Shape Key Driver

Question

Hey CG Cookie,

I’m a bit of a noob when it comes to adding drivers to shape keys.

I’ve created a rig and a shape key driver to manipulate the pages for my book.

When I play the animation the shape key is not affected by the driver.

I know why this is happening…

When I look at the driver editor, I notice a negative value flow instead of a positive flow hence the reason I am unable to see my shape key being driven by the driver.

I don’t quite understand why this is happening.

If you can assist me, I would very much appreciate it.

Thank you.

Bennie


0051-0146.gif

  • Martin Bergwerf replied

    Hi Bennie!

    It is really hard to see on this GIF, but if the Driver is the X-Rotation of the Bone, it might be using the Bone's Local X-Axis and that is pointing in the Worlds negative X, so when you think an X-Rotation is positive, it is actually negative...

    But again, I can't really see much on the GIF, if I try to zoom in, the low resolution hinders me too much (and many information is hidden).

    If it is something else, could you please provide a link to your .blend?

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  • Adrian Bellworthy replied
    Like Spikey said, it is hard to see, but I can make out the direction of the bones.

    It is normally a good idea to have the Z direction of the bones facing up when the deformation object is at rest, in this case I guess when the book is closed.

    You can change this using the roll angle in the N-panel when in edit mode of the armature, and the bone you want to change selected.
    1 love
  • Omar Domenech replied

    Learning to do this kinds of things for WBW would be such an amazing help. I need to get into drivers and learn proper rigging.

    1 love
  • Bennie Griffin(bc_griffin) replied

    Hey Guys,

    First of all my apologies for the distorted GIF. I'll rather upload an image file next time.

    Thank you so much spikeyxxx and @adrian2301 for your time and diagnosis on my little problem.

    Man you gentlemen really know your stuff.

    Martin, you were indeed correct in pointing out my bone's Local X-Axis. Thank you for elaborating on this.

    Adrian, you were also correct in stating to keep the Z-Axis facing up. Thank you for this great rule of thumb.

    My shape key driver is now functioning properly.

    The plan here is to delete the animation and use a Controller Bone instead to drive the shape.

    I currently have 3 rigs (Hardcover, Pages, Lock) that will be controlled by a Master Controller.

    You guys are the best!!!

    Kind regards,

    Bennie

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