Reorienting Joints after complete rigging?
 

Hello.

I am doing an animation project for college, and this is my first time ever rigging a character manually.

I'm guessing the problem I have is that I need to reorient the joints in the character properly. I didn't notice this issue until now. The character already has a skeleton, the joints have been skinned, the IK Handles and Controls have already been assigned. I have been trained in rigging the character in college and through Youtube.

But the problem happens when I parent the Hip, Arms, and Ankle controls to the Master/Lead control....

Here is what the rig looks like without the controls being parented to the Master/Lead control at the bottom...

http://imageshack.us/a/img27/2847/rigissuecapture1.png

Here is what happens when the controls are parented to the Master/Lead control at the bottom...

http://imageshack.us/a/img138/8045/rigissuecapture2.png
http://imageshack.us/a/img585/2002/rigissuecapture3.png

As you can see, the arms become twisted and shift in opposite directions above the head and behind the back.

Just to point out... the hip control constrained to an IK Spline, I heard that was the proper way to rig a hip and spine.

But my professor at college said this has something to do with disoriented joints? If so, how can I fix this issue. I tried reorienting the joints, but I keep getting "Warning: /Line #: Skipping joint name: It has non-zero rotations." Somebody else said I need to set a default pose if this happens?

I'm confused. It's getting really irritating, and I only have a week left to complete this project.

How can I fix this issue after this character has already been rigged?

If somebody could please help me figure this issue out, I'd be the happiest person on earth! :D

Thank you for your time.

- Justin

It's not the best way, but have you tried parent constraining the objects instead, preserving offsets?

Thank you for your reply.

Can Parent Constraints be applied to an already rigged character? Would I have to get rid of all the constraints I already have to do a parent constraint? I actually don't even know how to use parent constraints.

And I'm not quite sure what you mean by preserving offsets. Can you go into little bit more detail on what it's about and how to do this? Thanks! ^_^

Please, somebody.

I need help badly! I only have until Thursday next week to complete this model! I have to give him a walk cycle nevertheless, and put him on a scooter through an alley, which is part of my college project. My grade in the class is on the line.

Somebody please help me with the simplest solution as possible.

Thank you.

Parent constraints can be connected to things that don't already have constraints on them. To preserve the offset, simply open the option box of the parent constraint, and click "Preserve offset"