Working through Neal Hirsig’s blender tutorials. Just in his “Shark Animation”, and having problems with the armature’s.
I have created 2 bones (Bone and Bone.001). One is extruded from the other. I’ve created a group of vertices (Shark’s tail) and, using the armature modifier I’ve assigned the vertices to Bone.001. I’ve now tried just rotating Bone.001 and, although the fin KINDA moves, it… well best to look at the picture really.
For starters, make sure Bone Envelopes is deselected, select Preserve Volume, and make sure the entire tail and at least one extra loop from the main body are assigned for the tail bone.
Edit: Also in the Armature modifier, make sure none is selected in the vertex group option instead of Bone.001
First of, if you are using vertex groups then disable the Bone Envelopes option.
In the case above, it can be that on the vertex groups maps the transitions are too strong.
In this particular case I would set the parent bone (the right side one on the image) to Curved with several segments, look at Deform in the Bone tab of the Properties panel.
EDIT: too late, and yes, I didn’t noticed that group in the selection slot, that’s the culprit.
Anyway, my last suggestion should be still valid.
Thanks for replying peeps. Right, the first problem (the blurred tail) was because I had NOT selected all vertices in the tail section - I was still in solid fill mode (he said with not a small amount of embarrassment).
As for the ‘kinks’ in the tail, the Deform tab was the answer… I think, lol. I will remember the suggestion of having more bones (just like a real shark’s spine) but atmo trying to follow the tutorial.
Many thanks for your input and help blenders (is that the term for blender users? lol)
No problem at all, glad we could help. And you are right, you should add more bones to the shark’s spine, and remember to IK them to save yourself some hassle with the animation.
