DK wrote:Thanks for that Genete. That makes it a LOT clearer as to what exactly is going on with the bones. I still don't understand how I might go about making this bone setup though. Is it possible to get a VERY written step by step basics on how one would go about it?
D.K
I think that first of trying to do the bone setup you should understand the 3D basic concepts that are involved in all this stuff.
Don't worry. I'll do a visual tutorial but I need more time. Here is a quick review of the concepts. This concepts are a little different from the 3D Tutorial because that tutorial used the FRONT and the TOP views as working views and for head rotation it is better a FRONT / SIDE working system.
1.) We are going to use the FRONT view in the animation.
2.) Every thing that exists in our virtual 3D space should be projected on the FRONT view. In the general case the camera view is the FRONT view and it is also the XY plane of the layer,
3.) We are going to have two main rotations. X and Y
4.) Any 3D point in space have a Z coordinate. (if it is 0 no bone set up is neeed for this coordinte). But the Z dimension is not visible in the XY projection so we need the SIDE view to calculate the Z dimension.
5.) Lets start thinking on a X rotation. From the initial position, a X rotation should perform a
vertical line in projection. The amount of the vertical traslation dependns on the amount of Y and Z of the point. In fact the radious of rotation is the square root of the sum of Y*Y + Z*Z (cartesian coordinates theory...). To know what is the real value of this rotation radious we go to the SIDE view.
6.) Imagine now that you are in the SIDE view. If you rotate the point by X it would perform a circle in the
SIDE view projection. The circle can be achieved with a single bone but I need to separate the Z and Y coordinates of this rotation in two cinematic chains. Why? Because
I want to make a poyection of the Z - SIDE projected rotation coordinate into the XY projection plane.
7.) To perform a rotation in the SIDE view I need two cinematic chains (springy chains) that gives me the Z and Y coordinates of the rotation circle independently but by a rotation of a single master bone (the Rot X master bone in the examples). But How can I project the Z coordinate of the rotation in the FRONT view?. I have invented a special variable springy cinematic chain that change its length with the rotation of another second master bone: The master Y rotation. So for the initial position of the point in the FRONT view, the lenght of the Z dimension of the SIDE rotation cinematic chain should be reduced to zero. Later if you perform a Y rotation, this springy cinematic chain would increase its length from zero to the final SIDE projected Z coordinate. It lets make different X rotation movement in the FRONT view from a line to a circle passing by an ellipse, only manipulating the Y rotation master bone. The SIDE view Y cinematic chain of rotation don't need to be modified in the FORNT projection because it have the same dimension in the SIDE and FRONT views
8.) Finally to complete the 3D rig it is needed to add a third springy cinematic chain to represent the X coordinate of the point. The X coordinate of the point is affected when a Y rotation is done and not by the X rotation.
I'll make a visual guide to perform the 3D theory in AS by bone setup as soon as I have more time.
(((Sory for the confusing languaje but is very difficult to explain without a drawing in front of your eyes.)))
Regards
Genete