Jacobo Barreiro

Pistons Animation with Expressions

- This is a pistons animation made by math expressions. I had to do this a long time ago, and I thought that maybe it could be useful for somebody.

- Content:

Scene file (LWS)
Objects files (LWO)

Super Gramps Rig

- Super Gramps Rig (model done by William Vaughan)
This rig was done to testing different techniques: IK-FK Blending without plugins, Smart Skinning using SoftFX, muscles system to help in mesh deformation, Joystick rig to control facial endomorphs, etc…

- Content:

Scene file (LWS)
Object file (LWO)
CCP file (Custom Character Picker)
Image file (To use as background with CCP)

This zip file contains three scene files:

- ChinoRig_FKArms.lws
The character arms are working with FK.

- ChinoRig_IKArms.lws
The character arms are working with IK. Besides, this rig lets you “strech” the arms when you pull the character hands.

- ChinoRig_IK-FKArms.lws
The character arms are working with a IK-FK blending system. You can change between them with the sliders in the scene.

In general, this is a simple rig.

The face si controlled with nulls (based in a Jason Osipa’s method). The main advantage is: with a single null you can control a few shapes (morphs).

More stuff is included…

Plugins:

- IKBlender.p
A plugin by Mark Brown that lets you set a IK-FK blending system on a IK chain.

Scripts for this rigs:

- JCharacterPicker75c.lsc
This ‘master script’ shows the character parts you can animate by a series of ‘nodes’ shown in a non-modal panel. It’s made to make easy the character controls selection. It works with two kind of rigs’: “ChinoRig_FKArms.lws”
y “ChinoRig_IKArms.lws”.
This tool is very simple. You just need, first of all, to select the character mesh in the second ‘popup’ menu.
NOTE: To multiselection, click on any item and drag to the other items you want to select.

- JCharacterPicker_Button.ls
This is a generic script. It woks as a ‘shortcut’ to the previous master script. You can use it as a button in the interface or as a key shortcut.

NEW
-CharPicker.lsc
This tool is almost the same as ‘JCharacterPicker’. The bigger diference is that you can see a picture of the character instead an ‘schematic view.
So, it’s more user friendly.

-CharPicker_Button.ls
The layout button of ‘CharPicker.ls’.

- FaceControls.ls
This master script was done specifically for this rig, and it’s a big help when you are workgin with the face controls.
WARNING: Keeping the “FaceControls.ls”,
“CharPicker.lsc” or “JCharacterPicker75c.lsc” panels
open at the same time can make Lightwave crash :O(.

- FaceControlsB.ls
Like “JCharacterPicker_Button.ls”, this is the ‘button’ of the previous master script.

- SaveLoadMotions.ls
This generic script lets save one motion file (*.mot) from every character control automatically. You can load those motions later from the script, and they will be assigned automatically.

It works ok for the following scenes: ‘ChinoRig_FKArms.lws’ y ‘ChinoRig_IKArms.lws’.
You have to select the character mesh before save or load motions.
NOTE: To pick a directory where save or load the motion files, you have to pick a file into it.
TIP : If no files are there, you can create one from the file dialog.
You can remove it later ;O).

NEW

- J_Auto_Rig.lsc
Make a simple rig automatically and quickly. You choose between IK or FK arms and neck.
Read the help shown in the script panel.

Macros:

- AutoRig_IKArms(ParentInPlaceON).cs

This macro makes the layout rigging process automatically. The rig done is like the “ChinoRig_IKArms.lws” scene’s rig (but face rig).
The character to rig must to have the same skelegons of the “Skeleton4Rig.lwo”.
You can modifiy the skelegons, but you can NOT delete them.
After load the character into layout, you have to ENABLE Parent In Place, select de character, load the macro into LSCommander, and execute it.

- AutoRig_FKArms(ParentInPlaceON).cs

It does the same that the previous macro, but the arms will be rigged with forward kinematics.

NOTE: I forgot it! The character used in
this rig is a modified model from a original model done by William Vaughan.

- Docs (in Spanish)
PDF that contains part of the topics covered in LEM 2003 [Lightwave Expo Madrid]. It includes a part dedicated to the setup process.

- Scene samples
This file contains scenes related to the setup process described in the LEM docs, as well as other stuff.

Official LEM 2004 website:

www.lem-online.com

This file contains:

- PlayEndomorphs.lsc
A modeler script that lets you to select endomorphs in different ways.
You can ‘play’ them like a sequence!

It wasn’t created like a ‘useful tool’, it’s just a curiosity.

- LegsWalking.lwo
A sample object with a few endomorphs created. When you play them from the script you’ll see a walking action in modeler.

- SaveMorphSeries.ls
This is a generic script (layout) by Glenn Tester that I’ve modified to adapt it to ‘PlayEndomorphs’. ‘PlayEndomorphs’ play the morphs in a alphabetical
order, so ‘SaveMorphSeries’ lets you save endomorphs from a transformed objet in layout, in alphabetical order.