Setting Up the Scene
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In this tutorial, we will build a bones skeleton inside of a simple leg and animate it using multiple IK goals.

The first steps are to set up some scene options, load the leg object, and adjust the view.

Set the Scene Options
  1. Start LightWave Layout. If it's already running, clear the scene to ensure all of Layout's settings are reset.

  2. On the Options panel, check that the Content Directory is set to the directory containing the objects directory from which you want to load the leg object. This tells LightWave where to look for objects and scenes when loading them.

    Also check that Auto Key Adjust is off. This will allow us to test our object skeleton and other items without having LightWave automatically create keys.

    For this tutorial, we will keep the objects directory in a directory called IKlegTutorial in the NewTek directory.

    Note: It's a good habit to start thinking of animations as "projects". Each project is a collection of the objects, images, and scene files necessary to create the animation. Any time a new project is started, you should create a main directory for the project with an objects and images directory inside. In LightWave, these main directories are called Content Directories.
    The scene options are set for this tutorial; now to load the leg.

Load the legRough.lwo Object

The objects used in this tutorial are legRough.lwo and legMeta.lwo. We will animate with the rough leg because it will be easier to work with. When it's time to render, we'll substitute the smooth, Metaformed leg.

  1. If you haven't already done so, download these objects from the NewTek web page and place them in the Objects directory in the selected Content Directory.

  2. Load legRough.lwo into Layout.
    legRough.lwo from the Perspective view.

Adjust the View

If you are using OpenGL, it will be difficult to place bones inside the leg when it is being displayed as a full solid object.

  1. In the Scene Panel, change the object visibility to a wireframe display by selecting Show All Object as Front Face Wireframes on the Show pop-up menu.

    This will turn off OpenGL viewing for the leg.

    Note: If you have multiple objects in a scene that you want to be displayed in different refresh modes, the second column in Scene Overview allows you to cycle through the possible refresh modes for individual objects. (See page 23 of the LightWave Reference Manual.)

  2. Change the View to Side and zoom in on the leg by pressing the period key twice. If you need to zoom out, use the comma key.

    View mode
    Side view of leg after zooming in.

  3. Drag down with the mouse to position the view. Adjust it so you get a full screen view of the leg.
    Side view of leg after dragging down.

Drag down with the mouse to position the view. The scene has now been set up and we are ready to add the skeleton.

Title Page Add the Skeleton
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