mcjAutoLimb for DS 1,2,3,4

IMPORTANT NOTE

Head Over Here For The Latest Version

https://sites.google.com/site/mcasualsdazscripts6/mcjautolimb2015


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Introduction

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Using mcjAutoLimb you can save hours of work on most animations

the precision is tremendous. And it's not complicated to use at all !


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Installation

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download the zip file in the attachments at the bottom of this page

unzip it in Daz Studio's content folder

typically C:\Program Files\DAZ\Studio\content

the script and the corresponding icon will be placed

in the scripts/mcasual folder

so you can find it in the Daz Studio content tab

in the Studio / Scripts / mcasual folder

there's also a zip file containing the manual

which is simply a copy of the page you are reading

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Use

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Using it ( so easy ! )

select a target node in a scene,

example, a small sphere on a table, notice that the sphere's locator is at the top of the sphere

select a targeter node in the scene, the targeter node must be something attached to a ForeArm or a Shin

let's select a a small cylinder parented to the tip of a finger, notice the position of the locator

very important: the target AND the targeter must be selected, and they must be selected in that order,

so, click/select the target, then, holding the CTRL key of your keyboard, click/select the targeter

launch mcjAutoLimb

i changed "range to be processed" to "current frame only"

and i left "step" and "s[pin" to their default values of 1 and 0

and clicked on "Do it"

and ... if a fraction of a second the arm was bent and rotated

to make the targeter reach the target with extreme precision

If the arm position looks unnatural, then we could set "limb spin angle" to a value like, say, minus 20 degrees

and the elbow will be moved up, yet the finger will still touch the target!

mcjAutoLimb can also process many frames in one shot

the animation shown at the top of this page was obtained by animating the position of the target

for frames 0 to 30, The targeter was also a small cylinder parented to a finger tip. the "range to be processed"

was set to "playrange" . The step value was left to 1. So 1 arm keyframe was created for each frame.

You could create less keyframes by setting the "step" slider to 5.

other valid examples of targeter nodes:

- a hand

- a finger

- a sphere parented to a finger tip

- a sphere parented to the tip of a knife, parented in turn to a hand

- a foot

- toes

- a null parented to the tip of the big toe