Circular Array Issue

[Anonymous]

I'm trying to create a Merry-Go-Round like ride.  I got one arm rigged and animated ok (kinda rough).  There are supposed to be 8 arms in total.  All 8 arms do the same thing.  However, when I array the components, they seem to be arrayed around a local axis and the entire array tilts into the ground.  It could be hard on the riders 🙂  I need help setting up this array.  Or perhaps there is a better way.  Please see my two screencasts.

http://autode.sk/2vHzC2C

http://autode.sk/2vLAeDL

[ads_royje · Accepted solution]

Hi @Anonymous,

It seems that it is an hierarchy set up issue.

The first arm has 2 main rotation pieces, the first one that is attached to the core center, it does a rotation up / down.

The end piece does its own rotation too.

When you create the Array of the end pieces, the all seem to be parented to the first piece of the first rigged arm,

That is why you see them following that movement.

You'd need to array that piece too, and create the same hierarchy for each arms, or array the whole arm to get the same movement on all arms.

Also illustrated in Max in attached video.

I hope this can help! 🙂

[Anonymous]

Wow.  Thanks for taking the time to do that.  You saved me!! 

[ads_royje]

I am glad it helped! 🙂

Thanks for your feedback! 

[Anonymous]

Another silly question.  I can't get my truss component to array around the correct point.  See my screen cast.

[har1sf0x]

Hello,

  Is this your actual pivot? Have you tried to un-rig it, a rig sometimes could prevent what expected?

Enjoy,

har1sf0x

[Anonymous]

It is the pivot point of that part.  When unrigging, would I just unlink components and then relink after the array?  

This project is quite confusing to me.  I'm not sure if I can group the components of a single arm and then array the group around the carousel or if I have to rig each arm individually or if I should be using controllers instead of bones and dummy parts etc. 😞

[har1sf0x]

Hello again.

  Are you using a position constraint in your rig? That for instance would prevent it from moving as 'expected'. Maybe an attached scene could help me understand your rig and find the solution to your problem. (max2017 or earlier)

Best regards,

har1sf0x

[ads_royje]

Hi @Anonymous,

Sorry for such a latency in replying, I was afak for the past two weeks.

in your video, you do nothing wrong, it should rotate from that gizmo location, centered to the carousel.

as @har1sf0x pointed out, this may be caused by the object having a Position Constraint, that is the only way I got to repro this behavior.

If that is the case, you could also select it's constraint object.

You could also try to add a new parent to the whole hierarchy of this arm, parent that would be in the center of the carousel and array from that parent.

[Anonymous]

Thank you so much for your help!  I completely redid the heirarchy and the bones.  I can now array the components around a proper center.  Now I'm back to my original question about how to duplicate the these components 8 times in an array. lol!  Embarrasing.  Do I have to rig each of the 8 assemblies seperately to get them to do the same thing?  Or, is there a way to group or something so that I don't have to repeat the work 8 times?  I'm uploading the scene if either of you would like to have a peek at what I've done.

[har1sf0x · Accepted solution]

Hello,

 Using the file that you attached you can:

1.  unhide all,

2.  delete the ik solver,

3.  double-click $Bone001 --this will select all objects in the hierarchy

4.  right-click clone --make a copy

5.  deselect everything and select the new created bone --$Bone004

6.  rotate using the pivot that you want --by picking is ok

7.  repeat steps 3-6 to create and rotate the other copies

8.  apply the ikSolvers to the bones

9.  create and link the Dummies as you did with the first one

  Best practice is to leave IKSolvers as the last think that you do in an unfinished rig (unfinished means that you have to copy/mirror bone chains). Unless you have a way to position and swivel correctly the IKSolver but this might be more difficult than recreating the solver.

Enjoy,

har1sf0x

[Anonymous]

Thank you!  It worked exactly as you described.  Thanks for taking the time to help.

Just out of curiosity, on step 4, instead of cloning and then rotating, would it have also worked to press shift and rotate 45 degrees and then enter 7 for 7 copies?

[har1sf0x]

Hello,

  You should give it a try. I tried it once and it was giving a similar problem with yours (different point of rotation), so i did not bothered trying to change the rotation settings since i new that if i move the root-bone (parent of all) everything will move correctly :D. Give it a try with the various rotation settings that @ads_royje described in his video and keep us posted.

Enjoy,

har1sf0x