So this is my first rig, it is going pretty good but I have a problem when I try to move the knee (and ankle), what happens is the knee and leg just stretch out instead of acting like a joint.
heres a pic:

Joints should only be rotated unless they are the root joint (the first join in a chain).

ah ok thanks , but I just came across another problem, when I rotate the arm joints part of the body gets kinda sucked out with it and I don't knoe why.

Sounds like you need to paint some skin weights.

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- Genny
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How would I go about doing that? Here is a pic to illustrate my problem:

yeah dude, looks like you softbinded your skin, which means you have weights to paint

select your mesh
in the animation menu set go
Skin > Edit Smooth Skin > Paint Skin Weights Tools > []

check out the maya tutorial help (Help > Maya Help > Learning Resources > Tutorials > Character Setup > Lesson 2 Smooth Skinning) for smooth skinning in action




heh, if this was XSI you could just grab the vertecies and click local reassign and then on the joint and you're problem would be solved

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that's a "Ch" pronounced as a "K"

Computer skills I should have:
Objective C, C#, Java, MEL. Python, C++, XML, JavaScript, XSLT, HTML, SQL, CSS, FXScript, Clips, SOAR, ActionScript, OpenGL, DirectX
Maya, XSI, Photoshop, AfterEffects, Motion, Illustrator, Flash, Swift3D

Yay! it worked! now I got one more question, and I don't wanna make a new thread for it lol, I wanna model a arm (just as a practice exercise) and I am wondering if there is a way to ad vertex points also I would like to know if you can lock other vertex points so that when you move your selected ones the rest of the object is unaffected so I don't keep getting creases.. hope that makes sense :S....

you want to model an unweighted arm?

add vertex: use split polygon tool (read up on it's capablities)

second query doesn't make much sense
maybe post a picture?

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that's a "Ch" pronounced as a "K"

Computer skills I should have:
Objective C, C#, Java, MEL. Python, C++, XML, JavaScript, XSLT, HTML, SQL, CSS, FXScript, Clips, SOAR, ActionScript, OpenGL, DirectX
Maya, XSI, Photoshop, AfterEffects, Motion, Illustrator, Flash, Swift3D

ok now i'm making a run cycle, but I can't raise the whole character without him going all weird, lol and a run cycle with no height is lame! xD

sorry for all my stupid questions, I hope they aren't getting too annoying :S