Re: rigging in xsi vs maya

[Sergio Mucino]

Hey Angus. As Juhani pointed out earlier, I actually got Rich's course to get me started. After that, it was just a matter of translating my knowledge to Modo-world (which I must say, was not a straight-forward experience, but that doesn't mean bad at all. Actually, I am very pleased with the things I've been able to do in Modo so far). The thing with Modo is that it handles deformations in a very particular way that I had not encountered in any other application. In all applications I've used, deformations are usually normalized. In Modo, this is a choice. Modo relies in what it calls "order of operations" to figure out how an object should deform, ordering them in a deformation stack. I know you'll say "Ah, but Soft and Max do have a deformation stack"... but it's nothing like that, really. You need to use it to understand how it works. It's a very open deformation system, that once you figure it out, it enables you to create some very fancy effects. I'm very pleased with what Modo brings to the table. That being said, Modo still has some way to go in regards to certain tools and workflows. But I'm quite optimistic about what 801 will bring to the table. If you think you'll be doing bipedal characters quite a bit, do yourself a favor and get ACS (http://community.thefoundry.co.uk/store/kits/acs/). It's a kit for Modo that creates ready-to-animate bipedal characters. From all the "auto-rig" systems I've used before, this one is one of the best designed and easiest to understand I've come across. It's quite flexible too. And the developer is extremely friendly and open to suggestions (I'm in constant contact with him). It's really worth the asking price (and more). And the best part is that you can even share your rigs with animators that don't have the kit installed. They will only be missing the nice animation workflows and features in ACS, but the rig remains fully functional. I recently used it to rig a character for a client onto which I added a fake muscle system to create more realistic deformations. I'm adding some Modo rigging material to my Vimeo channel as time permits. I have a couple of videos up, and will be adding more advanced stuff as time allows. I already have a couple of things in mind. You can find it here... http://vimeo.com/channels/336554 I hope this helps a little when it comes to getting grips with rigging in Modo. You can thrown me a PM if you have any further questions. Cheers! On 11/01/2014 4:26 PM, Paul wrote: And I think he's pretty much modo's only rigger.  On 11 Jan 2014, at 13:30, Angus Davidson <angus.david...@wits.ac.za> wrote: Lotta money for a course for modo version 501. Then again he is the guy who helped Modo develop their rigging tools. Any one seen this and can say if its worthwhile ? From: Juhani Karlsson [juhani.karls...@talvi.com] Sent: 11 January 2014 02:49 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: rigging in xsi vs maya Get the Richard Hurreys rigging master course http://community.thefoundry.co.uk/store/riggingmastercourse/ Haven`t seen it myself but it should be ok. On 11 January 2014 13:31, Angus Davidson <angus.david...@wits.ac.za> wrote: Hi Sergio Might I ask what learning materials you use to get to grips with modo rigging or did you figure it out your self. I see DT has just release a new Intro to rigging so it seems to be a more requested subject ;) Kind regards Angus From: Sergio Mucino [sergio.muc...@modusfx.com] Sent: 09 January 2014 05:34 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: rigging in xsi vs maya I've been doing quite a bit of rigging in Modo lately, and I have been very surprised by its capabilities. One thing they do support is heat mapping.  It's quite nice to use, but there are several requirement that need to be met for a mesh to be acceptable for heat binding. I don't know if all heat mapping implementations are based on the same algo(s), and therefore, inherit the same requirements, but here they go (copying/pasting from the docs): --Mesh must form a volume, though holes are supported (such as eye sockets). --Target mesh must be only polygonal, no single vertices, floating edges or curves can be present. --No shared vertices, edges or polygons (non-manifold surfaces) allowed between multiple components. --All joints must be contained within the volume of the mesh. Otherwise, you can still use the available smooth or rigid binding methods. I don't know if any problems you ran into could be due to some of these conditions, but there... just in case. <CUserssergio.mucinoDownloadsSergioMucino_Signature_email.gif> On 08/01/2014 8:31 AM, Sebastien Sterling wrote: One feature i would have loved to see implemented across the board of autodesk products (apart from Alembic which should really just be a new standard by now...) is the heat map algorithm. in theory, is this that difficult to implement in Soft and Max ? apparently it was made by a bunch of students checking up on heat distribution algorithm papers for designing old radiators. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCBx8MjEvvo On paper it looks like the best shit ever, so we of the CHR Dep wanted to use it to test characters for deformation in maya pre rigging. trouble was, apparently its extremely susceptible, and i'm not quite sure to what, topology, mesh density... but in any case a Lead at rigging scripted a small ui allowing us to just bypass most of the checks, making the tech actually usable, and it worked great... until we realised that it actually pops vertices slightly away from their initial position... in fairness we used a script to access these capabilities so maybe that caused the problem, i doubt it but there was tampering, maybe someone else has had more controled experiences with Heat mapping, like i said before it still seems like a really useful addition, On 8 January 2014 10:52, Tim Leydecker <bauero...@gmx.de> wrote: Using a 3DSMax rigged sample character scene from the UDK docs, I made a roundtrip through Maya and Softimage using the *.fbx format. I didn´t try to export any rig controls, just a "human" rig. It´s worth checking to have the latest *.fbx version installed and using an export preset that seems applicable, I think I resorted to "Autodesk Media Entertainment 2012 bla" (im on 2012´s). I can´t say if that was the best way but that roundtrip worked. I ended up with Maya/3DSMax/Softimage each having the rigged, animated character in a scene. In my case, there was some nuisance with the BIPED rig getting interpreted as a second rig the character is rigged to in Softimage, I had to delete that biped in XSI to get back to similar results as in 3DSMax, leaving only the rig meant for export - it is likely that was my export settings or selection settings. I had straight results going from Maya to Softimage. Cheers, tim On 07.01.2014 23:58, Steven Caron wrote: this thread is some what well timed... i am in maya right now. i need to get a mesh and its skin/envelope into softimage. i did not rig this object and i don't know enough about maya to try and understand it through inspection. in softimage i would select the mesh, then select the deformers from envelope, then key frame those objects and remove the constraints on them in mass with 'remove all constraints' is NONE of that doable in maya? cause i am having a hell of a time figuring it out. s -- This communication is intended for the addressee only. It is confidential. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately and destroy the original message. You may not copy or disseminate this communication without the permission of the University. Only authorised signatories are competent to enter into agreements on behalf of the University and recipients are thus advised that the content of this message may not be legally binding on the University and may contain the personal views and opinions of the author, which are not necessarily the views and opinions of The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. All agreements between the University and outsiders are subject to South African Law unless the University agrees in writing to the contrary. -- --  Juhani Karlsson 3D Artist/TD Talvi Digital Oy Pursimiehenkatu 29-31 b 2krs. 00150 Helsinki +358 443443088 juhani.karls...@talvi.fi www.vimeo.com/talvi This communication is intended for the addressee only. It is confidential. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately and destroy the original message. You may not copy or disseminate this communication without the permission of the University. Only authorised signatories are competent to enter into agreements on behalf of the University and recipients are thus advised that the content of this message may not be legally binding on the University and may contain the personal views and opinions of the author, which are not necessarily the views and opinions of The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. All agreements between the University and outsiders are subject to South African Law unless the University agrees in writing to the contrary. --