Setting up Joint systems in AE

[Matt Grunau]

Hi all. I watched a show tonight about T-Rex, and much of the graphics had a joint system made up of three spots where one spot would move and the other middle spot would act like a hinge, and the last spot stayed in place.

This is pretty easy to do in Lightwave with parenting and angle limitations, but I figured there was a way to do it in AE. Prbably using expressions out the wazoo, but steering clear of 3D.

The also seemed to move indepdently or randomly, again like there was an expression controlling their movement.

Lets say I have a stick man with a man dot on his hand and sholder and a "hinge" do on his elbow. How could I raise the hand have the elbow bend accorgingly, until his hand was above his head?

I've looked and looked and cant find anything like this for AE. Lots of pivot point animations for 3D but no After Effects. The was one turotial where a guy set up a crank to move a wheel like a train, but that involved much higher math that I am used to.


Any ideas?



Thanks.

 

[triplej96]

I'm certainly no scripting pro but like you said I'm sure their a solution in AE without building a rig in 3D. I also watched the T-Rex show "Jurrasic Fight Club" as they call it. I actually taped it I will watch it again I didn't get a chance to see all of it.

I'm sure you have seen this page before Matt but if not I think it may help.

http://www.motionscript.com/design-guide/ik.html

I used one of his tuts to rig a engine piston for my old job but with out his tutorials and info I would of had no clue. Sorry I have no further help .

 

[milksac]

Are you using AE CS3 ?
The puppet tool should do the trick. I have yet to play around with it, but from what I understand it works with pivot points as you described above.

 

[Matt Grunau]

I'm certainly no scripting pro but like you said I'm sure their a solution in AE without building a rig in 3D. I also watched the T-Rex show "Jurrasic Fight Club" as they call it. I actually taped it I will watch it again I didn't get a chance to see all of it.

I'm sure you have seen this page before Matt but if not I think it may help.

http://www.motionscript.com/design-guide/ik.html

I used one of his tuts to rig a engine piston for my old job but with out his tutorials and info I would of had no clue. Sorry I have no further help .

That's exactly the show I watched. Pay attention when they do tooth comparisions and high detail tooth analysis. You will see exactly the look I am talking about.



milcsac I dunno how the puppet thing works exactly, but this used vectored lines that did not distort when they changed positions.