Help with rigging a model.

[Shambler234]

I was going to rig the enforcer and add new animations as the player, as i did without adding new animations it completely messes up with the model I also plan to modify the Player.QC to add those animations.
Here's the .Blend file.
enforcer.zip

[MadGypsy]

I didn't open your file but here are some things to consider

1) Quake models do not have the proper topology for an armature
2) In blender world Quake model animations are done with shape keys

If you ever get any of this to work with an armature, make sure the model and all of its animation frames are selected, but the armature is deselected before you export.

[golden_boy]

What is the exact question you have?

I opened your blend file in Blender 2.66 and while you have correctly created your armature, and added an armature modifier to the mesh, posing your armature does not deform the mesh.

You have correctly assigned vertex groups to each bone (naming the vertex groups the same as the bone), but the vertex groups seem to be empty. I can't seem to select/deselect vertices that belong to any of your vertex groups, like I should normally be able to. Thus I can't seem to pose your model.

I see that the MDL frames got imported as shape keys onto the object; however, I would suggest that you delete all of them and completely animate the model using skeletal animation. That's what I would do.

Like MG says, there is a difference between how Quake MDL animates things (shape keys, ie animating individual vertices) and how a skeletal animation is done (animating the armature/bones and having the mesh be influenced by them). Decide which one you want to use.

Shape keys are today only used for stuff like facial animation.

Also decide what your target format will be - MDL doesn't support skeletal animation.

In short, give us more info about what you're trying to do.

[Phenom]

Looks like your gun needs a bone added to it, you may want to add foot bones and add manually weigh the armature to the different object sections (hands,forearm,shoulder,theighs,shins,feet etc...)


If you apply the armature as it is to the enforcer mesh you get really crappy joint movements and deformations, this is why you would weight paint your object in blender to tell which bones control which faces on the mesh.

I've attempted to do this same thing but with the original Quake 1 player model and I ended up recreating my own ranger model so I could have much better control over animation.

Welcome to QuakeOne.com Quake 1's resurrection project site, got a question about blender? Sure we can help you!... Got a question about Quake 1 source code and or modding Quake 1? You're better off visiting Inside3d.com.

[golden_boy]

Yeah, weight painting is basically an interactive way to create the needed vertex groups.

In short, your mesh is attached to the armature, but the info about what parts of the mesh are affected by which bone/s is incomplete/missing.

Another thing is that you probably want to add a bunch of edge loops (ie raise the polycount) to get smoother animation, like the other guys have hinted at.

[MadGypsy]

I would just start over, honestly. Use quads to make your model, ensure you use 3 loops at each turning/bending point and build a fresh armature for your model. Pay attention to the largest muscle groups for your edgeflow.

If I remember correctly you can turn an armature animation into shape keys (been a while I might be saying something dumb)...regardless you triangulate it in the end after you have everything else done and your model has been optimized. Make sure you have no triangles or n-gons before you triangulate.

I am speaking for the mdl file type. If you go to a more recent model type. You can keep your armature and to Hades with shape keys.

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Not exactly a pro tip:

I would see how good you could get it with automatic weights, before you start the incredibly fun and tedious adventure of weight painting it yourself. I mostly say this because you don't seem to have a lot of experience and (at least for me) weight painting is a challenge, possibly a huge one if you have shitty topology.

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Another tip if you were to start over:

When you go to model the arms. Pull one long arm out of the shoulder. It should be an even number of segments around. 6 is workable, 8 is better. Press cntrl+r and position the edge loop straight through the elbow. Now grab your wrist edge and press r then x then 90. This will rotate your wrist 90 degrees. When you extrude your hand, model it palms down. This entire exercise is to mimic what is really happening under your skin.

To see a "right now" illustration hold your arm out thumbs up and turn your wrist palm down. Now look at how the muscles at your inner wrist flow to your elbow. This is not all though. You have to also make sure that the forearm bone is rotated 90 degrees as well, before you bind it to your model.

note: when you do the edge loop rotation its gonna make a bit of a mess. Press cntrl+r and hover the forearm, then mousewheel scroll up til you have 2 new edgeloops. Then you can start repositioning some vertices to regain the proper shape. Try not to untwist the twist you just made.

[Shambler234]

I've always thought you could do it manually by selecting the vertexes and assigning them to the bone.

[bluntz]

Rigify helps make animating with shape keys a snap.However you must do all the things the guys above have told you as well.Add at least 3 edge loops to each joint,weight paint the joints blue,convert to triangles on export ect.....
No armatures needed.

[golden_boy]

I've always thought you could do it manually by selecting the vertexes and assigning them to the bone.

This is true.

Your model already has one vertex group for each bone; you need to assign vertices to the groups still though, because they appear to be empty.

In short, yes, you can manually create vertex groups that have names identical to the bone they belong to; and then you need to select and assign vertices to the vertex groups.