Link with orientation pain

[Pete]

Hi there,

I tried to figure out the whole link with orientation thing today but I find it horribly confusing I can't seem to get it to work at all.
Does this work flow seem right?

Say you have an arm bend that you want to tweak -
-Go to secondary shape
-Select link with orientation and choose the rotating bone
-rotate it until it hits the problem area.
-Switch back to modelling and tweak it until it looks good
-Store the shape (Back in Secondary Shape mode)
-Delete the moves you had made to get the tweaked pose (from the modeling mode)

If I do this nothing happens so I have gone really wrong somewhere.
Any help would be cool.
Pete

ok perhaps just ignor me, I found a video tute here that I think has the solution
http://community.softimage.com/showthread.php?t=1294

[Pete]

Actually I am still having trouble, when i chose Link Deform with... it seems to do nothing.
and when I choose Link deform with definition it let's me pick the bone but after that it does nothing. No errors, and it doesn't make a compound in there....
Any Ideas?

[3DMastermind]

Hi.
LWO was made prior to the shape manager and may be outdated now.
Just do this with the shape manager.
Link the shape's anim slider to the object being transformed.

[DAVID:-D]

I found this :

1. Select either the Shape Modeling or Secondary Shape mode from the Construction Mode list on the main menu at the top of the interface. The mode you choose depends on how you’re shape animating:

- Select Secondary Shape mode (see Creating Shapes in Secondary Shape Mode) if you’re saving deform keys on an animated envelope and you want the subsequent shapes to be in reference to the envelope’s animation.
or
- Select Shape Modeling mode (see Creating Shapes in Shape Modeling Mode) if you’re saving deform keys to set shapes for the object or cluster.

2. Select a cluster on the object you want to deform (this cluster can be the whole object too).

3. Choose Deform > Shape > Deform Keys > Link Deform with Orientation. In a 3D view (geometry) in a viewport, pick the object whose orientation will drive the deformation.
A custom parameter set called DeformControls is created containing proxies of the parameters you linked. In the explorer, you see this nested under the cluster. You can use it to modify the linked parameters (or modify them directly, if you like).

4. Use the Falloff slider for the cluster to set the range of where interpolation can occur. Falloff means at what point the object’s orientation stops having an influence on the output.
A DeformFalloffs custom parameter set is created, containing the Falloff parameter that is created for each deform key you set for the cluster.
You can also find the Falloff parameters by opening the model’s mixer and expanding the compound clip. Right-click a shape clip and choose Clip Properties. The Falloff parameter associated to the shape is at the bottom of the property page. Now deform the cluster and save deform keys:

5. Change the object’s orientation to the value you want.

6. Move the points in the cluster to create a new pose.

7. Select the cluster (or a point in it) and choose Deform > Shape > Deform Keys > Save Deform Key. Save a key for each “pose” you want to keep.

8. Continue saving deform keys for as many poses as you want to use.


So the problem seems to be u need do cluster first (point 2). I tried this in XSI 6 and it still works. I hope it helps