CompuServe Thread

Harry, Here's the note GreG posted in reply to my question regarding a simple BONE object: I posted up here in case it might be of use to anyone else. ========================================================================= Sharky, Hope this helps……hope you can follow! 1) Add primitive cyliner: radius 10, height 90, circle sec 24, vertical sections 12, no stagger, close top & bot. 2) Add Axis. Move it in the Z axis to Z=30 3) Add Axis. Move it in the Z axis to Z=60 4) Group Axis in 3 to axis in step 2 so that the axis at z=30 is the parent. 5) Group the cylinder to the axis at Z=30. You now have a hierarchically grouped cylinder with 2 BONES. One bone at z=30, one at z=60 6) Select object, pick the Cylinder. Select DRAG mode. Press r-a/5 to be in PICK FACES mode. Keep L-SHIFT key pressed (pick multi-mode) Using the drag box select ALL the cross sections of the cylinder that are above the axis at z=60. Select Make Subgroup and name it TOP-SMALL. Select ALL cross section from the top of the cylinder down up to the cross-section that is just below the axis at z=60. Make this a subgroup and call it TOP-BIG. Select all cross sections from the top down to the cross-section just above the axis at z=30. Call this subgroup BOT-SMALL. Select all cross-sections from top down to the cross section just below the axis at z=30. Call this subgroup BOT-BIG. We just defined 4 subgroups of faces, the top subgroups define which faces the top BONE will affect. The bot subgroups define which faces the bottom axis (axis in the middle) will affect. 7) Be in select object mode (r-a/2). Pick the axis at z=60. Menu command BONES SUBGROUP. For the BIG subgroup name enter or browse the list and enter/select the TOP-BIG subgroup. For the SMALL one enter TOP-SMALL>. Press OK. 8) Be in select object mode (r-a/2). Pick the axis at z=30. Menu command BONES SUBGROUP. For the BIG subgroup name enter or browse the list and enter/select the BOT-BIG subgroup. For the SMALL one enter BOT-SMALL>. Press OK. 9) Press r-a/1 (Group Select mode). Select the Cylinder. Select STATE from the Menu and select CREATE. Keep the name DEFAULT. Click on the GROUPING & SHAPE boxes. Press OK The cylinder is now properly set up. 10) Be in select object mode (r-a/2). Select the middle axis, rotate it in the Y axis (Press 'r', then SHIFT-y). Visually rotate it about 45 degrees. From the Menu select BONES UPDATE. BOOM, it bends. Notice that the bend is not very smooth…thats because we only gave the effective BONE area only two vertical sections to bend. The effected are is defined as the are that are NOT shared by the BIG & SMALL subgroups for each bone. You can make a cylinder with more vertical cross-sections for a smoother bend. To get back to the DEFAULT state just select STATES, select SET TO, then select DEFAULT. -GreG P.S. It may seem overwhelming, but it's quite easy when you know how to do it. ========================================================================= – 70614,2011 @ 29-Jun-1994, 20:14:03 Honolulu, Hawaii Using: Windows NavCIS PRO 1.2