Velociraptor Rump Rig

Once again I'm working on a rigged partial torso, this time a Velociraptor so there's a tail to work with.

This time I used two Orient Constraint Tags on the Hip/Parent bone, one for bank and one for pitch.
Plus a point constraint for the hip elevation. I can also animate heading and position on the hip bone directly.

Here's the scene so far.

Raptor Rump.jpg
 
For the tail I'm using a Spline IK Tag incorporating the 6 bones
of the tail. The seventh bone in this model is the Hip/Parent bone.
Don't set the IK tag to 7 unless you want to see Cheetah go nuts.

You will want the tail spline to be a child of the Hip/Parent bone, so it moves with the mesh.

First thing I key framed the ankle targets for a slow 4 second walking loop.
Eventually trimming off the first and last second for a smooth two second clip.

raptor_rump01.gif
 
I'd like to see how the tail works, also. I'd like to get an automatic swinging when the character walks, but also like to adjust manually if need be.

Is there a reason you use three separate controllers for the three movements? I would normally have one controller that moves the whole body up and down and another that just moves the hips and lower half of the body, but both controllers would move in all directions.
 
Doing a little testing with Hiroto's Controlled Spline script on a spine. Very easy to set up and no wigginess like Spline IK. You'll need to install the script.
 

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That looks good. (y)
Can't wait to see the tail swing.
Thanks, the first things key framed are the basic movements, then adding motion and tweaking for
character and personality. So the tail will be swinging even before I animate the tail spline.
I'd like to see how the tail works, also. I'd like to get an automatic swinging when the character walks, but also like to adjust manually if need be.
Is there a reason you use three separate controllers for the three movements? I would normally have one controller that moves the whole body up and down and another that just moves the hips and lower half of the body, but both controllers would move in all directions.
The motion of the hip will swing the tail with the ability to manually animate the tail spline itself. Breaking up the rotation gives me better visual feedback. Looking at a compound rotation on a cube is not as helpful.
You know I'm making this up as I go along, so hopefully we'll see what's useful in the end.
Doing a little testing with Hiroto's Controlled Spline script on a spine. Very easy to set up and no wigginess like Spline IK. You'll need to install the script.
That sounds promising, I'll have to test that later.
 
This is the last 2 second clip I can manage, 1 second and a faster gate next time.
As more things move the gifs get bigger so the image size gets smaller.

Anyone know the gif size limit on the new forum? I can't find that info.

Hip up and down added.

raptor_rump05.gif
 
But a straight tail is boring.

This time around I simply key framed a rotation of the tail spline, and I still haven't touched the Bezier control points.

raptor_rump06.gif
 
Finally I point animated the Velocicat Tail Spline for a little flick.
Hiding the control objects allowed me to go back to a two second clip.

raptor_rump07.gif
 
I don't believe how easy it was to add upper body bones, and another IK Handle with Target to the head.
And it all animates itself because one end is attached to the hips, and the head end is held by the IK Target.

raptor_rump09.gif
 
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