Puppeteer
Hi Chris
Well to be honest with you I have given up on Puppeteer for the time being.
Just recently I upgarded to 1.05 and I am still experiencing the same problems
I had in 1.02. But since your asking I try to retrace the steps that caused the
problems.
Scaling problem #1.
Starting with VIEWPOINT MALE Skeleton mesh in the 3-D editor, I established
a relationship between the number of mesh (30) object and the # of links (21)
in the KICK.IPT DATA. Next, I enter Puppeteer load KICK and import all the
Skeleton mesh objects which require scale reduction. OOPS, It seem I can only
scale one object at a time in Puppeteer. So inorder to keep the correct scale
relationship between mesh objects in the skeleton. I repeat the the above
proceedure, but import one object at a time (skull mesh first). Then select the
skull to scale.
# Problem A: Tab key has no affect on scaling direction indicator. Although
the scaling Box around the skull does.
# Problem B: When I TAB the Box from 2D to 3D scaling I get erratic and
unpedictable results, usually a 2-D scaling in unknown directions.
I gave up on this process due to problem B and the number of objects requiring
scaling.
Next, I tried Scaling the entired Skeleton in the 3-D editor and repeated the
above procedure for importing the entire scaled mesh. And this seemed to work
ok except that the 30 Skeleton objects were exploded. Gave up on this
procedure!
Finally, I decided to create my own puppet to match the Skeletons' scale. I
established nodes/links/joints(disabled) and created a Puppet. It looked good.
So, I established motion of arms and legs on the Puppet over 60 frames.
It looked good. Next, I tied the 30 Mesh objects to the appropriate Links and
Nodes on the Puppet. It seem that parts of my Skeleton would disappear during
motion in
Puppeteer and after exporting it out to the Key Framer.
Chris Thomas, I really believe Puppetter is a FANTASTIC Inverse Kinematic
program for 3DS and would be very thankful for any help you can give me and put
me back on track with Puppeteer.
Respectfully
George Mendoza