Hi all, I am modelling a basic character, with the intention of creating a basic rig and doing some basic animation.

from what ive seen of rigging, it seems impossible to set a character up so I can squash and stretch, and other traditional animation concepts?

i mean if you have an arm rig you cant just stretch the bones, right?

is there something i should be considering before embarking on the rigging project? just looking for basic ideas for now, i havent done much rigging yet..

i dont think its worth animating this character if his shape stays constant.

you can animate the scale of a bone…you'll just have to compensate for the cregion…
give it a try - it does work

thanks arctor, i always thought of bones being a fixed shape like a skeletal bone. it sounds like it wont be easy - but possible, so that helps, cheers

np
give it a try and just ask if you have any questions

I think animating the bone length will be a much better idea. This will do the stretching. For the squashing, change the XY cregion radii to use expressions that change based on the length of the bone.

You could also try wirecapture and wire deform.

parent a series of nuls in object space and then object merge the point sop of each null. with an add sop create a curve and use that to capture your geometry.

with the proper use of restrictions IE locking translates in x y axis for the nulls you should be able to get the effect you are looking for.
Remember to capture everything at frame 0

What would be the expression for measuring the distance from the pivot of a bone to a goal object?

DR: You can now create this curve setup by hitting tab > Path in the Objects viewer.

Wren: vlength(vtorigin(“/obj/chain_root1”,“/obj/chain_goal1”))

The path object just does not work in this instance, when you parent the controles you get uncontroled chaos.
To tell the truth the idea I had needed more work but it does work.

These files were created in version 6.1.208.
The first was created after I saw the trailer for “Hellboy.”
http://www.mygraph.net/houdini/files/tentacle.hipnc [mygraph.net]

The second is a revamped version that uses controls on object space.
If you were to create a controll object for the curve it would be a little more eligant.
http://www.mygraph.net/houdini/files/tentacle_redux.hipnc [mygraph.net]

Hope these files help. The second was done quickly and shows it.