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Adding new bones to skeletons

PostPosted: Thu Jun 08, 2017 9:30 am
by porky11
Is there already some way to add new bones to a skeleton in makehuman (better than writing .json-files manually)?
Would be useful for charakters with a tail or tentacle hair or whatever.

Re: Adding new bones to skeletons

PostPosted: Sat Jun 10, 2017 3:12 pm
by RobBaer
porky11 wrote:Is there already some way to add new bones to a skeleton in makehuman (better than writing .json-files manually)?
Would be useful for charakters with a tail or tentacle hair or whatever.

No. MH works at the level of skeletons not bones. You could make a variation on an existing skeleton in a program like Blender (preferably the default skeleton which is the one that drives things inside MH itself) and add an additional bone. Like any other new skeleton, it would need to be weighted for the MH mesh and coordinated to the default skeleton to honor built in sliders.

Re: Adding new bones to skeletons

PostPosted: Sat Jun 17, 2017 11:58 pm
by porky11
That's what I already know. My problem is, how to load a skeleton, connect it to the default human and export it.
I probably just found out, how to export it when loading some finished human with a skeleton, some new options in maketarget appear, also exporting rigs, but it does not work with this mesh.

Re: Adding new bones to skeletons

PostPosted: Sun Jun 18, 2017 7:51 am
by Aranuvir
If I get your question correctly: There is no direct functionality to use other skeleton than the skeletons that were built-in.There is an undocumented (and unsupported) blender tool that lets you create json files for an edited/new skeleton, though this json file needs to be heavily tweaked by hand afterwards. Use the search function of the forum for more information.

Re: Adding new bones to skeletons

PostPosted: Sun Jun 18, 2017 3:09 pm
by blindsaypatten
Perhaps you can elaborate on your workflow. You create a character in MH. You export it and import it in Blender, you add the bone. What exactly do you then want to do with it?

Re: Adding new bones to skeletons

PostPosted: Wed Jun 21, 2017 2:44 pm
by RobBaer
porky11 wrote:... how to load a skeleton, connect it to the default human and export it.
...

Looking again I see your interest is "tails". Everything inside MH (pose-wise) is driven by the default skeleton. The other skeletons are derived at export time. The default skeleton does not have a tail so tails are best implemented downstream in your animation program, e.g., Blender. Nothing keeps you from creating a mesh proxy to be accommodated by an alternate downstream rig.

Re: Adding new bones to skeletons

PostPosted: Wed Jun 21, 2017 7:25 pm
by brkurt
RobBaer wrote:
porky11 wrote:... how to load a skeleton, connect it to the default human and export it.
...

Looking again I see your interest is "tails". Everything inside MH (pose-wise) is driven by the default skeleton. The other skeletons are derived at export time. The default skeleton does not have a tail so tails are best implemented downstream in your animation program, e.g., Blender. Nothing keeps you from creating a mesh proxy to be accommodated by an alternate downstream rig.


I've only done this a couple of times, but it is possible in Blender 2.7x to parent one armature to another. This is very useful for creating wigs, that can quickly be changed from one animation to another. An example would be Wonder Woman with a rigged braid wig, then a rigged loose long hair wig.

A nice feature of this parenting approach is that one rig can be strictly FK (I need this for martial arts and facial expression animations) and one rig can have FK and IK, such a swinging braid or tail.

Re: Adding new bones to skeletons

PostPosted: Sun Jun 25, 2017 4:56 pm
by porky11
blindsaypatten wrote:Perhaps you can elaborate on your workflow. You create a character in MH. You export it and import it in Blender, you add the bone. What exactly do you then want to do with it?

Depends on the character. For example, when I add a Tail, I'd like to be able to animate the tail too, (similar to animating a Arm or leg)