Week 9

Like I said last week, I've lost count as to how I am marking the weeks, but I do know I have at least 3 weeks left until I am presenting this project as a final.

Last week I said I would do more texturing for my next post. Well I lied and decided to move forward with rigging the centipede further since rigging is my main goal here. If I can get that done, then texturing is secondary. Here is what I have so far.

 

So I had a little problem with placing the IK (inverse kinematic) handles on the legs at first. On one side they would work, but the other side, they would wig out. Then I found out that when I had made the joints for the legs, I had used symetry to create them, which meant that when I selected the side I created, the side that was copied was selected as well. I deleted one side and mirrored over the remaining with the mirror joint option. That fixed my solution and now both columns of IKs work splendidly. I then went in and created a control curve and had the handles parented to each control respectfully.

I created an IK spline controller that would allow the body to move like a tentacle or snake, which is technically what a centipede looks like when it moves forward.

Antennae are essentially the same thing.

I created a rotation control for the head. It's not perfected yet, but the basic function works. I had a little trouble because I had a "double transformer" (I hope that's what it is called) that would cause the skeleton of the antennae to over exaggerate on the rotation. I figured out that the spline curves were grouped under the head rotation. Once I removed them, everything rotated normally.

I also added rotation controls for the pincers. These are also not completely done, because I'm gonna add an attribute that allows them to flare out a bit more.

 

 

The back legs on the tail end I decided to have a sideways bend. It's an optional thing, some centipedes have sideways rear legs, others have legs at an angle, and a few even have some that curl downward.

After all is said and done, I eventually would have had to go in and rename everything. I've gone through everything twice, if not three times. The first time renaming things, and the second or third time changing the name to something that would be easier to understand

Next week I'm going to be perfecting the rigging controls and create some attributes for certain areas. Here's to another week. I need a beer...