Ok, age old problem. We have a big ship that is scaled 1 unit = 1 meter.
We hired someone to model and rig a character. Everything about him is perfect except he is scale 1 unit = 1 cm.
So I simply need to scale him down to 10% of his current size.
In Maya and Softimage, I could simply group everything and scale him down. This doesn't work in Max. He has a biped skeleton, and every attempt I've made to resize him, has its own unique problem.
Merging the large character into the scene prompts to rescale. This results in all the normals being flipped, and the model is upside down.
Grouping and scaling down does nothing.
Selecting all bones and scaling down is actually the closest to successful, but his figure position is distorted and there are other problems.
Does anyone know of a good resource for a solution to this age-old planning oversight in max?
Kyle
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by: holosimexchangePosted on 2006-07-27 at 08:56:41ID: 17193934
I haven't received any comments, and I hate to leave loose ends. This is a fairly common problem, and one that must be handled in pre-planning. However, since no amount of planning can cover everything, here's a few tips I've learned for anyone that follows looking for answers. At least until someone comes back with something better...
All my research, including the AutoDesk help files and all the trial and error I've worked on suggests that as long as the structure is balanced, you can scale the biped skeleton down and the mesh will follow. It will function normally, but ANY changes you decide to make to the mesh will be a pain in the @$$. The simple fact that everytime you step down in the modifier stack, your mesh will grow back to it's normal size and there is no director way to modify it using the skeleton as a reference. You can click the 'See End Results' button, but you will need to have two viewports open to work with. One views the original model to select elements, the other zooms in on the end result so that you can see your changes. This works, sometimes. But quite often, your mesh will get screwed up because the changes you make to the original will be scaled as well in the final product. So moving your fingers closer in the original mesh, for instance, will cause your fingers to cross in the final product.
Also, for you Maya and Softimage users, remember that Biped is a system with very specific needs, and ALOT of programming hacks. DON'T try to grab all the bones and scale them down. You MUST go into the Biped motion panel, go into Figure mode and scale down the HEIGHT of the structure. Otherwise, you'll screw up your character's balance.
Finally, if your characters shoulders, pelvis or neck have been moved in Figure mode, they may be disjointed when you scale the structure down. Don't fret. Simply make a clone of your mesh before you scale down. Scale down the biped structure, and then the clone that you made. (It must be identical scale percentages.) Then adjust your pelvis, shoulder and neck positions in Figure mode to fix the problem.
Have Fun,
Kyle