Fairly simple rig (although one person's simple may not be so). As you can see, I can get a pretty full range of motion with one bone layer and six vector layers. All of this animation was done with only the bones (and layer sorting). I still need to clean it up a bit, but overall I'm very happy with this rigging.
As you may know... I am not afraid of complicated rigs.
Can't wait to "see" it. Are the "knuckles" and finger "sections" separate shapes? I'd love to see what I could do about "smoothing" those joints out. Other than that it looks great.
30 bones, but 20 of those are very, very small and never messed with. Not quite ready to share the rig. As I said, it needs a little more refinement.
Vern,
No scripts. I've recently gotten tired of the performance hit many of the layer scripts have, so for now I'm trying to avoid them a bit. The finger sections are separate shapes, so it will be harder to do fill effects on this. Half of the magic is in how it is constructed.
I will explain it all, but first I want to see if this will work for whole characters. I think it will, which will make for a fairly simple 2.5D rig. Just give me some time.
Looking at this again, it reminds me of Sauron's gauntlet-clad hand. Fitting since this is part of my 'one rig to rule them all' obsession. ...it's ....my precious....go(flem)em.....stupid,...fat switches layers.
Sauron: "Little bunny fru-fru was hopping through the forest, pick up the field mice and, boppin 'em in the head."
synthsin75 wrote:"Little bunny fru-fru was hopping through the forest, pick up the field mice and, boppin 'em in the head."
Do fileld mice live in the forest - I thought they lived in fields? And why would bunnies bop them -- they are vegetarians? Sounds out of character for Sauron, too. I mean, where is the back story?
-- Peter Pedantic
You can't have everything. Where would you put it?
This is pretty dang cool Synth.
I am going to have to state the obvious though, regarding the tips of the fingers.
I know you can have some point animation to fix that.
You are a bit of a scripting guru too now, so I wonder if you could automate the shape of the fingertip changing to the proximity of the knuckle joints(closest to the hand).
Also what happens with the rig when the fingers have to spread?
I think this answers your questions Chucky. I'm working on a cleaner version now. Still no scripts required. I just had to add my scale-to-rotate lock bone rig to handle the tips. Still all just bone animation.
Well done synthsin75!!! Great to see someone pushing the boundaries of AS 3D simulation capabilities. I'd love to see a boney version of this 2.5D arm/hand that I could attached to my skeleton. It's almost inspiring me to start workng on it again
You mentioned a leg. I tried working on a leg for the skeleton but came across problems doing 3/4 frontal walk cycles. The legs have to contract upwards to allow for perspective. Have you solved this problem too???
Thanks guys. If I can get a whole character rig to work on this principle, I plan on doing a tutorial on its construction. But I still have a way to go. Wish me luck.
Looking at this again, it reminds me of Sauron's gauntlet-clad hand. Fitting since this is part of my 'one rig to rule them all' obsession. ...it's ....my precious....go(flem)em.....stupid,...fat switches layers. 
