Moving object with simple rig

[KristianZarn]

Hello

 

I am new to rigging and i am trying to do a very simple rig for my model of the sheep. I want to move only four legs and the head. What i have done so far is this:

1. Make four IK bone chains (one for each leg)

2. Capture geometry (with closest region selected)

and it works fine.

 

picture:

 

But now i want to be able to move the whole sheep. So what i have tried is to create a null object and just link the sheep and all of the bones to this object, but after i translate the sheep, the rig stops working.

 

picture (this is now translated sheep):

 

Is there a simple way to solve this, or am i doing this completely wrong? (i know that there is probably supposed to be only one bone chain, but i dont really know how to do more complicated chains)

 

I also attached a zip file that contains the model and hip file:

sheep.zip

 

PS: if you know any good and simple guide or tutorial on basic rigging in houdini i would be happy too

Edited June 1, 2014 by KristianZarn

[gui]

here it is.

 

Since you are capturing the geometry with bones, I think the default workflow is to capture the whole geometry, not just parts of it, and then use bones to reposition the geometry.

sheep_rig.hipnc

[KristianZarn]

Cool, thank you

Now i would need some help with rigging the eyes. I want them to look at some null object (and then control them with null object).

 

This is my rig now:

sheep.zip

Edited June 1, 2014 by KristianZarn

[gui]

you can make one object for each eye and use the look at field to point each null. It´s the most simple solution, but works.

[jim c]

Best guide is the one at 3D Buzz :

http://www.3dbuzz.com/training/bundle/houdini-rigging-bundle

 

Pretty damn thorough, a little dated (done with H9) but still 99% applicable.