Now we are going to put into action one of the basic uses of Human IK, like animating a character climbing up a pipe on the side of a building. This is going to involve some hit and miss work on your part until you get used to how the Human IK works, keep this in mind as we go through these steps:
Note
Use a combination of the Move and Rotate tools along with the Pinning and Lock To features when necessary.
Move a series of limbs and torso sections then re-pin, re-lock, or unpin and unlock for the next logical step in the climb.
1. Open a new blank project.
2. Load the Box_002 prop from the Props folder into the workspace and set its parameters as follows:
Move: X=-55.3, Y=19.8, Z=0.0
Rotate: X=0.0, Y-0.0, Z=67.9
Scale: X=662.8, Y=662.8, ZZ=662.8
3. Load the Pipe_001 prop into the workspace and set its parameters as follows:
Move: X=147.7, Y=-67.6, Z=0.0
Rotate: X=0.0, Y=0.0, Z=0.0
Scale: X=30.0 Y-0.0 Z=400.0
4. Load the G5 Chuck character into the scene and place him next to the pipe.
5. With Chuck selected, right-click and choose Edit Motion Layer from the Motion Menu.
6. Using the Edit Motion Layer dialog place Chuck into a position on the pipe similar to the following image. Use the Move and Rotate tools to reach the proper position. Don't worry about exact positioning.
7. Unpin all the control points on the body so we can move them freely. Unclick the Realistic Shoulder checkbox too:
9. Select the character's right hand in the Edit Motion Layer dialog box, and with the Move tool move it up the pipe to its limit to just before it starts to pull the character out of place. Do not pull it so much it moves his body. Click the Move and Rotate checkboxes under Pinning to lock them.
10. Select the left ankle circle in the Edit Motion Layer dialog. Move the leg up the pole and check the Move and Rotate boxes in the Pinning section to lock them.
11. Select the left wrist control point and click the Move and Rotate checkboxes to lock them.
12. Move the time scrubber to frame 40.
13. Select the upper torso selection point and use the move tool to move his torso up the pipe, but do not move the character too high as we do not want to straighten his lower leg too much as we don't want it to look un-natural.
The following image shows the character climbing up the pipe:
Note
Pinning holds a control point in place just as Lock To Original holds a targeted limb in place with the Reach Target feature.
We positioned our character on the pipe with a starter position. Then we moved down the timeline and repositioned an arm and a leg, then moved down the timeline again where we locked the arms and legs into place, then moved the upper torso upward finishing the move making it look like our character is climbing up a pipe. By using the pinning feature to either lock or unlock certain parts of the character, we were able to move the character up the pipe.
Finish our animation scene by having the character climb up to the top of the pipe or at least move him up one more revolution. If you find you can't move the character or the entire, or part, of the character is moving when you don't want it to, then check the pinning. Be sure to pin and unpin each limb as you go.