#Puppeteer… How Good?
8 messages in this thread
Folks,
I'm on my annual fall spendathon and I have a question for anyone who
is familar with or uses Puppeteer in their work. I find the IK module in R4
very unfriendly and unintuitive to use for character stuff. But I definately
want to use the
IK method of animating. At this time I don't have access to motion capture
although who know in the future.
How much better (if at all) is Puppeteer as an IK solution ? I intend
to use it with Bones PRo to animate single piece meshes that are created with a
Metaball program (OrganiX). Or can the latest version handle single piece
meshes itself ?
Is the latest version as 'Buggy' as the original version ? Can it do
hand/finger or foot animations ? It seemed from the demo on the Schreiber Disk
that this could not be done.
Any informed opinions will go a long way ……..
Brendan G.
I have been using Puppeteer here at Metrolight for the last 3 weeks. I cannot
say I have used it so much for IK use, but for motion capture I have found that
it works quite well. I have run into a few snags along the way, and with the
assistance of the very very helpful folks over at 4D Vision (aka Schreiber),
the program has performed excellent. If you want more info on what I have done
or help, just drop me some email.
Christopher Ryan
Metrolight Studios
Chris,
<<I have been using Puppeteer here at Metrolight for the last 3
weeks.>>
Thanks for the response. I guess whether the motion is derived from a motion
file or manually keyed in won't really matter. Are you able to apply the
motion to a seamless mesh ? Or do you use jointed geometry ?
Brendan G.
Currently I am using it on a jointed mesh, which is what this project required.
But, I have tested Puppeteer on a seamless mesh in conjunction with Bones Pro.
Puppeteer has a function call PUPPET MESH, which basically creates bones
matching the puppet you have created, which will match your mesh (I am
simplifying the process a bit). You can export these bones to the keyframer
and use them with your original mesh with Bones Pro.
Christopher Ryan
Metrolight Studios
Chris,
Thanks for the response.
<< I have tested Puppeteer on a seamless mesh in conjunction with Bones Pro.
Puppeteer has a function call PUPPET MESH>>
That sounds very interesting… May be just what I need. I've been
experimenting with the demo and I really like the 'Lock Node' function. Thanks
for your help.
Brendan G.
No problem. Any time.
Christopher Ryan
Metrolight Studios
Chris,
Good to see ya up on the forum helping out!
Did you get the rotational data taken care of?
Later,
Ralph
I guess I had to start sometime. Anyways 4D/Schreiber is working on it for me.
In the mean time I have come up with a somewhat work around.
Christopher Ryan
Metrolight Tech