Rigging and the Biped

I tried to use the bone tools for my character, but found it really difficult to connect all the bones together and create the correct shapes. It was mainly due to the fact I was no sure where to start and creating something from scratch was really difficult.

Using the Biped - The better Choice

























The other option was to use a Biped instead, this basically meant creating a bone structure that was already existent in 3DSMAX you then edit the from to fit the character mesh you have designed. Which in my case sounded allot easier than creating every bone from scratch.































As you can see from the image above, I have modified the biped to match the body size of the skin. It was just a case of using the bone edit tool and then using the scale tool.































To be able to see how big to make each section I had to place the biped inside the skin for my character. By turning the skin see-through it allowed me to access the biped inside and change the dimensions to fit all the parts of the body.

Applying the Physique Modifier

Now that the bones are all set up it is time to apply the Physique Modifier to attach all the skin. I did each part of the body at a time, as there were many parts and some bits did not need to be attached. It also let me keep track of each part as it was added.































Once you have applied the modifier, you simply click on the "Attach to Node" then it will be looking for you to click on bones or part of the biped you want to link it to. The best way is to link it to the whole biped, from the selection list.































As I did not name my biped, it is still called Bip01. Once you select that it will ask you to accept and initialize the connection. (I kept all the settings to the original as they seemed to work really well.)































Once I went over each part, it was finally all attached to the biped. This meant that when the biped was moved the mesh attached would follow. But the job was not done yet, I still needed to sort out the "Envelopes" which control how much is connected to each part of the biped.



















You need to select the Envelope option, for the partical object (e.g. I am using the skin here to show as an example.) With that selected start clicking on the biped inside the mesh.










































As you can see from the images above, as you click on the bone it will show you the coverage of that bone. You can then change the strength and size of the radius. I went over the body on each bone to make sure the coverage was correct, and tried moving body parts to make sure all the mesh moved with the biped. (IT TOOK SOME WORK AND ALLOT OF FRUSTRATION!! but I got there in the end.)