Step
1
This
setup will also give us a realistic twisting motion in the forearm,
but with an easier to skin rig than with the radius and ulna approach.
We'll start by using the arm rig from the first
lesson. But this time the forearm bone will be used as part
of the IK chain only, not for skinning purposes.
Select
the forearm bone (Bone02 if you followed the last lesson),
and make one copy.

|
|
Step
2
Hide everything but the copy you just made. Go into the Character
menu and bring up the Bone Tools window. Click on Refine.
What this does is let you break one bone into two without breaking
the chain.

|
|
Step
3
Click
as close to the middle of the main bone as you can.

|
|
Step
4
Now
click in the middle of the top bone.

|
|
Step
5
And
now the middle of the bottom bone.

|
|
Step
6
Now
we've got four "mini bones" that together are exactly
the same length as the original forearm bone. And while we've got
the Bone Tools window open, add some fins to the new bones
so you can see them rotating easier.

|
|
Step
7
Right now each bone is linked to the one before it, but we don't
want them linked together at all. So select all of them and click
on the Unlink Selection button.

|
|
Step
8
Unhide
everything and, with the new bones still selected, click on the
Select and Link button.

|
|
Step
9
We
want to link these bones with the forearm bone (Bone02).
But since the forearm bone is buried inside the new bones it's easiest
to bring up the Select By Name window and select Bone02
there. You can bring up the window by hitting the "h"
key on the keyboard if you're using the default keyboard shortcuts.

|
|
Step
10
Now
we're going to do a lot of wiring. Right-click on the IK Goal
(IK Chain01), click on Wire Parameters on the
pop-up menu, and navigate to the X Rotation controller.

|
|
Step
11
Then
click on the first bone in the forearm chain and navigate again
to the X Rotation controller.

|
|
Step
12
This
is the wiring window. First click on the bottom arrow to tell Max
that the control for these two objects is going from the IK Goal
to the bone and not the other way around. Then type in the expression
below:
(X_Rotation)-(degtorad(90))
Basically,
we're telling this bone to use the rotation of IK Chain01 minus
90 degrees. Technically you could do without the "-(degtorad(90))"
part and it will still work. This is merely a housekeeping thing
to keep the forearm bone chain looking nice. Try it without that
last part and you'll see that the bone rotates 90 degrees as soon
as you hit the Update button. So that last part of the equation
just tells Max to leave the bone where it is.

|
|
Step
13
Repeat
steps 10 through 12, but change the expression as shown below:
(X_Rotation*.75)-(degtorad(67.5))
Now
we're telling Max to rotate this bone 75% of IK Chain01's rotation.
And again, the last part just keeps it from rotating to a different
position.

|
|
Step
14
Repeat
steps 10 through 12, but change the expression as shown below:
(X_Rotation*.5)-(degtorad(45))
Now
we're telling Max to rotate this bone 50% of IK Chain01's rotation.
As you can see, each bone is rotating less than the bone before
it, which is exactly what we want.

|
|
Step
15
Repeat
steps 10 through 12, but when you click on the last bone and the
pop-up menu doesn't look like the other three exactly, don't freak
out. Just look at the picture below to see where you need to go.
And it's just because we copied the forearm bone in the beginning
instead of making these bones from scratch. It's no big deal.

|
|
Step
16
When
you get to the wiring window, change the expression as shown below:
(X_Rotation*.25)-(degtorad(22.5))
This
bone will rotate very little, which is just what that part of your
arm does when your wrist rotates.

|
|
Step
17
That's
it. Now you can rotate the IK Goal and watch the both the hand and
the forearm twist together.

|