwise the skinning is like 80% ready to go.

[creative madman]

 

Not to nitpick, as the guide is excellent as it is, but there's a simple way to skip a few steps in it...

 

After reshaping the new mesh to match the rig, go into poly/face level in the rig's mesh, select all the faces (might want to assign them a material id of 20 or something in case reselection is needed). Then attach the new mesh from the editable-mesh level, go back to face/poly mode, and delete the old faces (hopefully still/only selected, if not select by mat-id 20 from the last bit in parenthesis). Just be sure all (or none) of the verts and polys are selected now before going back into the skin modifier.

 

Not only can one skip x-form'ing and such, but most of the envelopes from an auto-skinned import will remain intact. Vert weights will need some touching up (especially around the joints and pelvis), and there will probably be a few renegade verts the old envelopes missed, but otherwise the skinning is like 80% ready to go.

cheers for that bit of knowledge, i was unaware of that method...ive done a similar thing in the past when in Zmodeler 2, so i can understand it. i'll rig up a model and alter the tutorial.

 

cheers mate.

 

@92F: even weirder is the fact that the topic has now shown up in tutorial section... <shrug>

[AK-73]

I'd add that I usually start by binding all verts to the root bone. That way, when at the end of the process there's still a vertex bound to the root bone, I know that I have missed some vertices and retouch the skin until no vertex is any longer under the influence of the root bone.

 

Alex

[Drizz]

Says

 

[import Aborted]

This is a Non-Standard DFF!

 

 

Huh?..

[Krailer]

@Drizz: Yeah, the latest Kam's I/O scripts only allow you to import original .dff files, custom ones (e.g. Zmodeler exported) won't import.

 

The only workaround that I know of is by exporting in 3DS format.

 

@creative madman: This is a quote from your tut:

 

# select the verticles which make up the mesh of one of the several bones (for example head)

 

# select the head bone in the bones selection box

 

# in the weight properties, ensure that the weight is set to 1.0 and the rigid box is ticked

 

# press the paint weights button

Should one repeat the process for each bone? And is there still the need of moving all those axis to shape the envelopes and such?

 

Thanks.

 

 

[creative madman]

@AK-73: funnily enough, i actully included a step like this (except with Spine) in the origional tutorial but i took it out, becuase i thought it would confuse people.

 

i might have to reintroduce this step

 

@Drizz: if Krailer is correct (as im sure he is) i cant really help you with that, i havnt updated the 3Ds or Kams Scripts i use since i got it working.

 

@Krailer: yeah, repeat the process, as in, if you select all the foot verticles select the foot bone, paint weight 1.0 rigid, etc

 

as for moving the axis to shape the envelopes and all that, i've never had to personally, ive been able to skin pretty much perfect without messing with that.

 

 

cheers to all for your feedback

[Drizz]

Yeap. The tut worked, thanks a lot.

 

But now, I just realized that after rigging and making the .dff compatible, I forgot to f*ckin' skin it. O_O Or do I skin it after?.. 'cause the model consists of two elements with two different skins. . . Bandanna and the ped.

 

What am I doing? O.o;

 

Skinless model:

http://www.freewebs.com/kelsbasement/lsv3.dff

 

Ped:

 

Bandanna:

[creative madman]

looking at your DFF it contains atleast two textures, LSV3 and Neckcross

 

so make a TXD file with your texture and the neck cross textures with the corresponding names..

 

 

this tutorial is for RIGGING a single mesh, not modeling or UV mapping, or creating of textures

 

please in future, attempt to have your model in working order BEFORE you begin to rig it, so i can avoid being asked questions about UV mapping, texturing and modeling.

 

thank you all for your interest, but please its fairly straight forward, try to do it before asking me

[Drizz]

Aye, thanks. :3 I'll figure out what's up from here.

 

<3

 

 

Elllllmaaaaooo LMFAO

 

I tried my model in-game, doubting that it will even work. But it didn't crash the game. >< I realized that when I got tired of rigging and just rigged parts to random bones in 3Ds Max, it actually did an impact on the model.

 

Looks like a f*ckin'... I don't know who but it's f*cking funny to see it running in-game. Plus, the left leg, which I rigged to the part "Left Arm" in 3Ds max now slowly moves up and down, it's f*cking hilarious to see it live.

 

 

Nah, I'm not completely giving up on modeling, now that I found that my model does work in-game. Just next time I make one - I won't go random on rigging. Lol.

Edited January 26, 2007 by Drizz

[creative madman]

alright, so apart from verticles that were assigned on the wrong place, u are on the right track.

 

regardless of my statement of not helping with topic-irelevent problems, the bandana around the neck is caused by the playermodel to pedestrian model conversion.

 

player models ignore texture names, and use the topmost texture in the TXD that is paired with it by the game.

 

so basically your bandana needs to have a texture assigned to it again.

 

i would strongly suggest using something like Zmodeler, sorting you model (PROPERLY) so that you have ONE single mesh, and all of this mesh is assigned with a texture.

 

THEN attempt to rig it

 

[AK-73]

 

@AK-73: funnily enough, i actully included a step like this (except with Spine) in the origional tutorial but i took it out, becuase i thought it would confuse people.

 

i might have to reintroduce this step

 

 

I would suggest a different solution: maybe we folks in here should write a follow-up tutorial. Like, "Rigging TIps & Tricks" or "Advanced Character Rigging". This should then include "things that can go wrong and how to fix them."

 

Alex

[ceedj]

This is a REALLY good tut.

 

 

Still needs a bunch of work, but the tut is appreciated.

 

I would LOVE it if maybe you could discuss some wieght painting tips specific to the SA models. One thing I'm uncertain of is how to determine which verti to attach to which bone. Another is really which bones should I use? It mentions in the tut that you don;t need to use them all, so based on a peds movement, which bones should I use, which relates to my previous question. I'd also be happy to hear more about Illspirit's "shortcut", and if that can be applied when converting VC peds to SA peds.

 

Anyway, thanks again. Great job!

[Blackadder.]

I haven't attempted this since last time, I really should do it soon It's a great tut though

 

ceedj: Looks really good in SA! Most VC/lC peds don't look very good in SA (depends on how well you convert them)

[KinkyJedi]

Yea in response to ceedj's comments i agree......a list of the bones that you should use and ones that dont really matter would be great. Like for example i just used Head, Neck, Hands, Thighs, Calfs, Upper Arms, Forearms, Hands, Feet and Spine. I didnt think jaw was needed for a ped due to no mouth animation but what do i know....i would be able to find out but my models have 2 textures and i have to assign them as sub materials or something, illspirit told me but i havnt tried it yet....... but yea its a great tut.......but it needs a list of which bones you should use for peds and maybe one for character parts, obviously a pic of which verticles should be assigned for each bone would be great but i dont think thats so important

 

Great tut though, n1 .......interested to see how indepth this goes

 

Kinky x

Edited February 2, 2007 by KinkyJedi

[ceedj]

Been messing around with this some more...

 

 

I still need to work out some of the weight stuff, but it's coming along. I'm hoping some of our more experienced triangle makers will chime in with some tips and tricks on that, just so that the animations are smoother.

 

Attaching the breasts on the chicks was funny, as they bounce a bit when they run...

 

EDIT: I AM having an issue with the girls feet being in the ground. I even lined them up with an imported male ped, but still they sink. Anyway to fix this without starting over from scratch?

Edited February 3, 2007 by ceedj

[KinkyJedi]

Well im no expert but if peds are anything like guns, and alot of other models, youll need to go into the hierarchy tab and move her around whilst experimenting with the "Affect Pivot Only" and "Affect Object Only" buttons, i think its the latter, select that and move the object in relation to the pivot......

 

That should do it......if your using 3DS MAX that is......if your using ZMod i dont know caus ive never used it before.....also you shouldn't have to do any of the rigging again either......just import the .dff, move it around and then export it again

 

Hope that helps

 

Kinky x

[Suction Testicle Man]

It didn't appear in the Tutorial Forum because everything has to be approved there first - you should read the messages that appear after posting. I'm moving this there now and have deleted the one that was actually approved in there.

[ceedj]

Just found this in another topic. Should help greatly; can someone edit the pinned 3DS Max resource topic and add this link?

 

Psykopat's Skin Modifier Tutorial

 

It uses Jedi Knight Acadamy, but the setup is very similar to how the actors in the GTA games are rigged. Hope this helps someone.

Edited February 4, 2007 by ceedj

[jshell]

@madman , can u make 1 on cs models?

[creative madman]

It didn't appear in the Tutorial Forum because everything has to be approved there first - you should read the messages that appear after posting. I'm moving this there now and have deleted the one that was actually approved in there.

haha, thanks alot, yeah i saw that message, but it flashed like super fast in front of my eyes, i dunno weather thats becuase of my internet or becuase of the server, but it was gone before i got a chance to read it

hahah

 

thats why u probably recieved about 8 attempts to post it becuase i was clicking back to try and read it

 

ill keep that in mind but cheers

 

at Jshell: nothing is stopping u from converting a CS model aslong as u dont release it becuase thats a breach in the EULA i think..

 

i would suggest modifying ur model in Zmodeler1, its free, and easy (thats what i use) to create and modify your models, and UV mapping, and then just rig with 3Ds Max

[jp245]

im sorry but i already pmed cm and he dont reply back so i am asking this here does this work for gmax if it does can you tell me what steps work in it becaus i tried and i cant seem to get it to work

[Lurven]

Nice tutorial!

[DemonKing]

dude wheres the vertex mode in Gmax?