Home Technical Talk

how should i rig this sort of hinge?

polycounter lvl 8
Offline / Send Message
Olli. polycounter lvl 8
hinge.PNG

one end is constrained to a stationary object, and the other end has a hydraulic pump to adjust to distance and its constrained to a moving object (which moves around)

so basically i want to know how to rig the hinge thing as seen in the pic above.

Replies

  • BARDLER
    Offline / Send Message
    BARDLER polycounter lvl 12
    Are you using maya?

    All you need to do is set up a few controls, a global, one for the rotation, and one for the pivot of the bluish top piece. Self group the controls to ensure that the get the proper inputs and make sure the pivots are where you want them. Then parent constrain the controls to the needed geometry. Then set up the hierarchy so the top pivot control is parented under the rotation control group.

    If you have no idea what I am talking about then check out some basic rigging tutorials on youtube, cg tutors, or wherever.
  • Olli.
    Offline / Send Message
    Olli. polycounter lvl 8
    sry i should have mentioned im using 3ds max 2013
  • BARDLER
    Offline / Send Message
    BARDLER polycounter lvl 12
    Well then I can do nothing for you lol. Rigging hard surface stuff is really straight forward in Maya, so I am sure a intro rigging tutorial would teach you what you need.
  • Ace-Angel
    Offline / Send Message
    Ace-Angel polycounter lvl 12
    Make a dummy object and rig/link everything to it, so you have a general easy to pick object when moving everything together.

    Now go to each of the pieces you have of the model, and move their pivot. Put their pivot where you want to it to be as the 'base' or 'foot' of your animation.

    Now try and rotate, you will notice your mesh will rotate 'around' the pivot, the pivot will be it's center of movement/gravity now.

    This is the easiest way to do it right off the bat, without any skinning or rigging. This method will not translate to games too well pending the animation/normal movement system in the engine, but for your everyday modeling package, it will work pretty well for quick cheap builds.
  • Olli.
    Offline / Send Message
    Olli. polycounter lvl 8
    what i need for it to be dynamic. I dont want to have to rotate the joint by hand, and i want it to twist accordingly when i move the two ends. the joint is part of a bigger system which is a mechanical lever kind of thing, and i need the joint movement to be procedural whenever i move the lever.

    also, this is for a game so im using bones/dummies and rigging the mesh to it using a skin modifier
Sign In or Register to comment.