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Test Subject
Original Poster
#1 Old 15th Jul 2015 at 5:12 AM
Default Blender Pose Help With Ballet Arms
My problem is with the shoulders.

"The model's arms are bending on the wrong side of the shoulder. If you take a look at some photos, or at your own arms in a similar pose, you'll see that the whole shoulder moves so the "crease" is on the side of the shoulder closest to the neck, not the side closest to the arm.

It's tricky to replicate this exactly in sims, but you can get much closer by rotating the clavicle, so the change in angle is shared between the clavicle and the shoulder joints and there isn't a sharp crease in the sim's upper arm."


I admit I was a little confused by these suggestions, especially the parts I have underlined. I am more of a visual person, so perhaps, if this was marked up on one of my screenshots, I would understand better.

I’ve made a few adjustments, but I’m not sure how I’m doing. In front view, I rotated the left clavicle CCW and the shoulder joint CW. This softened the crease by raising the shoulder a little bit, but I am tentative to do more since my ballet teacher is always reminding me to “keep my shoulders down.”

Looking at my own body, I do see somewhat of a crease in my shoulder. But it is proving difficult to reproduce the soft folds of human skin. Is there more I can do to make this look natural on a sim?
Screenshots
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retired moderator
#2 Old 15th Jul 2015 at 3:09 PM
Hey there
I am at work right now, but I will be glad to help as best I can when I get home tonight.

Strangers in a Strange Land--The Shin Yi Legacy | last updated 3.7.2014
My Simblr | Is probably NSFW
is going to be a cat when she grows up.
retired moderator
#3 Old 16th Jul 2015 at 11:08 PM
Okay. So, one of the toughest things about ballet poses is that you need to take the sim's arm from its default position (palms down) and rotate it to 180 degrees without deforming the joints. This is tough, but doable. You'll need to move four joints to make it happen: the clavicle, the upper arm, the forearm, and the hand. Try turning your own arm over from facing palm down to palm up. You'll see movement from your hand all the way up into your shoulder.

Now, that shoulder kink can't be completely eliminated in a sim's rig, but moving the clavicle joint up slightly on the Y axis will make the sharp crease less noticeable, as seen in this photo. The arm on the left has had its clavicle adjusted and rotated up, and was then rotated on the Z-axis, so that it gradually turns the arm over at each joint: clavicle, upper arm, forearm, wrist. The arm on the right was chiefly rotated at the upper arm joint and did not have its clavicle moved. As you can see, it looks significantly more deformed.



You can't stop all deformities when posing, but it's good practice to minimize them where you can. Ballet is a tough thing to model, but you really are close. I look forward to seeing your poses back soon.

Strangers in a Strange Land--The Shin Yi Legacy | last updated 3.7.2014
My Simblr | Is probably NSFW
Test Subject
Original Poster
#4 Old 23rd Jul 2015 at 11:46 PM
Thank you for taking the time to give me advice. I went back and worked up the arms from scratch following your instructions. They look much better to me, but what do you think? Are they ready for submission or is there something more I could improve? Here are some updated screenshots.
Screenshots
is going to be a cat when she grows up.
retired moderator
#5 Old 30th Jul 2015 at 10:57 PM
It's looking a lot better now. :D

Strangers in a Strange Land--The Shin Yi Legacy | last updated 3.7.2014
My Simblr | Is probably NSFW
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