We've all been there: hours fiddling with a pose, one little shift and you've messed everything up. You try and fix it, only to get an explosion that you can't stop. Then you realize, you didn't even save your scene. You shut down Virt a Mate. Your disappointment is immeasurable and your day is ruined.
Why do you spend hours laboring on poses? Why can't you make them look good? Why does your model look like a poorly animated goon from an early 2000's video game?
Because she's just a poor, confused collection of unlinked atoms that don't know how to work with each other, that's why. Well not anymore.
You've got models, but you don't have any supermodels. Because you don't have a model. What model, you ask? Well, I'll tell you.
A biomechanics and physics model. That's right. She's a puppet with no strings. You need strings, so she doesn't just barf around the scene stupidly. With my biomechanics theory you can easily implement very quickly, you don't need to know how to make good poses, because you'll be working with a supermodel, superathlete, and damn near superhuman, who already knows how to make good poses for you, because she has superior physical intelligence, amazing balance, and an awesome sense of aesthetics. You just clue her in on what you are looking for, and she'll do the rest.
Related resource:
hub.virtamate.com
(For the easily bored or easily frustrated, don't worry. In just a moment, I will just give you the settings. Then I'll talk about some cool stuff for those interested.)
(PS: A bonus video has been added at the end.)
"Wow!" I hear you saying. "How did you just make her kick you in the face like that? That must have taken you ages!" No, it took about 30 seconds. Do the following. Your rig will look like this:
Here are the settings. Oh, and pro-tip: If you have a nice mouse, bind "Tab" to a thumb button, for quick look mode. Then set a switch on your mouse to switch on the fly from your chosen DPI down to about 400 DPI, for fine tuning rotation with shift-click drag rotate.
For the following atoms, in the control tab, use the following settings:
Neck (the master atom) - Position On, Rotation On
Head - Position Comply, Rotation On
Chest - Position Comply, Rotation Comply. Parent Link to Neck
Hip - Position Comply, Rotation Comply, Parent Link to Chest
R and L Elbow - Position On, Rotation Off, Parent Link to Neck
R and L Hand - Position Off, Rotation Comply
R and L Knee - Position On, Rotation Off, Parent Link to Neck
R and L Foot - Position Comply, Rotation On
R and L Toe - Position Off, Rotation Comply
That's it. Easy use guide for the short of time, or easily frustrated:
1) Pose her with the neck.
2) Pose her knees.
3) Pose her elbows.
4) Rotate her feet so they're contacting the surface the way you want, mess with toes if needed.
5) Get in position, and rotate her head at you.
6) Now that she's generally posed, you can turn specific atoms like the hands or hips back to "ON" to get the final result you want.
7) You can move her all around the scene with this method, you're not going to get any weirdness or explosions, and you don't have to mess with the root Person atom at all.
8) To move the whole pose instead of ambulate her around the room, losing the pose, turn each atom with a parent link to "Parent Link" mode for both its Position and Rotation, then pick her up by the Neck (leaving Neck settings as they are, On for both) and carry your little marionette over to anywhere else in the scene. Then, restore the original settings above for each parent linked atom.
Ok, brief explanation over. Now I'll talk about what's going on. But first, here are some examples, each of which were done in an extremely short amount of time, virtually on the fly. Because we are now working with a model who has actual simulated physical intelligence, that her physics system and biomechanical structure is doing for us.
Lexi, let me pick you up and stuff you in the cupboard up there.
Ok Lexi, now fly out of there, and reach for my hand like you're floating away tragically from a space station.
Great. Now, fly to the wall, backflip off of it, and land on the bed please.
Ok, before I move on for a moment, do something sexy.
Wow! That will work! Thanks Lexi!
Ok! Now on to some fun stuff. Why does this work so well? Well, yesterday I got a sudden and immediate epiphany, figured this out, and had to make this guide. I don't know how or why the idea came to me, but it did. It all involves a much neglected atom in both VaM and real life- the neck. That's right. The neck. Hear me out. Try this in real life. I'll take you through how you'll move, which is how she will move. Then you'll understand some of my biomechanics theory, and see why the atoms are linked and structured the way they are, and why you get super easy, action hero, supermodel poses every time. And now, your model can be the truly horrifying, Westworld inspired, super strong, super agile robot killing machine she was born to be, who could snap you like a toothpick.
Show 'em, Lexi. Do something truly horrifying.
Oh, God! Not like that, Lexi! No one is safe!
Back to the real life exercise. Ok.
To move your head, move your neck. Then, rotate your head to where you want to go, or look.
To pick something up, move your elbow toward it. Then, move or rotate your hand.
Let your chest and hips generally do what your neck is asking them to do.
But how do I walk? Not with your feet. To walk, move your knees. Then, don't think about moving your foot- rotate your foot to where it wants to go. And let your toes flex and point, so your toes and the ball of your foot are part of your finished movement.
I'm sure this has the potential to make you a healthier person who moves more, too, if you apply some of the technique, within reason.
Now, there are a lot more fun intricacies, but you can experience them for yourself by dragging the neck-based-marionette model I made for you around in game, without me just telling you about it. And now, you can play an actual game, instead of flying a challenging plane that wants to take a nosedive every time you breathe on it the wrong way.
Remember the principle here is- we are, ironically, giving up control over the model, to gain tons of control over the model.
Now, you can make some truly dynamic and expressive poses, super easily. I'll show a few more examples before I go. Of course, this model could be adapted or refined, has its limitations, and favors certain types of movement over others. But if you've read this far, you're probably smart enough to know that, and can change what you want to change.
Bonus pro tip for diligent readers: You can do other little pieces of extra flair like the following, but know that if you do, you stand the chance of making the pose less biomechanically authentic, because you made the model more complex. Anyway, take the R or L shoulder atom, change it from Position Off, Rotation Off, to Position On, Rotation Off, and Parent Link it to the Head. Now, just drag this shoulder around to have a new layer of control over her entire upper body, leaving the rest of the pose as it is. Pose her with the shoulder atom, then rotate her head at your position, and boom, nice screenshot from a totally new angle.
I just did it with the pose in the Guide thumbnail image. For reference, here is the original:
In mere seconds, she's now looking at us from the totally opposite side. All I did was use the shoulder method above, swung it around, pulled an elbow downward once, pulled the rear knee down once to keep the right toes on the ground, then rotated her head at us. 15 seconds. Instant screenshot, with total faithfulness to the old pose.
Ok, here are some more fun examples to close on. All made quickly and easily, with the model figuring out the finer points for me.
Lexi, do Yoga.
Lexi, how about something for the foot people?
Lexi, Cirque du Soleil contortionist, go!
Lexi, squat!
Lexi, play innocent! Don't let them know you're a Westworld robot!
Lexi, now, their guard's down! Kick 'em in the face!
You're right Lexi. We're all sorry we messed with you.
That's all, folks. As you can see, this is way too much fun for me. I hope you have as much fun posing your models with this method as I do. The finer points of it will come to you. Remember, rotate the feet, and when you want to fine tune or finish a pose, just turn your chosen atom On. It's that simple.
Oh, and drop me a rating if you liked this guide.
Bye bye and thanks for reading!
Bonus Video: BioRig + Timeline + Keyframes Adjusted Progressively for Complying Atoms
=
One scary escaped robot.
Why do you spend hours laboring on poses? Why can't you make them look good? Why does your model look like a poorly animated goon from an early 2000's video game?
Because she's just a poor, confused collection of unlinked atoms that don't know how to work with each other, that's why. Well not anymore.
You've got models, but you don't have any supermodels. Because you don't have a model. What model, you ask? Well, I'll tell you.
A biomechanics and physics model. That's right. She's a puppet with no strings. You need strings, so she doesn't just barf around the scene stupidly. With my biomechanics theory you can easily implement very quickly, you don't need to know how to make good poses, because you'll be working with a supermodel, superathlete, and damn near superhuman, who already knows how to make good poses for you, because she has superior physical intelligence, amazing balance, and an awesome sense of aesthetics. You just clue her in on what you are looking for, and she'll do the rest.
Related resource:
Poses - EasyPose BioRigs - Pose Your Sexy Models Easily, Without Explosions
Hello and welcome to another AppetiteVisual resource! As a reference for this posing resource, please see my first guide on how to pose models using a biomechanics theory model, at...
hub.virtamate.com
(For the easily bored or easily frustrated, don't worry. In just a moment, I will just give you the settings. Then I'll talk about some cool stuff for those interested.)
(PS: A bonus video has been added at the end.)
"Wow!" I hear you saying. "How did you just make her kick you in the face like that? That must have taken you ages!" No, it took about 30 seconds. Do the following. Your rig will look like this:
Here are the settings. Oh, and pro-tip: If you have a nice mouse, bind "Tab" to a thumb button, for quick look mode. Then set a switch on your mouse to switch on the fly from your chosen DPI down to about 400 DPI, for fine tuning rotation with shift-click drag rotate.
For the following atoms, in the control tab, use the following settings:
Neck (the master atom) - Position On, Rotation On
Head - Position Comply, Rotation On
Chest - Position Comply, Rotation Comply. Parent Link to Neck
Hip - Position Comply, Rotation Comply, Parent Link to Chest
R and L Elbow - Position On, Rotation Off, Parent Link to Neck
R and L Hand - Position Off, Rotation Comply
R and L Knee - Position On, Rotation Off, Parent Link to Neck
R and L Foot - Position Comply, Rotation On
R and L Toe - Position Off, Rotation Comply
That's it. Easy use guide for the short of time, or easily frustrated:
1) Pose her with the neck.
2) Pose her knees.
3) Pose her elbows.
4) Rotate her feet so they're contacting the surface the way you want, mess with toes if needed.
5) Get in position, and rotate her head at you.
6) Now that she's generally posed, you can turn specific atoms like the hands or hips back to "ON" to get the final result you want.
7) You can move her all around the scene with this method, you're not going to get any weirdness or explosions, and you don't have to mess with the root Person atom at all.
8) To move the whole pose instead of ambulate her around the room, losing the pose, turn each atom with a parent link to "Parent Link" mode for both its Position and Rotation, then pick her up by the Neck (leaving Neck settings as they are, On for both) and carry your little marionette over to anywhere else in the scene. Then, restore the original settings above for each parent linked atom.
Ok, brief explanation over. Now I'll talk about what's going on. But first, here are some examples, each of which were done in an extremely short amount of time, virtually on the fly. Because we are now working with a model who has actual simulated physical intelligence, that her physics system and biomechanical structure is doing for us.
Lexi, let me pick you up and stuff you in the cupboard up there.
Ok Lexi, now fly out of there, and reach for my hand like you're floating away tragically from a space station.
Great. Now, fly to the wall, backflip off of it, and land on the bed please.
Ok, before I move on for a moment, do something sexy.
Wow! That will work! Thanks Lexi!
Ok! Now on to some fun stuff. Why does this work so well? Well, yesterday I got a sudden and immediate epiphany, figured this out, and had to make this guide. I don't know how or why the idea came to me, but it did. It all involves a much neglected atom in both VaM and real life- the neck. That's right. The neck. Hear me out. Try this in real life. I'll take you through how you'll move, which is how she will move. Then you'll understand some of my biomechanics theory, and see why the atoms are linked and structured the way they are, and why you get super easy, action hero, supermodel poses every time. And now, your model can be the truly horrifying, Westworld inspired, super strong, super agile robot killing machine she was born to be, who could snap you like a toothpick.
Show 'em, Lexi. Do something truly horrifying.
Oh, God! Not like that, Lexi! No one is safe!
Back to the real life exercise. Ok.
To move your head, move your neck. Then, rotate your head to where you want to go, or look.
To pick something up, move your elbow toward it. Then, move or rotate your hand.
Let your chest and hips generally do what your neck is asking them to do.
But how do I walk? Not with your feet. To walk, move your knees. Then, don't think about moving your foot- rotate your foot to where it wants to go. And let your toes flex and point, so your toes and the ball of your foot are part of your finished movement.
I'm sure this has the potential to make you a healthier person who moves more, too, if you apply some of the technique, within reason.
Now, there are a lot more fun intricacies, but you can experience them for yourself by dragging the neck-based-marionette model I made for you around in game, without me just telling you about it. And now, you can play an actual game, instead of flying a challenging plane that wants to take a nosedive every time you breathe on it the wrong way.
Remember the principle here is- we are, ironically, giving up control over the model, to gain tons of control over the model.
Now, you can make some truly dynamic and expressive poses, super easily. I'll show a few more examples before I go. Of course, this model could be adapted or refined, has its limitations, and favors certain types of movement over others. But if you've read this far, you're probably smart enough to know that, and can change what you want to change.
Bonus pro tip for diligent readers: You can do other little pieces of extra flair like the following, but know that if you do, you stand the chance of making the pose less biomechanically authentic, because you made the model more complex. Anyway, take the R or L shoulder atom, change it from Position Off, Rotation Off, to Position On, Rotation Off, and Parent Link it to the Head. Now, just drag this shoulder around to have a new layer of control over her entire upper body, leaving the rest of the pose as it is. Pose her with the shoulder atom, then rotate her head at your position, and boom, nice screenshot from a totally new angle.
I just did it with the pose in the Guide thumbnail image. For reference, here is the original:
In mere seconds, she's now looking at us from the totally opposite side. All I did was use the shoulder method above, swung it around, pulled an elbow downward once, pulled the rear knee down once to keep the right toes on the ground, then rotated her head at us. 15 seconds. Instant screenshot, with total faithfulness to the old pose.
Ok, here are some more fun examples to close on. All made quickly and easily, with the model figuring out the finer points for me.
Lexi, do Yoga.
Lexi, how about something for the foot people?
Lexi, Cirque du Soleil contortionist, go!
Lexi, squat!
Lexi, play innocent! Don't let them know you're a Westworld robot!
Lexi, now, their guard's down! Kick 'em in the face!
You're right Lexi. We're all sorry we messed with you.
That's all, folks. As you can see, this is way too much fun for me. I hope you have as much fun posing your models with this method as I do. The finer points of it will come to you. Remember, rotate the feet, and when you want to fine tune or finish a pose, just turn your chosen atom On. It's that simple.
Oh, and drop me a rating if you liked this guide.
Bye bye and thanks for reading!
Bonus Video: BioRig + Timeline + Keyframes Adjusted Progressively for Complying Atoms
=
One scary escaped robot.
