# Crane Tutorial

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Crane Part 1 | Crane Part 2 | Crane Part 3

Stepping up in difficulty level from the Train section of the tutorial, Rich now begins the process of rigging the Crane. As is his method of working, he begins by organizing the model layers and then planning out the necessary controllers using his Rig Sketch technique. Over the courseof the three parts, Rich creates an interface to easily control the complex motions of the boom arm, the cables and the bucket itself. Once finished it is a work of (rigging) art to behold.

Users can jump ahead to a specific section by using the Chapter selection widget on the right side of the player or by directly clicking any of the Chapter Title links below.

Tab | Time | Chapter | Description
1 | 00:00:04 | Rig Sketch | Planning the rig necessary to control the bucket motions.
2 | 00:05:51 | Locators & Setup | Adding in of Locators and setting up the necessary Modifiers.
3 | 00:12:34 | Boom Arm IK | Adding in the IK to control the Boom Arm.
4 | 00:28:00 | Rig Cleanup | Consolidating the controls of the Crane.
5 | 00:35:30 | ParentingGeometry | Connecting the Locators to the actual Crane geometry.
6 | 00:45:33 | Test Setup | Testing the controls and troubleshooting issues that arise.
5 | 00:55:04 | Attach Cables | Connecting the cables to the pulleys so they animate and scale properly.
6 | 01:21:09 | Wrap Up | Finishing the cables.
| 01:22:16 | Total Video Time |

Frequently Asked Questions--

Q.) He really takes naming and coloring things seriously, why so serious?

> A.) First, great quote, LOVED that movie! Second, its because its a big deal. There is nothing fun about digging into a scene you created a month ago, or a year and trying to make heads or tails of how things are working when things aren't clearly named and organized. Take the time to do it as you go, it will pay off. Not only will it make your scenes more readable and more editable it will help you learn to think out what you are doing as you are doing it.

Q.) When he was setting up a direction constraint he inverted the pyramid's shape to point another way, why would he do that?

> A.) By default a direction constraint points down the positive Z axis and the locator in question would have to flip 180 degrees to point where it needed to. By changing the shape's visual direction I could invert the direction constraints axis (neg Z axis) and the constraint would not need to rotate as much to point where it was needed. It's a good idea to avoid large angle offsets with direction constraints when setting them up. Helps avoid flipping and other issues. For info, check out the Constraints section in the Foundation.

Q.) Why weren't the cables drawing when he was in Ray GL?

> A.) That would be because he forgot to set the "Render Curves" flag on the item in the properties panel. And let me tell ya, nothing like making that kind of flub while recording a training video. heh.

Q.) The deformers really seem twitchy, is that normal?

> A.) Unfortunately yes, the deformers that we have in 501 are really just a bare minimum until modo tackles the full deformation system someday. For more info on the current state of the deformers in modo check out the Deformers section in the foundation.

Resources--

Links to the modo in-line help system
Docs: Inverse Kinematics (IK)
Docs: Math Modifiers
Docs: Direction Constraint
Docs: Weight Map Deformer
Docs: Remove Vertices

Links to other pages in this training
Training: Inverse Kinematics (IK)
Training: Locator Mesh Display
Training: Transform Items
Training: Align Set Drop Tools
Training: Parenting Hierarchies
Training: Constraints
Training: Deformers

File--

Links to the modo scenes used in the video
(click to open in modo)
File: Crane_07_Rig_05.lxo

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