Hi,
It doesn’t seem to matter how I manipulate the guides, the foot control “leg_L0_ik_ctl” is always aligned facing forwards (shown in red in the attached picture). Is there a way the local orientation can be in line with the foot (hilighted in green, and would coincide with the FK foot alignmentat bind pose)?
Hello @rampant.animator that is expected and oriented in world space by desing.
You will need to create your own componet version/variant to support this option
Or (carefully) adjust it with a Post Python script.
If you do that, you might also have to align any _mth nodes or _ref nodes, which I think are the nodes that are used to align the controls when IK/FK switching, or space-switching.
Can I know why there is an option that allows to leave the orientation “local” on the “leg_3jnt_01” control and not on those used for a standard leg?
It would be useful, because it forces us to model the characters in a specific and very rigid pose.
Another thing I was wondering… Why does the foot controller follow the orientation of the leg even though the guides are straight?
Well, I don’t know if you’ll get a satisfying answer to “why”. That’s the way the component was coded. And it’s open source, so you can modify it.
If you want to modify it, I suggest copying the component into a custom folder and adding MGEAR_SHIFTER_COMPONENT_PATH = P:/your/path/here/customComponents
Or better for the community, you can modify the component and submit it as a PR in Github.
Otherwise, the best bet might be to write one feature request per feature in a separate thread in the Feature Request category, so it doesn’t get lost.
For me, I often choose just to use post Python scripts to fix up some issues I have.
Good to know that you can modify the orientation with a Post Python script. Could you provide an example of how to modify the orientation? It is a small detail but it makes life easier for animators to have already oriented the foot controller.
Here’s my post script to do exactly that - there are a few threads that have similar scripts but for some only this appears as a result.
So here’s my customstep just in case it helps someone. ( I deliberately commented out the ikcns because some people prefer the forward-pointing one and I can have both in this way )
import mgear.shifter.custom_step as cstp
import pymel.core as pm
from mgear.core import attribute, transform
from mgear import rigbits
class CustomShifterStep(cstp.customShifterMainStep):
"""Custom Step description
"""
def setup(self):
"""
Setting the name property makes the custom step accessible
in later steps.
i.e: Running self.custom_step("alignHandRotationToGuide") from steps ran after
this one, will grant this step.
"""
self.name = "alignLegRotationToGuide"
def run(self):
"""Run method.
i.e: self.mgear_run.global_ctl
gets the global_ctl from shifter rig build base
i.e: self.component("control_C0").ctl
gets the ctl from shifter component called control_C0
i.e: self.custom_step("otherCustomStepName").ctlMesh
gets the ctlMesh from a previous custom step called
"otherCustomStepName"
Returns:
None: None
"""
for side in "LR":
rotation_ref = pm.PyNode(f"leg_{side}0_ankle")
fk_npo = pm.PyNode(f"leg_{side}0_fk2_npo")
fk_ctl = pm.PyNode(f"leg_{side}0_fk2_ctl")
ik_ctl = pm.PyNode(f"leg_{side}0_ik_ctl")
# ik_cns_ctl = pm.PyNode(f"leg_{side}0_ikcns_ctl")
# fix fk rot
# unlock and unparent chihldren that we don't want to rotate
self.unlockAllAxes(fk_npo, 'rotate')
fk_children = fk_ctl.getChildren(type='transform')
ik_children = ik_ctl.getChildren(type='transform')
# ik_cns_children = ik_cns_ctl.getChildren(type='transform')
pm.parent(fk_children, None)
pm.parent(ik_children, None)
# pm.parent(ik_cns_children, None)
# match rotations to guide
self.matchWorldRotation(rotation_ref, fk_npo)
self.matchWorldRotation(rotation_ref, ik_ctl)
# self.matchWorldRotation(rotation_ref, ik_cns_ctl)
# reparent children / clean up
pm.parent(fk_children, fk_ctl)
pm.parent(ik_children, ik_ctl)
# pm.parent(ik_cns_children, ik_cns_ctl)
self.lockAllAxes(fk_npo, 'rotate')
# match mth
transform.matchWorldTransform(fk_ctl, pm.PyNode(fk_ctl.name().replace('_ctl', '_mth')))
transform.matchWorldTransform(ik_ctl, pm.PyNode(ik_ctl.name().replace('_ctl', '_mth')))
# make sure nulling the controller goes back to the the base rotation
rigbits.addNPO(ik_ctl)
return
def matchWorldRotation(self, source, target):
pm.matchTransform(target, source, rotation=True)
def unlockAllAxes(self, node, channel):
for axis in 'XYZ':
node.setAttr(channel, lock=False)
node.setAttr(f"{channel}{axis}", lock=False)
def lockAllAxes(self, node, channel):
for axis in 'XYZ':
node.setAttr(channel, lock=True)
node.setAttr(f"{channel}{axis}", lock=True)
