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Little_fellaX docs - page 01
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All right, if you came here you probably downloaded the little_fellaX rig, and maybe you want a little more documentation about it. It's a pretty straightforward rig, but some extra help never hurts right? So here goes:
Body rig & controls:
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The body rig is called Little_fella_rig, and can be found on layer 1.
The mesh is called Little_fella, and can be found on layer1.
The FK/IK switch panel can, guess what, also be found on layer1.
Bone layers:
the first one holds the main controller bones. These are usefull for
animation.
the second bone layer holds the facial setup.
the third has neck and head bones. Fot those who rather move the head
with FK instead of IK.
the fourth and fifth ones have a few bones that either deform or
help other bones function, but are not needed for animation.
The visual wire objects that you see in the rig are what drive
the main parts.
For the hands, the torso and the head you can toggle IK/FK using
the FK/IK switch panel.
Hands move hands, head moves head, shoulder moves the shoulder,
torso moves torso, COG moves COG, heels rotate heels
and makes the foot tilt, feet makes the feet move.
there are additional pivot points at the feet for where the toes and ball
of the foot are. Use these to rotate directly or set the 3Dcursor to them
and rotate the main foot bone around them.
The facial setup in bone layer2:
The frame makes the facial setup move to another location if you need it.
The jaw moves the mouth to an open or losed position.
The mouth's edges make the mouth smile, look sad, make the mouth wide or
narrow.
The upperlip makes the upperlip go up or down.
The eyelids make the eyelids move up or down.
The nose_crinkle controls make the nose crinkle.
The brows make the brows move up/down/front/back. If you rotate them they
will make the brows turn angry or sad.
The brow X makes a frown.
Pretty self explainatory.
Lipsync:
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I have added shapes that use the same name setup as papagayos default
phonem set for easy lipsyncing.
How to use it:
- get papagayo at lostmarble.com/papagayo/
- load your audio in papagayo and do the lipsync.
- adjust the phonems layout papagayo creates for your audio untill
you are happy with it. This means that the sound looks in sync with papagayo's
preview of 2D mouthshapes.
- save out the phonemsheet (.pgo) and load it in blenders text window
- in the action editor, align the shapes as the phonemsheet says they
should be aligned.
Using the UVlogo option:
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Or how to get your own logo on his chest,back and shoulders.
First you need to export the UVlogo map. That is, if I don't provide a template
in the download, haven't decided yet.
Select the little_fella object. Press F to go to face select mode. split a window
or change another window to UV mode. Make sure you have UVlogo as the active UV set,
since little fella comes with another set that covers the entire body as well.
in the UV window, choose UV>scripts>save UV from face layout.
Save your UV layout, open them in your image editor of choice, and overlay your logo
on the areas that are covered. Make sure the background is transparent.
This is to make sure that the rest of the body doesn't get any image assigned to it.
It is scaled down at the top left of the UV, so that area has to be transparent.
Save your image as .png 24 for example.
Back to blender: in the material options, for the sleeves and the shirt material index,
go to the texture panel and load the texture in the first slot. All the settings for
the texture are allready set.
Using the Little_fella rig as a library file:
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Start up blender, with a clean new scene. Delete the default cube if you want to.
go to "File>Append or Link. Or press shift F1.
Locate the little_fella library file. select it, then select groups,
and little_fellaX. You don't need to link the boneshapes group.
MAKE SURE YOU HAVE LINK ACTIVE INSTEAD OF APPEND! Otherwise you'll make a local
copy.
press space and choose Add>group>little_fellaX. Now you have an empty which displays
as the entire rig (so mesh, rig, helper objects etc). If you add a proxy by
pressing ctrl+alt+p, you get a list of items you might want to use for a proxy.
Choose the little_fella_rig. This will make another empty with the posable rig in it.
More about grouping, and the use of proxies can be found here, and here.
Thanks to bassam for pointing me to these links.