Biped Dog Leg Controls

 
 
 

Scales and rotates different parts of the biped dog leg rig after it's created.

To display: Select a biped dog leg guide and choose Create Character Rig from Biped Dog Leg Guide from the Animate toolbar. This custom parameter set appears after you have created the rig.

To redisplay: In an explorer, click the Controls custom parameter set icon under the Biped Dog Leg Rig model.

Scale

Dynamically reproportions the quaternion spine's length. If you selected the Fixed Length type for the rig's spine, this is the only way in which you can scale the spine (see Chest).

If you created a quaternion head spine (neck) (see Head), there is a separate Scale slider that lets you control its length.

Volume Factor

Scales the quaternion spine vertebrae as the length of the spine changes. This may also result in the scale being inherited by the upper body controls (arms, spine, neck, and head). Use positive values to shrink the upper body and negative values to expand it.

If you don't want the head and arms to be scaled down the vertebrae by the volume factor, select them, press Ctrl+K to open the Local Transform property editor, and deselect the ConstrainScaling option on the Options page.

Left/Right Foot Roll 1/2

These sliders set the angle at which the break points of the foot roll propagate rotation. For example, you can set it so that it appears as if the character is wearing high heels or is stepping over something.

Another example is if a character is putting out a cigarette with its foot: set both sliders to 0 and the roll will pivot from the front of the foot.

Left/Right Lock Percentage

These sliders determine the length percentage that will lock the two lower bones of the dog leg. For example, if this value is set to 1, the two lower bones cannot rotate forward beyond a straight line as you rotate the leg's extension control.

If you set the lock percentage value to 0.95, the bottom leg bone cannot rotate beyond 95% of the length of a horizontally-locked leg.

For creatures like an ostrich that can rotate the two lower leg bones very straight while running, a value like 0.97 would make sense. For creatures like a cat, this maximum reach is not as straight, so a value like 0.95 would work better.