Pikeman rig help

[gramm]

Hi all,

this is my first post here,i ask first if this is the right place in the forum to search help.

I
'm attempting to do my first rig,i almost know the way to rig the body
but in this character i have also some armor parts and a sword on the
belt.I'm searching a way to rig them separately,but not sure how do it
and if is the right way.

This character will be used for a simulation of squares of pikemans who
defend...not runs or sword fighting,just ill show how they take the
defensive position.

For the sword: attach the wires who keep the sword at the armor and the
sword with some  constrains to a dynamic cube to take the dynamic
movements?

For the lower part of armor:??

And also: if the upper armor can't bend(because is made of steel, XD) i
have to rig the spine flexible?or i make just a long joint from the
pelvis to shoulders?

Tank u so much,

Carlo

[john-rayworth]

Hi,
I'm an I.T. teacher at the International School of Prague, in the Czech Republic.  I can't help you with your questions, as I am just getting into Maya myself.  But I am looking for a castle guard model just like you are building.  I want him to escort game players out of the castle in a Flash game my students are making.  Any chance of being able to use your model, with much appreciation?  John Rayworth  jrayworth@isp.cz  Thanks.

[css_maya]

hi
for your first question (sword) there are scripts out there for dynamic chain rigging use one of them. and if you want to understand the concept, try to make a chain with many bones and make a spline ik system and then make the spline that controls the chain, dynamic.
for your second question (armor) , just use one simple bone, you will have better resaults i think

[molemansd7]

You can also create a regular spine for the character and a separate bone for the chestplate. That way, you can leave it up to the animators to eliminate pass through, while allowing for some flexibility in the motion and secondary motion with the chest plate. Meaning, the body can move, though limited, and the chest plate can bounce around on it a bit. That can either be animated by hand or with a simple dynamic constraint.