Lightwave Leg IK Tutorial

A more advanced Lightwave tutorial which demonstrates how to create a solid leg setup in version 9.2

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• lightwave
• tutorial
• IK
• rigging
• leg
• 3D
• animation
• setup
• advanced

[00paranoimia00]

is not working :(

i cvt skelegons into bones from modeler and parented and turn on the IK and weight maps.. but is not working, the character doesn't move with the bones

even the bones move if i put a null goal

what am i doing wrong :(

Thanks~~~

[bugzilla2001]

It sounds like you have not activated the bones yet. Select all the bones and hit 'r' to activate.

Also, use the bone tools in Layout. They are way better than Skelegons.

[WanagiAkicita]

I built my first skeleton, but when I activate the bones, my character's body wraps around the headbone, and he looks like a voo doo doll of himself sitting on top of a skeleton. What am I doing wrong?

[bugzilla2001]

Sounds like you have not activated all the bones. Select the root bone, press 'r', press down arrow to select the next bone, press 'r'. Keep doing this until all the bones have been activated.

[WanagiAkicita]

I saw that in your reply to Cyrielmartens and I tried it. It made no difference. I do think I may have been wrong to make his head bone the root bone. I deleted the head and neck bones and did the r thing again, and he wrapped around the upper torso bone, the next one in the hierarchy. I'm gonna try deleting his entire spine and starting it from his waste instead of his head, and maybe making seperate hierarchies for all his limbs, with seperate parents. Is there anything else I should try?

[bugzilla2001]

I'm not sure what kind of creature you are trying to rig, but making the head the root bone would only be useful for a snake. Make the pelvis the root of the heirarchy. Maybe you could post a video response since I am having a hard time imagining what the problem is.

[chicklessPRO]

HGey, I'm an amatuer-type lightwave user. You seem to know what you're doing, so I'd like to know how to adapt the IK options so that the bones move, but don't deform a rigid character like a robot. If you could send some instructions or post a video, that would be very helpful. Thanks.

[tndStudios]

I just wanted to say that after several months of using this leg setup, I found myself wondering how I could even animate without it. No more darned IK pop is definitely a lifesafer in my animation processes. I have so much more flexibility in my characters now and I owe you a lot of credit :)

[superboss1995]

what key you pressed

[tndStudios]

Thanks for the tutorial, I'm definitely going to have to try this setup for my characters. I just find it really painful to do walk cycles with my current setup.

[Airdorn]

Great tutorial!

Question: Can you use these simple IK tools to setup a piston, connecting rod, and crankshaft animation?

Ie, the piston pushes down, turning the crankshaft via the connecting rod.. so the connecting rod would rock back and forth as the crankshaft turns.

Possible?

[WanagiAkicita]

The new tutorial did it for me. People watching this video: bugzilla2001's Jan 7th video entitled Bone Rigging Problems in Lightwave #1 is the best bone tutorial ever made. It's done step by step, and every step is explained in detail, the way tutorials should be. bugzilla2001 beats 3D Garage, in my book.

[WanagiAkicita]

Oh, right after I posted this, I did a YouTube search for Lightwave Bone Tutorial, and found your new one. I favorited it, and I'm going to watch it over and over with my layout open, working on this till I get it right. When I get it right, I'll post a comment on the new tutorial what I was doing wrong.

[WanagiAkicita]

I started from scratch, with a capsule object. I made it a skeleton of 5 bones, did the r thing, turned on the bones and enabled deformations. Well, it got better, the mesh only wrapped around 2 of the bones this time, instead of 1. Everbody who animates knows the answer to this problem, else they wouldn't be able to animate, like I can't. I only need one person to tell me, so I'll also know the answer.

[WanagiAkicita]

I went ahead and made the video response with my camera, because I haven't made up my mind which screen capture I want, and I really need to get past this skeleton problem, so I can animate. The problem with using the camera for this is I had to operate the camera, the keyboard and the mouse with only two hands, so there are some cuts in there, from when I was changing views and stuff. I'll post that response, as soon as it processes.