|
This tutorial explains how
to create a posable object in Bryce, and
then animate it. Click on the image to the
left to view a 4 sec. clip that is the finished
product of this tutorial. The size of the
file is 215kb.
|
|
| First off, create a cube and
resize it so that it is tall and skinny. Now,
make sure to name each object that you ever
make so that when you have hundreds and hundreds
of objects in a scene, you never lose track
of them. So label this one Finger Base
1. Now Hit Ctrl + D to duplicate
the object. Label this box, Finger Middle
1. Drag Finger Middle 1 on top
of Finger Base 1. Again, hit Ctrl
+ D and label this one Finger Tip 1
and place it ontop of Finger Middle 2. |
|
|
When a limb moves, it rotates
around a joint. When achieving this effect
in Bryce. The limb never actually moves. It
just rotates around a point. To make an object
rotate around a point besides the center you
need to use the origin handle. Select Finger
Base 1. Then click the 
to bring up the Object Attributes.
Now click on the option Show Origin Handle.
Now we need to ask ourselves where should
the origin handle be placed. If you
watch your own hand and bend your finger,
where is the one place on your finger that
stays in one place? It is at the joint. But
where precisley is that point inside the joint?
It is not in the middle of the joint, but
is on the back of the joint. So that is where
the origin handle should go. Drag the
origin handle down to the bottom of
Finger Base 1 and then drag it to touch
the back side of the object. Do these steps
on the other 2 objects as well. |
|
|
OK, now you want to be able
to move your finger around. If you have tried
rotating Finger Base 1, you would have
notice that it rotates by itself and the objects
above it stay the same. We want them to move
with Finger Base 1. So the first thing
that popped into my mind was, group them.
Well, you can do that, but it is messy. So
a cleaner way is to make Finger Base 1,
Finger Middle 1's parent. This way,
when you rotate Finger Base 1, Finger
Middle 1 moves right along with it, as
if it were attached. So highlight Finger
Middle 1 and click and hold on the  .
Drag it over Finger Base 1 until it
is highlighted. Then let go and you should
have succesfully reunited a family, j/k. Now
highlight Finger Tip 1 and click and
drag the
button onto Finger Middle 1. Now when
you rotate Finger Base 1 it moves its
child, Finger Middle 1, which in turn
rotates its child, Finger Tip 1. But
dont do that just yet. A not about linking:
If you find that the origin handle on a parent
object is in the wrong place, first unlink
the child object or else the child object
will move right along with the origin handle.
|
|
|
| Now it is time for making
the actual hand. When positioning objects,
move the base object in the parent-child relationship.
This piece is Finger Base 1. Highlight
Finger Base 1 and press Ctrl + D
to replicate the finger. Replicate it 3 times
so that you have 4 fingers. Now create a box
for the palm of the hand and name it The
Palm. Now move each of the Finger Bases
around the palm. When you move the Finger
Bases the rest of the finger pieces should
follow it. When you resize the base finger
piece, the rest of the finger pieces resize
also. So resize the fingers to the appropriatte
size. When making the thumb, delete the end
piece because a thumb is made up of 2 segments
instead of 3 like the other fingers. |
|
|
| The hand we have now isnt
that realistic. When your hand is at rest
it is not flat and straight. It is curved.
So we want to achieve this effect with our
hand. We will rotate our body parts so that
the hand is curved. When rotating, always
work from general to specific. The most general
piece of the hand is the palm, but since we
are not going to move the palm we go to the
next most general piece, which is the Finger
Base. Now rotate the piece slightly inwards.
Do this for each Finger Base. Repeat
these rotations to the Finger Middles
and then to the Finger Tips |
|
|
| Now it is time to animate
our hand. Now I always have Auto-Key
turned on just as a personal preference. First
off you need to modify a small detail (but
VERY important) with the finger segments linking.
Select all of the objects in the scene by
pressing Ctrl + A. Now press the
to bring up the object attributes. Go to the
linking section by clicking on the tab labeled
"Linking". To the right of the word
Propagate there are four choices, distance,
offset, rotation, and size. All of these should
be checked, except for size. Remember that
if you want to resize the hand then you must
go into the attributes and turn the size option
back on. This animation will NOT work correctly
with it on. Now, position the camera to where
you want the movie to be viewed from. Then
move the scrubber 2 seconds forward. Rotate
all of the fingers in so that the hand is
in a clenched position. Make sure that none
of the fingers overlap. Now advance the scrubber
2 more seconds forward and rotate the fingers
so that the hand is in a rested position.
|
|
|
Now, if you play the animation
you will get a boring, and jerky animation
of a hand clenching and unclenching. To make
this animation more interesting, you will
need to make the rotations happen at different
speeds throughout the animation. Now, if you
are not very experienced with animation, then
this may be a little confusing. Click on Finger
Base 1. Then, at the bottom of the screen,
click on the little  .
If thats not there then click on the little
 .
Then it the option should be there. In other
words, enter the Advanced Motion Lab.
Once you have opened it up then click on Finger
Base 1. This should open up several more
choices, so then just click on Rotation. This
should bring up a graph to the upper left
that is a straight line. Modify it to look
like the graph to the left. Do this to all
of the remaining Finger Bases. What
you have just done is modify the rate at which
the rotation happens, you told it to slow
down as it reaches the middle of the time
sequence. This results in a smoother animation.
If you had no idea what you just did then
I would suggest opening up your bryce manual
to page 382 in your Bryce 4 manual and reading
about the Advanced Motion Lab.
<- Back to
the Tutorial Page
|
|
|
|