Using Rag Doll Constraints

Rag Doll Tutorial

Creating the Animation

 

Autodesk 3ds Max Tutorials > Special Effects > Rag Doll Tutorial > 

Setting Up Hips, Back, Neck and Shoulders

Open the sample file:

• You can either continue from where you left off or you choose File menu > Open and load character02.max from the \tutorials\reactor\ragdoll directory.

You will approach this lesson in a similar manner to the hinge constraint lesson in that you'll go through one of the joints in detail and then use a table of parameters to construct the other constraints. The setup for each Rag Doll constraint is identical, so once you've mastered the first one you should have no trouble setting up the rest of the character. You start with the hips.

Create Rag Doll constraints for the hips:

1. On the Create panel, click Helpers and choose reactor from the drop-down list.
2. On the Create panel > Object Type rollout, click Ragdoll.
3. Click in a viewport to create a Ragdoll helper object.

   

   Next, you choose which objects to associate with this constraint.

4. On the Modify panel > Properties rollout, click the button labeled None, next to Child.
5. Press H and from the Object Select dialog, choose RThigh and click Pick.

   The button beside Child should now read RThigh.

6. Turn on Parent.

   This tells reactor to constrain two bodies together.

7. Click the button labeled None, next to Parent.
8. Press H and from the Pick Object dialog, choose Pelvis, then click Pick

   The button beside Parent should now read Pelvis and the scene should look like this:

   

   Next, you need to adjust the Rag Doll constraint limits so that it behaves like a real hip joint:

9. In the Modify panel > Properties rollout > Limits group, set Twist Min to -5.0 and Twist Max to 5.0.
10. Set Cone Min to -25.0 and Cone Max to 55.0.
11. Set Plane Min to -45.0 and Plane Max to 2.5.

    You have completed your first Rag Doll constraint. Once you have successfully finished with that constraint, you can move on to completing the rest in a similar fashion.

Create Ragdoll constraints for the back, neck, and shoulders:

• The table below gives a list of the constrained bodies, the constraint name and the constraint parameters. Use this table to set up the remaining Rag Doll constraints in your scene.

  Constraint Name	Child	Parent	Twist Min	Twist Max	Cone Min	Cone Max	Plane Min	Plane Max
  RHipJoint	RThigh	Pelvis	-5.0	5.0	-25.0	55.0	-45.0	2.5
  LHipJoint	LThigh	Pelvis	-5.0	5.0	-55.0	25.0	-45.0	2.5
  BackJoint1	Spine1	Pelvis	-1.0	1.0	-30.0	30.0	-50.0	5.0
  BackJoint2	Spine2	Spine1	-1.0	1.0	-8.0	8.0	-6.0	3.0
  BackJoint3	Spine3	Spine2	-1.0	1.0	-8.0	8.0	-6.0	3.0
  RShoulderJoint	RUpperArm	Spine3	-5.0	5.0	-75.0	85.0	-5.0	65.0
  LShoulderJoint	LUpperArm	Spine3	-5.0	5.0	-85.0	75.0	-5.0	65.0
  NeckJoint	Head	Spine3	-5.0	5.0	-45.0	45.0	-15.0	15.0

  Once you've created all of the above constraints your Rag Doll constraints should look like this:

  

  The only thing left to do is to add these new Rag Doll constraints to your Constraint Solver.

Add the Rag Doll constraints to the Constraint Solver:

1. Press H and select the CSolver01 object.
2. On the Modify panel > Properties rollout, click Add.
3. Select all the objects (Rag Doll constraints) and click Select.

   Now the Constraint Solver has all of the constraints in it and the scene is ready to preview once again. First, save your scene.

4. Choose File menu > Save As and save the file as my_character03.max

Preview your character:

• On the Utility panel > reactor > Preview & Animation rollout, click Preview In Window.

  Now your character should tumble down the stairs properly.