nCloth Muscles and skin

[SkilledClips]

ronnie coleman

[speffects]

I wrote a book on it instead, Maya Creature Feature Creations. A tutorial just cant cover it all.

[SilentAssassin1991]

Can you do a tutorial on this?

[xpez]

Bet this one armed thing wishes it had a thumb.

[Toca91]

One word: Tutorial!!!!!!!!

[durrr123]

what does this do to render time?

[speffects]

@durrr123 It doesn't affect render time at all. You are only rendering the final skin geometry so their is no difference.

[TheIcemanModdeler]

Pretty interesting way of using maya ncloth, so the muscles are skinned and set as a collider for the ncloth?

[speffects]

@TheIcemanModdeler The muscle are never "skinned" per say. They are setup as collisions and the skin is attached to them.

[Imhotep397]

This is a really cool setup method. I'm wondering if there are video tuts on the various ways to use nCloth for skinning? (Gnomon, Digital Tutors?) The thing that struck me most is that the skin looks like it's shrink wrapped on the nCloth muscles, but I thought that was only possible using the actual muscle system. Hopefully you can point me in the right direction for how to get more info about this.

[speffects]

@Imhotep397 @Imhotep397 I don't know about video tutorials but I wrote a book on the subject. You can do a shrink wrap type operation with any of the simulation tools.

[Imhotep397]

@speffects So...what's the title of the book and where might I be able to find it?

[speffects]

@Imhotep397 Its called Maya Feature Creature Creations. You can get it on amazon or my site speffects.

[goodvibrato]

definitely looks promising, but the side of the arm looks like it's in a constant state of flex instead of flexing and relaxing.

[kakabukkake0]

i hope you dont want to work for pixar

[squirtingbuttholes3]

why not use a muscle system?

[speffects]

@squirtingbuttholes3

nCloth is used for the skin for two reasons. The number one reason is because it provides better more dynamic looking skin. The skin pulls, stretches, and bunches naturally. Second is that it is actually easier to setup. You do not have to paint multiple weights maps for multiple effects. The nCloth skin is all inclusive.

[alessio11]

how the ncloth is used here ?

[speffects]

@alessio11

The skin is the active nCloth object and the muscles are nCloth rigid objects.

[alessio11]

@speffects

That make perfect sense ! thanks budy, nice job !

PS: the wrap tutorial on your website is broken...

Cheers

[speffects]

@alessio11

Yes, thank you. It is on my list of things to do today. I think they are all broken.

[alessio11]

@speffects

It's alright, just asking ! :)

I will give it a go trying ncloth with muscles, looks pretty good so far !

Is it slow ? i guess so

[speffects]

@alessio11

Yes, it is slow. Obviously the more muscles you add and the denser your skin geometry is the slower it gets. For animating though you can turn off the solver and just run the muscles. You can even add a lores skin bind on them just so you can see the actual character.

[y0utuve]

nice

[ErrorrPerfect]

its a brute arm from halo 3 lol

[yoneverknow123]

im 12 years old now and i have started maya just a week ago

so i will know the full functionality wen im 14

plz check my rickshaw model

[speffects]

I checked out your rickshaw model. Nice work! You are off to a great start. Keep adding to the rickshaw and see how detailed you can get it. Having an eye for detail is key to becoming a great modeler! Great stuff dont stop.

[yoneverknow123]

thanks!!!

[linuxva]

Nice stuff ! Amazing ! Do u have a tut for this ? U use regular muscle system with Ncloth for skin ?

[LilGunner030]

looks like a Gekko leg on seteroids from MGS4

[2008August30]

Nice skinning but there doesnt seem to be any expansion in the bicep when he flexes.

[TheIcemanModdeler]

@2008August30 simple fix he just needs to create a blendshape.

[Werock4roll]

how long did it take you to learn maya?

[speffects]

I started Maya in 2000. I learn something new about Maya every month. It is a huge program. What is so great about it is that it gives you the nuts and bolts and you figure out how to put stuff together. This also makes it harder to learn, but well worth the investment. I would say the normal learning curve to utilize Maya properly is about 2 years. You can certainly start building stuff before two years but it takes a while to learn all of its functionality.

[Werock4roll]

thanks for the quick response, I'm in the process of learning maya now, i hope to be at your talent someday.

[threelegduck]

i want to learn to animate a worm based on it's muscle structure, but i don't know maya. you're saying it will take me 2 years? where do you think i should start for such a project? i know some people who are animators, but i want to at least get something going myself @ least putting together a 3d scaffold before going for their help.

[speffects]

It will most likely take you 2 years to become familiar with all aspects in Maya. Of course it depends on how much knowledge you are coming in with and time you invest. You can get stuff working in Maya quickly but to really understand and manipulate its nodes takes a lot longer. You don't always have to know these things but for higher level stuff like muscles and skin it is important. If you are dedicated and participate in forums you can learn quickly.

[Consumerofknowledge]

@speffects I love muscles, especially 3D muscles. Maya is a bethemoth of a 3D software package. I plan on learning everything about it, which will take time, but I consider it worth it.

[ErikRicardoLC]

Awesome!!!

How you deal with textures?

Maya Ncloth can be done from polys?

[speffects]

Yes, nCloth is done from polygons. You can texture the polygon skin just as you would normally.

[ErikRicardoLC]

Thanks for your quick answer. I will try to make the same premise in 3ds max, the cloth simulation in Max is time expensive but if I can achive such results...

[ryanbrown321]

very nice. looks great

[hfdgdfigdfgdf]

damn where did you get muscles

[NosferatuAaacaado]

theyre only in maya 2009 unlimited