Applying the 2001 rig to your models

Most of us have been making models that we would like to animate, but forsome reason, havent
learned the 'ropes' to any particular all-in-one system or any of Animation:Master's Constraints.
  setting up a character should be as easy  as modeling, or texturing was.

With a little practice and experimenting, the better-than-average user will beable to rig a character in less
than a half an hour from scratch.

The first way to speed things up is to use data that is already there.
There is no need to re-invent the wheel unless it's absolutely necessary,
such as multi-jointed robot spider legs.

PuttyDudeMillenium is a great example of the working system, and a numberof
characters produced already have the system applied as well.   This tutorial will show you
the fastest way to set up a character, using the bones from the Putty DudeMillenium model.

Open up the PuttyDudeMillenium.mdl file.

  To keep this tutorial simple, copy the PuttyDude
mesh into a new modeling window. Save the project as PuttyDudeTest.


He has no bones, noconstraints,nothing set up on him. 
If you are using one of your own models, read through the tutorial
and then click here for extra information.

Here is the fastest way to get him ready to animate:



Open up PuttyDudeMillenium in the Project Workspace. Expand the bone tree until you
see the Everything Bone.

While holding the 'CTRL' key down, drag the Everything bone on top of PuttyDudeTest.
This will copy the entire heirarchy over to the model you just created.
Collapse the bone tree by clicking the minus sign next to the Everythingbone.



Create a new pose for PuttyDudeTest.  This is just to create the Pose Folder for your new model.
Close the pose window and delete the pose

Expand the pose folder for PuttyDudeMillenium.   Drag each pose, starting from the bottom,
onto the pose folder for PuttyDudeTest



Remove PuttyDudeMillenium fromthe project file. DO NOT SAVE CHANGES to PuttyDudeMillenium.

Now you can save your work.



It's time to attach the mesh to some bones:

Switch to Bones Mode in the modeling window.

In the Project Workspace, select the hips null and press shift+J twice to unhide all bones.
You will want to hide everything that the mesh will not be attached to.



Hide these parent bones by selecting them and pressing shift+J
You can also select and hide these bones in the project workspace as well.

ArmRight
ArmLeft
RightArmSteady
LeftArmSteady
SteadyArms
LegRight
LegLeft
Balance Feet Level
Balance Feet Center
KfootLeft
KfootRight

The only bones that should be left  are the bones that will have the mesh applied to them.



How you assign the mesh to thebones is up to you.  Feel free to import the PuttyDudeMillenium
model into the object folder for reference.

Bones with the word 'fan' in them are intermediate bones placed  in the joints to soften them up
when the model animates.

Save your data.



You  need to hide and unhide certain bones, so the right animation controls can be seen.
Select the everything Bone   and press shift+J twice to unhide everything.



Now hide everything but these bones:
Back
Back2
Buttbone
ElbowLeft
ElbowRight
Head
Hips
KfootLeft
KfootRight
KhandLeft
KhandRight
KneeLeft
KneeRight
LeftHand
Left Shoulder
LeftToes
Neck
Right Hand
RightShoulder
RightToes

What you should have left is the basic control bones.  In this case, PuttyDudeTest
should closely resemble PuttyDudeMillenium.


Double check your work by making a new action for PuttyDudeTest and dragging the
DragToAnimate_EverythingIK pose on.

If you are using one of your own models, click here for extra information on setting it up.

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