Hi everyone.
Really nice tool, enjoying it very much so far.
I have a question. How do I switch the rag doll between using the guide animation and going completely limp?
I’d like the character to flail around until it hits the ground and then I’d like it to go completely limp. (unconscious)
I’m hoping there’s one global control that I can animate to turn all the limbs limp.
Many thanks,
m@
Hey @MattyMatt, try the Global Strength on the root of the chain. That’s how strongly it’ll try and maintain the translate/rotate values in the channel box.
Is that what you were looking for?
Hi Marcus,
thanks for getting back to me.
For the life of me I can’t find that global strength Attribute.
I used the copy option when I set up my rag doll, so I have one joint heirarchy at tyhe top of the drop and a copy of it that does the simulation… where would I find the global strength attr?
Ah, with the Character command the attribute has a different name - it’s called Strength Multiplier and should appear at the root of the blue control hierarchy.
What you’re looking for is either (1) Guide Strength on each individual rigid, or (2) Guide Strength on the rdConstraintMultiplier node type.
You can find all multipliers through Python like this.
from maya import cmds
cmds.select(cmds.ls(type="rdConstraintMultiplier"))
This will select them all, only one if you only have one character. You can then either edit the individual Translate/Rotate Guide Stiffness or follow the connection to Guide Strength to see where it’s going. It should be the root of that blue hierarchy.
I’ll fix this attribute name on Character’s. It should be called Global Strength like it does for chains.
Once a character is completely limp, you’ll likely want to tweak the limits to make sure elbows and knees don’t bend the wrong way. I’ll be putting together tutorials on this over the next few weeks, so if you struggle there’s at least some light at the end of the tunnel.
A good example of especially knees and elbows is the “Parkour” character on the Examples Page.
Alternatively, have a look at the newer Mimic feature. It’ll create a new (better) version of the blue control hierarchy, and there’s some videos here to demonstrate how to use it!
Aha! Yes, that’s exactely what I’m looking for. Thanks Marcus!