Break Chain at Bone...

[norvman]

Animate>Skeleton>Break Chain at Bone...

I just reciently figured out what this does... (well I didn't figure this out .... someone showed how they were using it in their Rigg setup... )
So Question....

Has anyone used this in their riggs and can you give advise on any pros and cons to using it....?

I ask, as what seems to be, the majority of Riggs are not using it...

Thanks for any info

[franky]

so far i never used it. can you switch the break behavior on/off, can you key it?
if so i could see use, otherwise what would be the difference to two chains parented to each other?

[norvman]

aaaah.... I see what yah mean....

Thanks Franky

yah it just looked like a quick way to setup a rigg... that is without having to create a whole new root/bone/effector.... everytime you needed an animation control... but yah you need to be able to key the joint

come to think of it ... it does have the Pseudo-Root key that can turn the effect on and off... but I still can see where you can't do as much with it as having a root sitting there or an effector to constrain too... (cause you apparently can't constrain to it)....

hummm?
What were they thinking when they made this?

Okay...
no biggie...
just playing around some of the Rigging stuff that's all...

[DAVID:-D]

What a great Rigs you could do if it works :surrender:, but by some reason u cant animate this.

I tested in many ways but couldnt get any good result. that sad it could be great elbow pinning feature, but as I said it just doesnt work.

[norvman]

That's what I kept thinking.... perhaps SoftImage could add a bit of programing to that feature to make the breaks or psuedo-roots in to fullfledged Nulls or Real Roots that could be keyed and blended just like roots and effectors do now... that would save some time...
One could imagine not having to use a Rigg Guide if you were able to do this quick enough...

aaaa well.... I'm day dreamin' too much better get back to work...

[EricTRocks]

Sounds like you want a rigging method like Maya? It's ok, but a pain in the ass to insert IK handles.. I like the way XSI has it, but could see the breaking / pseudo roots being a bit more flavorful.

Later,
Eric T.

[franky]

no eric, its about having an IK chain (X bones) and putting an effector at a certain time on one bone IN the chain. that would stop solving the Ik equation there and basically pin the joint in place. so you divide a chain by keying into 2 chains.

now you would have several ik chains that are blended against each other, to pin something like a elbow properly.

[EricTRocks]

Yeah, I know what you guys are talking about. I'm just saying it is very similar to the Maya method. Even sounds a bit like a Full Body IK situation too. Having IK handles where ever you need / want them.

This could be helpful in some situations. I'm not saying it is a bad thing necessarily, I just don't want to have to use an additional tool to have to insert IK handles here and there. I like that you can click on a bone and break it / turn on pseudo root.

Cheers,
Eric

[Serguei]

I find pseudo-root useful for a couple of setups, for example an ik/fk spine.
I suppose I could see ways how the functionality could be expanded further to make it more useable.

[DAVID:-D]

OK, since this is a forum why not share our experiences with this function.

I found impossible keyframe animation.
I have two bone chain IK. I apply PseudoRoot on second bone. But cant animate with this setup. I can make keyframe on second bone transform only in Global. If I try keyframe first bone rotation it always rewrite the last information I apply. Lets say I do first Key on frame, then if i move PseudoRoot bone and key first bone rotation at frame 10 the first keyframe is replaced by number on 10th frame.

Does anybody has same problem?