Ragdoll July Challenge

News
14

Crab Rig :crab:

Here it is, the crab!

Previous Versions

Have a look at the livestream above along with these new videos below for how to use it effectively.


Overview

A very simple, FK-only rig (that can also be scaled!)

Reset

Reset all controllers to their default value by setting all translate and rotate values to 0.

X-Ray

Controls can be overlaid on-top of the mesh via the x-ray mode.

Simulation

Unhide the solver and show Plugin Shapes to see the simulation.

Record

Recording works as you’d expect, animation ends up on each individual FK control.

The havoc happening during the livestream was due to the new Closed Loop option in the Record dialog, so ensure to untick that when recording the crab. It doesn’t have any loops anyway.

Locomotion

Since the rig is FK-only, you can apply locomotion to pins instead.

  1. Select body
  2. Select each foot
  3. Ragdoll → Constrain → Pin
  4. Ragdoll → Assign Plan

A licence server and install instructions coming up next!

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Download and Licence

Here’s how to get started with your creation.


Step 1

Download and Install Ragdoll Dynamics, if you haven’t already.

image


Step 2

Copy/paste and run this script in your Script Editor, in a Python tab.

import os
from maya import cmds
from ragdoll import ui as rui, interactive as ri

text = """\
Start a new scene and activate Ragdoll Unlimited \
for the July July 2022 Competition?
"""

if rui.MessageBox("Activate Competition Licence", text):
    os.environ["RAGDOLL_FLOATING"] = "july.ragdolldynamics.com:8003"
    cmds.file(new=True, force=True)
    cmds.unloadPlugin("ragdoll")
    assert not cmds.pluginInfo("ragdoll", query=True, loaded=True), (
        "Had trouble reloading Ragdoll, try restarting "
        "Maya and running this script again"
    )
    cmds.loadPlugin("ragdoll")

    ri.welcome_user()
else:
    cmds.warning("Cancelled, nothing changed")

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Your Maya will now have a fully loaded Ragdoll licence until you restart Maya.


Step 3

Start making something, and create your own thread in the new Competition category.

I’ve made a little example contribution to illustrate how to get started. :blush:

For any questions, feel free to post here or start a new thread under the Help Category.

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Enjoy, and let’s go!

1 Like
16

when I enter the competition code, it says

“// Warning: Ragdoll: Could not get a lease, see console for details”
// ragdoll.on_floating() - Ragdoll is floating

a pop up opens saying “request lease” / “continue”

then when I press “request” it says in messages “failed to acquire a lease” and all my markers disappear

is there something I can do to fix that?
Thanks

17

Hm, is your machine connected to the internet? That is a requirement, as the licence server is online.

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Hi all, hope all is going well with the competition so far! :partying_face:

We’ve updated the crab asset above with some minor tweaks. Use the same download link.

  1. Procedural texture for some extra flare
  2. Fixed scaling of one of the leg pieces
  3. Refined the constraints keeping legs attached to the body

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Giving this thread some spotlight in case anyone else experiences the 100 frame limit even after running the above getting started script.

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Pushing another update to the crab rig with 3 changes, see the same link above.

  1. Much stronger stiffness, at lower values
  2. More more effective Pin Constraint at tips, for e.g. Locomotion
  3. Less groups

For stiffness, check this out!

Super strong. These are stiffness values between 0.01 → 1.0. (No more values approaching 100,000 and beyond)

For pins, you should also find that values less than 100 to be a reasonable max for a very hard pin, as opposed to 100,000 and beyond).

Also rearranged the groups for a little less complexity; you can now edit all feet from a single group (as opposed to 1 group per foot, 8 in total).

image


Behind the Scenes

For your own reference, here are some notes on how these things were made possible.

In both feet and tips, it was a problem of mass. The tips are especially damning, as they are tiny tiny tiny. Ragdoll would treat these as any other part of the crab, and compute a mass relative its size. Because it is so small, it would get a very small mass.

You might wonder what mass has got to do with anything. We aren’t interested in them weighing down on the foot, and it doesn’t seem related to stiffness? :thinking: But! Such is life. Ragdoll is all about forces, and any force is relative the mass upon which it acts. Between the tip and the last joint of the crab foot is a force keeping them together, and when one of them is heavy and the other light, the more complicated it gets for Ragdoll to keep them together, hence values that reach into the thousands.

For the legs, I took a slightly different route. I didn’t want the feet to appear more heavy - especially not heavier than the body. So instead editing its mass, it now has a slightly edited Rotate Mass.

This attribute is mostly unexplored, so I’m curious what you think of this and whether you run into anything odd. Things to look out for is any strangeness in the rotation of any part of a leg. As if it’s resisting rotation, almost like Air Density on the solver.

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Are there textures for the crab?

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Hi Emi,

Just A ramp texture nothing custom. you’re welcome to texture or develop the crab further if you like.

J

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23

Linking some more issues to here in case they happen to someone else.

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Just a heads up that next week is the final week of this challenge!

So far, we’ve got more prizes than submissions, so everyone who has participated is getting something. :blush: The only question is who gets the grand prize of Ragdoll Unlimited and the also-great prize of Ragdoll Complete.

You can find all current submissions here:

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new submission coming up this week ! finally had some time and head to come up with an idea !
stay tune !

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Only a handful of days remaining (until Sunday!) :running_man:

On top of that, we’re having trouble with the licence server… Will keep you updated here. :alarm_clock:

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really waiting license, can’t work without it

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I wasn’t able to narrow down what happened, it’s end of day on my end so here’s an alternative that will last you until the end of the competition.

  • 4XGR-M4QV-6VPG-EZ94-Q26X-G8TX-QNTA

Here’s how to use it.

  1. Restart Maya
  2. Do not run the original script, here.
  3. Instead, load the plug-in the normal way, via the Plug-in Manager
  4. Click the item at the bottom of the Ragdoll menu
  5. Enter the serial above
  6. Activate

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It will say “Trial Version”, but is fully unlimited. Let me know if there are any issues.

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thank’s will try right away

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Licence server is back up. :partying_face: You can keep using the temporary licence key above, they’ll both work until Sunday!

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Hello everyone!

Great work with this July Challenge, lots and lots of really good submissions!

There’s still time!

You’ve still got a number of hours to go - we said to run until July 31 and for some that means the day has just begun. :blush:

This is one of the places on earth where July 31 ends last, so let’s use that as our exit. Once the day is over for everyone on earth, here’s what will happen next.

  1. Any submissions made after the deadline will not be considered for any prices.
    • You are still welcome to use the crab, we’ll leave any download links active, and keep posting WIPs and questions in #showcase.
  2. The licence server will go on holiday.
  3. We will then take about a week to look through all submissions and figure out who gets the which of the 16 total prizes.

There is a lot of prizes to give. :sweat_smile:


Next Week

For next week, 3 things will happen!

  1. We will find the winners of this competition
  2. We are heading to SIGGRAPH to spread the good word about Ragdoll
  3. There is another competition starting. :blush:

Agora August Competition

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From tomorrow, Agora is arranging for a competition via their Discord.

The details are still being worked out, but I expect we’ll spin up another forum category here and post WIPs and questions like we’ve been doing for this competition.

Expect another thread to appear shortly.

That’s it! Go go go! :running_man: :dash:

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2 hours and 50 minutes remain! :smiley:

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Pencils down! :partying_face: Fabulous work everyone!

Stay tuned in this thread for what happens next. I expect prizes to be handed out before end of this week!

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