Optional module - Maxon Computer
Optional module - Maxon Computer
Optional module - Maxon Computer
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
174 CINEMA 4D R11 Quickstart – MOCCA<br />
No part of the polygon mesh should be moved after the “Skin Object” is turned off. This means that the actiation<br />
of the Skin Object itself constitutes a deformation. However, we want the deformation of the polygon mesh<br />
to be caused by the character’s movement. Try turning the Skin Object off. The mesh will jump away from the<br />
joints. This can, however, be rectified in just a couple of steps:<br />
Leave the Skin Object turned off and move the Pole Vector back up (Y-direction) until it is at the same height<br />
as the elbow (as viewed from the front). You will see that the joints will abandon their position and that the<br />
polygon mesh will ignor this alltogether. Unfortunately our joints no longer have the correct position and<br />
protrude through the mesh.<br />
This can be rectified by selecting the “Joint Object.3.Target” and “Hand.Target” objects and moving them<br />
slightly forward and down. Use the perspective view to make sure that the joints are back within the mesh.<br />
Now click on the “Weight” tag to the right of the “body” mesh in the Object Manager and go to the “Joints”<br />
tab. Select all three joints and select the “Tag” tab. Click on “Set Pose” and you’re done. Now our mesh no<br />
longer jumps when the Skin Object is turned on and our Pole Vector is where we want it - derectly below the<br />
“elbow joint”.<br />
Although joints in R11 are generally faster than in R10.x, you can speed things up further in the editor by setting<br />
the Skin object’s “Type” (Object tab) to “Linear” (remember the Skin object from before? It’s a child object of<br />
the deforming mesh that takes over the deformation for the joints). The “Linear” deformation is calculated faster<br />
than the “Spherical” method, but the results are not as good. “Spherical” achieves better results by preventing<br />
the mesh from shrinking. Simply switch the “Type” back to “Spherical” before rendering your animation.<br />
4. Quick Tutorial – Visual Selector<br />
Next, we’ll take a look at the Visual Selector, which is designed to save you time when selecting your character’s<br />
controller objects. Suppose you’ve fully rigged your character and you’re ready to animate. At the top in the<br />
Object Manager, you have your hand and foot targets, and nested deep within the hierarchy are the Morph tags,<br />
Pole Vectors, hip and head joints, target for eyes, and so on. Finding the various controls can slow you down<br />
substantially while you are animating. As a character animator, you’ll want to concentrate on the essentials so<br />
that you can quickly take the next step without having to rummage around for the tools you need.<br />
This is where Visual Selector can help. With Visual Selector, you only need to search for the controllers once:<br />
when you create your Visual Selector interface.<br />
Start a new scene (File/New) and add a cube (Objects/Primitive/Cube). In principle, it doesn’t matter which<br />
object you choose because the Visual Selector tag can go on any object. In the Object Manager, right-click on<br />
the cube and choose Character Tags/Visual Selector to add a Visual Selector tag to the cube. The Visual Selector<br />
interface opens automatically. Here we can see the default Visual Selector background with a character in front<br />
in a typical character setup pose with enlarged hands and feet.