Dynamic Parent Tool

Status: Alpha release

Last Updated: August 2017

Overview

The dynamic parent tool is for setting up and managing dynamic parent setups for controls in rigs. Underlying tech was creating during Morpheus 2 development. Acknowlegments to our friend John Doublestein for the initial seed of how to do this.

Until we get embeded video sorted. Please use this link: https://player.vimeo.com/video/220053622

Features

• Attempting to make space switching more accessible
• Supports multiple modes: space,orient,follow
• Space Pivots for easy constrainable spaces
• Contextual marking menu for handy switching

Accessing

1. UI

   • Top cgm menu. CGM> TD/Create> Rigging Utils> Dyn Parent Tool
   • TD Marking menu. Utils(NW)>cgmDynParentTool(N)
   • Anim/Puppet Marking menus. Utils(Bottom)>cgmDynParentTool

2. Python

from cgm.core.tools import dynParentTool as cgmDynPrntTool
reload(cgmDynPrntTool)
cgmDynPrntTool.ui()

#or

cgm.core.tools.dynParentTool.ui()

Regardless of how you got there, you should see something like this:

Yours won't have anything loaded though. Let's dig in.

Terminology

• Dynamic Parent Group (dynParentGroup) - A metaclassed group setup from a dynamic child for switching that child
• Dynamic Child (dynChild/target) - The controlled object that is able to keep clean animation channels while following other spaces
• Dynamic Parent (dynParent) - A specified parent for a dynChild stored to a dynParentGroup to switch between.

• Mode (dynMode) - The mode the dynParentGroup is in. Currently supports:

  • 0 - space - Most typically used option, target follows the space of the target
  • 1 - orient - Target follows the orientation of the target
  • 3 - follow - Target follows the position of one space and the orientation of another. Most useful for a head for example.

• Space Pivots(Pivots) - This is our solution for having easily constrainable spaces that change scene by scene.
• Alias - A string that displays for a given dynParent so that what displays in the attribute switcher and marking menu makes more sense. Instead of master_anim or whatever it can show world. It works by a string attribute stored to a dynParent called cgmAlias. This is used for more functionality to similar effect in our other systems as well.

Tip

The alias can be changed in referenced assets and when done via the gui will update the enum attributes accordingly.

UI

Menu

Switch

Contextual menu that builds a switcher based on item selection regardless of what is loaded to the ui.

• Depending on mode, the options in the switcher will change. For example, for follow mode you will get both change orientTo and change follow options with flyouts for each one.
• If multiple objects are selected and they both have dynParentGroups, a multi switch will be an option as well to select shared options.

Note

The switch can be added to any of your own menus. See below: Adding to your own Menu

Pivot

Menu for adding/editing space pivots. Currently it only works off of loaded objects and not selection. For best use, your source control should be zeroed out.

• Add Single - Adds a single space pivot
• Add Multiple - Add as many pivots as you like from a provided prompt
• Clear - Clear all space pivots from the loaded object and rebuild the dynParentGroup

cgmDynParentGroup

The top section is divided into a couple of parts. Let's take a look one by one. Here's a basic ui window again.

DynChild

This section is for loading an object to the tool. With a given transform selected. Hit the << button to load it. The tool will populate with what it finds. If a dynParentGroup is detected it will load the rest of the ui with that information.

Popup

There is a left click pop up menu on any loaded object.

• Select Loaded - Select the loaded dynChild
• Select dynGroup - Select the dynGroup
• Select dynParents - Select the dynParents of the loaded dynChild

Report

The noninterative row report data found.

• ... - Nothing found
• No dynParentGroup detected - dynChild loaded, but hasn't been built
• DynGroup: mode: 2 | targets: 3 - dynGroup found. It's mode and the number of targets.

Mode

This lets you change the mode for the next rebuild of the dynParentGroup.

Tip

Your mode will not change until your build your dyn group again.

Buttons

• Rebuild - If dynParentGroup exists, make one. If one exists, rebuild it (taking into account new mode for example).
• Clear - Clear all parts of a loaded dynParentGroup.
• Copy - Copy the current dynParentGroup to any selected objects.

Parents Scroll List

Here you will find a list of parents connected to the dynParentGroup. Let us look at the ui again.

Here is a line we'll break down: 0 \ cat(cat_jnt) \ ((Space))

• 0 - The index of the dynParent
• cat(cat_jnt) - This is showing an alias. The Alias is shown first, the object is in the ()
• ((Space)) - This designates that the this dynParent is the active dynSpace target for our dynParentGroup and dynChild

Popup

The scroll list items have right click menu and double click functionality.

• Doubleclick - This will select the parent in maya
• Right Click - Single parent selected
• Right Click - Multi parents selected

Single

• Alias - Add or change the alias of a given parent
• Clear Alias - Clear the alias attribute
• Select - Select the parents in maya
• Switch -
• Move Up - Move selected up in the list
• Move Down - Move selected down in the list

Multi

• Select - Select the parents in maya
• Move Up - Move selected up in the list
• Move Down - Move selected down in the list

Buttons

These functions are somewhat contextual. They work both off of maya selection and dynParent list.

• Add - Add selected as parents
• Remove - Remove selected as parents
• Move Up - Move selected up in the list
• Move Up - Move selected down in the list

Practical Uses

Referenced Assets

The easiest way to set things up is to add as many (and maybe a couple of more) space pivots in your base rig as you think you will need. In actuality you will probably never need more than 3 to which you can switch between in even complex scenes.

When animating in your referenced scene say you want to animate a hand along a staff and still want clean animation channels. In this case your dynParentGroup would be setup as a space setup more than likely.

1. Select your control that has been setup with switching and has at least a single space pivot.
2. Key your control on the frame before you want following enabled. This will key in your current space.
3. Turn on the space pivot you want to use via the attribute on your control.
4. Position the space pivot where you want your new space.
5. Constrain that space pivot to the prop
6. Use the ui or marking menu to change your current space to the space pivot you have been using.
7. Your control will now track your prop from this point forward on the timeline.

Switching Setup

There are a couple of ways to handle switching. Through the ui but more practical is via the marking menu.

Currently the marking menu is setup in anim and puppet modes in the [cgmMarkingMenu](markingmenu.md). To do so. 1. Select any objects with a dynParentGroup setup. 2. Activate the marking menu. You'll see a contextual switcher and visible on load. Easiest just to try it out.

Adding to your own Menu

Assuming you use pythonic ui setups. It would look something like this.

In your module, you'll need to import the tool.

import cgm.core.tools.dynParentTool as DYNPARENTTOOL

Where you want it in your ui you'd use this call.

DYNPARENTTOOL.uiMenu_changeSpace(self,parent,False)

• self - This is your object
• parent - This is the ui element to parent the new elements to
• False - This is a flag showNoSel. This means that if False it shows up regardless of whether anythign is selected or not.