ZB_18 (Part 2 ): Rigging Julie model using ZSpheres 4K
Alright! Let's continue on with rigging!
Rigging gives the mesh a frame or support structure to allow for posing and movement.
Just like human skeleton, rigs either hold the model in place or moves it,
Once a model is rigged, I can always reset and pose or even animate it using Layers.
Let's go back to where we stopped in the tutorial and delete the bounding boxes.
Click to select each bounding box and delete them.
How should I pose the model? I want the arms to get out of the way,
so that they will not interfere with Dynamics feature later on.
It should be a simple rig where I can just raise the arms
leaving all the other parts of the body in place.
This method of rigging is only used for models with 1 Subtool.
Unlike some models which contain multiple Subtools, Transpose master will help
transform all the other Subtools to match the rigged model.
However, in this tutorial I am not going to use Transpose Master.
Just rigging 1 Subtool with ZSphere.
See how the swimming suit matches the pose of the body using Transpose Master?
Now, let's prepare Julie's Body Subtool for rigging.
Check the Subdivision levels under Geometry.
At the highest level, there should be 1.4 million active points.
At Subdivision level 5, Click on Make PolyMesh3D to extract just this body Subtool.
What I have here is only the highest subdivision of Julie's body Subtool,
without all the lower subdivisions.
So I am going to regenerate the lower Subdivisions.
Go under Geometry. Then Reconstruct Subdivision.
Click until you reach about 5K Active points.
When rigging, low subdivision is easier to rig and keeps ZSpheres number low.
After rigging the low subdivision mesh, the rig can then
be transferred to a more detailed, high resolution mesh.
But why can't we rig a high resolution mesh directly? and what's the difference between
rigging a high resolution mesh and low resolution mesh?
Take for example this Julie Model with a high resolution swimming suit mesh.
The number of points are so high that when I rig the model with a basic skeletal layout,
The low number of ZSpheres are unable to hold the dense swimming suit mesh.
So more ZSpheres would be required to hold the swiming suit mesh in place.
While this low subdivision mesh with only about 1K active points,
rigged with the same number of ZSpheres and layout,
can hold and move the mesh without affecting the swimming suit.
There are no unwanted artefacts pulled off by the arm ZSpheres at the waist or armpit.
For the dense swimming suit mesh, I had to add 2 sets of ZSpheres.
1 at the waist and 1 at the armpit.
just to hold the swimming suit and straps in place.
It is the same concept as, the lower the resolution, the wider the area
affected by a single point.
So low resolution requires less ZSpheres to handle the points.
The higher the resolution, the smaller the area affected by a single point.
So, more ZSpheres would be needed to hold and move the mesh.
Why not increase the size of the ZSpheres instead?
A large ZSphere here being pulled upwards compared to a small ZSphere,
the result is relatively similar. At the moment, it doesn't make a difference.
Now that we understand how rigs work using ZSpheres,
Let's switch the active tool to Zsphere and start rigging.
Add in the mesh I want to rig. Go under Rigging > Select Mesh >
and Click on PM3D_Julie.
You will see a transparent low resolution Julie extracted and resized previously.
Now let me introduce you to the 4 keys needed to control Zspheres.
Q to Draw, W to Move, E to Scale and R to Rotate.
Usually I just place my fingers over these keys and switch between the fingers.
Pinky finger to draw.
Ring finger to Move.
Middle finger to Scale.
Pointer finger to Rotate.
Alternatively, CTRL key can be used to switch between these buttons.
Draw out a Zsphere. Then press Shift to snap to the previous size.
Press Alt and tap on ZSphere to delete. Alt Delete only works when Draw mode is on.
Draw another new ZSphere. Press Shift to snap.
Press and hold CTRL to switch from Draw mode to Move mode.
Without lifting the stylus after drawing, drag right to move ZSphere to the right.
Without lifting the stylus again, REPRESS CTRL to switch to Scale mode.
Drag down to scale down, Drag up to scale up.
Let's do this one more time,
this time drawing a long chain.
Draw a new ZSphere, Snap to size.
Press Ctrl. Drag right.
Release all and repeat.
Drag downwards to draw. Shift to Snap. Ctrl to move.
Repeat these steps to draw more.
There's another interesting way to draw using CTRL button.
Draw out a single new ZSphere then press CTRL 3 times without lifting your pen.
You can go wild and draw a 3D bezier line freely.
ZSpheres would be added in between the chains automatically.
On top of that, it's pressure sensitive!
So the harder you press, the bigger the ZSpheres are,
the lighter you press, the smaller the ZSpheres are.
The different colours are the different polygroups incorporated into the
ZSphere chains, after each change of size.
In this tutorial, I am going too use the simple QWER method. Nothing too wild!
Now that we know 3 ways to add and manipulate ZSpheres,
Let's start rigging from the neck.
Press E to scale. Click center and drag up to scale down.
Press W to move.
Press E to scale again.
Zoom in. Ctrl, Right Click, Hover right.
Press W to move it slightly.
Press X to turn on symmetry.
Q to draw but the Draw size is too big so the 2 brushes are overlapping.
Change the draw size to 1.
Now, they are not overlapping,
Click and drag to add 2 symmetrical Zspheres.
Press Shift to snap to the previous size and W to move.
Q to Draw. Shift to Snap. W to Move.
W to move.
Q to draw. Shift to snap.
W to move.
Q to draw. Shift to snap. W to move.
E to Scale.
Another Zsphere to the hand.
X to turn off symmetry.
W to move.
Q to add. Shift to snap.
W to move.
R to test out rotating the arms.
Moving the arms without shoulder joint looks unnatural.
Try moving the shoulder chain.
Looks ok.
Let's try moving it with the mesh.
Go under Rigging , Click on Bind mesh.
Oops! Press X to deactivate symmetry.
It works fine, except the body and legs are moving together with the arm.
The body needs it's own rigging to hold the mesh.
Press Q to draw. Shift to snap.
W to move.
Pull out a spine chain to the hip.
Press Q to draw. X to activate symmetry.
Shift to snap.
and W to move.
Check from the side.
Q to add. Shift to snap. New joints for the buttocks.
move the hip joint backwards to support to buttocks.
Repeat the same process until you reach the feet.
Press R for rotate. Test out rotating the hip ZSphere.
Rotate to the front and back.
Try with mesh. Rigging > Bind mesh.
Front and back.
Arms? The chest area needs more support to hold the mesh.
Let me add some more ZSpheres at the chest area.
Oops! I forgot to unbind mesh. Go under Rigging > Bind mesh.
Remember to unbind mesh after binding to edit the ZSpheres.
Alternate tap on joint to delete the Zsphere added before unbinding mesh.
Click again to add a joint between the chest.
Press X for symmetry. Shift to snap.
W to move.
Move backwards to create a cage like rib.
Press Q. Add more joints until a rib is formed.
Press R to rotate and now, raising the arms shouldn't affect the body.
Hmm..wrong joint.
The shoulder joint looks more natural.
Lightly tap to select either to rotate the joint or the chain.
Let's generate a Polymesh3D with this pose.
Adaptive skin > Density 5 ,
the same as the number of subdivision levels.
Slide down the Dynamesh resolution to 0 and click Preview or Press A.
Dynamesh can always be done after the new polymesh is generated.
That's not necessary for now.
This is the Preview of a high resolution Polymesh,
the resolution is controlled by the Density slider.
Notice the Active points are 1.4 million, the same as Subdivision level 5 before rigging.
All that's left to do is click on Make Adaptive Skin under Adaptive skin Tab.
A high resolution Polymesh3D will be extracted and
available for editing under the Toolbox window.
That's all for this rigging stage, but I am going to continue on with Layers tutorial
by showing you how reset, record and replay the poses.
I thought I could finish rigging and layers in
one tutorial but it seems like this video is getting way too long.
If you like my tutorial, please give me a like and subscribe.I'll see you in the next video!
Adios!