Rigging Rigid Objects (a simple door)

My googling has failed me...I've found a bunch of bone tutorials that get into flexable materials, but I'm trying to figure out how to rig a simple door.
Screen Shot 2018-11-12 at 1.19.12 AM.png

The door is a seperate object from the case. I tried just making it a child object, but then I exported the thing (as fbx) and imported it into Daz, and the door was not where it was supposed to be, so I assume that's not the way to do it.
 
The set-up is pretty easy - not to figure out what DAZ wants or expected as animation data. I tried FBX+Collada; geometry is fine but no keyframes so far and the origin points are reset so the hinge of the door is lost so far. Trying to update the DAZ junk and see if there´s any difference. Will take a while it seems.
DoorOpens.gif


Cheers
Frank
 

Attachments

  • BoxOpenDoor.jas.zip
    6.6 KB · Views: 220
Ok - no luck with FBX. At least Collada retains origin points - but again no animation keyframes transferred. I added 3 (close/open/close) and save as DAZ scene file:
Maybe this will help you out.

Cheers
Frank
 

Attachments

  • DoorOpenShut.duf.zip
    8.4 KB · Views: 208
I don't have Daz installed so can't test. But if regular key framing isn't working when exported to FBX or Collada, how about skinning? Using a single joint with binding to the door, and animating the joint?
 

Attachments

  • BoxOpenDoor-Skinning.zip
    6.8 KB · Views: 211
Thanks pegot; that extra step seems to work although DAZ is still nagging about "non uniform scale detected" and no "root-joint" found. But animation runs: (y)
OpenBox.gif


Cheers
Frank
 
Wow.. thanks for the much more work than I expected....Guess this isn't as simple as I thought it would be....

i had major root canal surgery today, so I'll look this over in more depth tomorrow :)
 
Ok, I've looked at several of the things, several days later :(...

Using the file from Pegot, this is what I get when I import..
Screenshot 2018-11-15 12.40.43.png

And with my newest version of mine...

Cheetah:
Screenshot 2018-11-15 12.43.05.png
Screenshot 2018-11-15 12.43.25.png


Daz:
Screenshot 2018-11-15 12.42.43.png
-----
I'm less concerned about the doors opening and closing (so maybe using "rigging" through the conversation off....It's the parts not being where they should be.

The displacement in Daz happens regardless of if the Doors are parented to the rack in Cheetah or not.


(My scale is also WAY out of wack, so I'll need to figure out how to fix that, but that's the next step :).
 
Yes - that are my findings to. I have no clue what DS´s expectations are regarding scale&joint set-up honestly. First it moans about a missing "root-joint" - but when I changed that and load again the pivot point went to hell and take the door with it - like in your screenshot. Awesome. :devilish:
May I ask what you want to do with your parts in DS?

Cheers
Frank
 
It's actual goal is to go into Unreal... thus the FBX. I'm using Daz to test exporting from cheetah and surfacing, because I know Daz real well. (If I was actually sending to Daz for ongoing use, I'd export as OBJ and quick rig it there).

Sending the parented FBX to unreal, it imports as 3 seperate objects, so no luck there.

The Scale issue is in Cheetah... as I'm clearly winging it in Cheetah, I just decided 1 cheetah unit=1 inch, so I could use the real world numbers I have (which are all in inches). So I need to decide the best way to fix that.
 
well, the scale is 1:1:1 on this... if I do it as an OBJ into Daz, it gives me an option to chose the scale, so I can set unit=inch and it works fine.
(is there a way to set what the units mean in Cheetah?)

Looks like, consulting with my Unreal folks, that what I need to do is set up a skeleton here in Cheetah...which was where I was going in the original quation that all the tutorials seem to focus on more flexible bending rather than solids like doors... I'll hammer on that a bit to see where it takes me :).
 
No - you can take a unit as what ever you like it doesn´t change the scale - that´s what the "Scale factor:" in Cheetah3d´s Files preferences during export is for.
AH! Excellent.

Then one more question and I think I have this subject nailed...I've gone thru a rigging tutorial...am I correct that my current set up of 3 individual items (Rack, Front Door, Back Door) will not work, and instead I'll need to merge them (import children) to rig?

Screenshot 2018-11-15 15.17.10.png
 
Scavgraphics, I can not help with your most recent question. But if Unreal supports glTF, have you tried exporting from Cheetah in that format? Maybe it comes in better than FBX?
 
Oh sorry, yes that is a v7 feature. However, if I am not mistaken, Martin also updated his FBX exporter in v7 so maybe it too might work better with Unreal. If you upload you current file I can export it in both formats with v7 for you to test as I don't think the trial version can export.
 
Sure! Thanks.. it'll be good to test out.

(it does look like the doors moving on import is mainly a daz studio thing).
 

Attachments

  • serverrack.zip
    12.6 KB · Views: 189
Ok see attached for v7 exports to FBX (7.5.0 / Binary) and glb 2.0. Note that the glTF file (glb) doesn't use any PBR shaders so it will probably import to Unreal as un-shaded or all black.
 

Attachments

  • v7-Exports.zip
    10.1 KB · Views: 188
Ok see attached for v7 exports to FBX (7.5.0 / Binary) and glb 2.0. Note that the glTF file (glb) doesn't use any PBR shaders so it will probably import to Unreal as un-shaded or all black.

WEll, Unreal didn't recognize the glb, but the fbx imported fine, which might be the engine you used or might be figureing out how to do it:)

---------

I've moved ahead with the rigging, doing an import children and that seemed to move me further...now I need to figure out how to change the weight mapping as the video I was watching didin't cover that.
 
Well, a few steps foward...
I now know in Cheetah it's called "Vertex Weight" and can invoke the tool, and know what the settings mean, but can't seem to get it to work.

No scrubbing of the parts is changing the painting of the joints..
Screenshot 2018-11-15 18.09.39.pngScreenshot 2018-11-15 18.09.32.pngScreenshot 2018-11-15 18.09.24.png

Idealy, Joint would just be the main body, with each door joint being the door.

EDIT: playing with the settings of the weight brush, I'm getting somewhere, but it doesn't seem to respect selections, so maybe Cheetah can't do rigid structures?


EDIT x2: well, I guess I got it right, though the bottom corner of the back door is grey, it seems to move right.

Screenshot 2018-11-15 18.34.38.png






(I'm a little concerned with what looks like poly overlap in the doors...there's 6 polys in each door.....maybe it's too close for the system?)Screenshot 2018-11-15 18.12.05.png
 
Last edited:
Back
Top