Foot Setup

Foot setup is now complete, so here's a quick rundown describing exactly whats happening.
Each toe has an fk joint chain running down it (I could have opted for an IK spline chain, driven by fk but decided this was a little overkill - There's no particular closeup of the feet in any shot). Getting the feet into the right pose is quite important, watching the video's I've noted the positions and shapes they achieve whilst walking and flying.

Each joint is connected at the ankle by three separate joints; which are not for skinning, but will allow toes to rotate downwards independantly. I've set up a "relax" attribute on the foot controller that will control this. I'll create a seperate ankle control for skinning which will have the ik handle attached.

Each joint has a nurbs control curve attached to its shape node using the parent -add -shape command. Took me quite a while to figure out that the shape has to be at the origin, with all its transforms frozen out, history deleted. Otherwise it maintains offset from the origin. We don't want that. This is a really nice processor friendly, Outliner tidy way of doing things (rather than using parent constraints). 

Set driven keys can now be applied simply to pose the feet into walking and flying positions, and speed up the animation process.

Wing Reference

Very useful resource on the workings of a bird-wing. Must note, this video refers to smaller birds, a crane has slightly different physiology to this, but none the less a useful starting point. This has helped me no end decypher whats occuring when the wings tuck under and fold around the top of the body when the bird is grounded.

Looking at the skeleton below and comparing that with the video animation it seems the Crane doesn't have the Humerous bone, just one big Ulna bone. The rest works pretty much the same - the bird wing and human arm are quite similar, they just bend in opposite directions. So i can act out the motion myself and then reverse it; which I did (see below)...

Me Being Bird


Hopefully not the best short film i'll ever make, but just to illustrate the backward nature of a birds wing movement. Once the arms are folded back on each other, they tuck over the back.

Crane - Side View

Side view of finished geo for the crane character. Lots of consideration already going into the neck. Comparing it to a more humanistic bipedal rig - it shares some characteristics; however the neck will need to be treated like the spine, the body i want to keep pretty rigid i the x axis, might break it up with one join in the midde just so it has a little flex for when the wings fold back into walking position, but might not be necessary.

The bird skeleton seems to suggest the whole body is one fused unit - come to think of it, i've eaten  my fair share of chicken off the bone - we've all picked around that huge lump of cartiladge that ends up in the bin - It has no play in it. Just the same here, except a bit longer.

I've also included the outliner and channel box in the snapshot, just to demonstrate the geometry is fully reduced to one piece, named up, grouped accordingley, has its transformations frozen and history deleted. Ready for rigging. 

Joint Placement - Side

One of the most important parts of the rigging process and sadly not well documented in video tutorials. This rig will have plenty of joints down the neck for the bird to move and shake and connected by spline ik that will be driven by fk joint chain. I'm not going to include any stretch or squash - this character is supposedly made from paper, paper doesn't stretch. 

Legs are pretty straight forward, only they bend in the opposite direction to ours, so i'll bear that in mind. I.m also going to add a couple of joints down the talons, so the bird can clutch, but for now I think this will suffice - might go back into it later and tart it up.

The front of the neck is quite a large area to control with the neck chain and will pose problems when weight painting, so what i'm considering is adding some sort of rib joints, with an expression connecting them to their neck parents that staggers their rotation a little - might hold its geometry a bit better this way? This will certainly make the weight painting a lot easier (one thing i've learnt from the toxic boy rig).  

Joint Placement - Front

Front view of the bird, looking at it again, I think the top leg joints need positioning slightly further down where the begin to bulge out. I've tried to show the rig sections that will hold the geometry towards the front of the neck. Wing sections will have two major bones that bisect the geometry and allow them to fold. The top view will illustrate this better.

Joint Placement - Top

I've begun with the wings - they're going to be the most difficult to work correctly. Thinking about typical wing behaviour, and what springs to mind is the way they fold back on themselves and tuck on top of the upper body and an actual wingflap. To save a boatload of time for the animator, I'm going to set up these motions via set driven keys, then they can just use the slider in the channel box rather than animating it every time.

Looking at the above image, i've had to slightly adjust the geometry on the wing, by shortening the second half so when it rotates and conceals itself under the first section it doesn't poke out at the end. I've also lengthened the first section so it will cover enough distance down the back. Looking at Crane reference material, this is quite some way.

I originally (and incorrectly) thought both sections of the wing rotated in the Y axis in the same direction. This is incorrect; the arrows point out the correct direction. In order to set this up using joints I used a chain which involved a three way setup. A chain that travels down the length of the wing and the offshoots that will point the feathers in the right direction.

I've tried to pose the wing in a folded position, but it turned out impossible to correctly position both the feathers and arm independantly as they share the same axis.

My proposed solution is to group each feather chain individually, then parent the group down the original arm joint chain. Now the arm will affect the rotations of the group node, leaving the joints themselves with free rotation values, that can be rotated to get the feather stretch.  

NB.

I've also added an extra shoulder joint to achieve the necessary Z axis elevation - if you look at reference material, the wings lift at this point to tuck the second section beneath it and hug the body. Very important!

Outliner

Outliner, showing exactly what i've done. Each individual feather chain is in it own group. These group nodes are then parented down the hierachy - exactly how a normal joint chain would be, only theres a group node inbetween doing the spadework, leaving the actual joints on zero rotation and can be independantly manipulated for fine tweaking. I've set the rotation mode to Gimbal, so it's an absolute doddle to animate!

Crane Geo TurnTable

Finished turntable of the Crane Geometry, apologies for the quality - must adjust my export settings and speed it up a little. Note to self - current TurnTable set at 800 frames, probably best off nearer 500-600 mark.

I've modeled the tail stretched out, its rest position will squashed together but i'll create a set driven key within the rig that will allow the animator to spread & bunch the tail.

Identifying Problem Areas

Whilst modeling for animation, it's vital to identify key areas that are going to take most of the stick (by which I mean which areas will require the most deformation) when animated, and ensure that there's enough geometry to support it. Failure to do so will cause headaches when it comes to weight painting the verts.

Wings

Wings are very important! I think i've covered the surface areas of the wings by virtue of the very nature of their creation, so that should suffice. Where the wings and body meet is a different story however. The picture left identifies areas that are worrying me at the moment - there's too much of a gap between verts for this area. Fortunately shouldn't be too much of a biggie to rectify. I could just stick an edgeloop in and wire it into where four edges meet, to bring five edges together.

But I don't want to do this. As I discovered with the Toxic Boy geometry, this just creates massive issues when it comes to weight painting it, its best to have four verts coming together are better than five.  So what i'll do is move these verts down and add an extra edgeloop above that will go around the wing. More Geometry where it matters, four sided geo gives better more predictable deformation.

Better Wings

I've gone into that area, added the geometry and given the whole thing a lick with the relax brush. It's beggining to look like something thats going to behave when animated. What is paramount when modeling geometry intended for animation is to make sure the interior angles where verst meet are as broad as possible. I shall further elaborate below.

Further Elaboration

Imagine this were a perfect square and all its edges were perpendicular to each other, that would make each angle 90° to each other. This will equate to a nice even deformation, by which I mean each angle will reduce or expand proportionately and not crease unless moved through extremity.

Trapezoid

Now imagine this is an isolated section in a piece of geometry in a model. In order to follow the contours, the geometry has to be pushed around, angles have to compromised. In this instance two of the angles are 80° and two are 100°. This is ok but not as sturdy as foolhardy as a nice and solid 90° square.

Triangle

Ever since I first switched Maya on the computer, I have always been told "make sure your geometry is is at least four sided" and this quickly became my mantra. But I never fully understood why, but abided by it. A triangle consists of 180°, so the biggest interior angle a triangle point can have is 60° (if it were equalateral). In this instance (imagine it being the corner of an eye) it goes down to a meagre 20°. Not much of an issue when the deformation moves 90° and 70° together, but anything else and you will begin to see sharp edges in the geometry - not so good in an animation (unless its one about Picasso's cubist period).

Pentagon

Inevitably, you are going to get instances where five vertices converge (usually where limbs meet torso's, or where two pieces of geo meet), this is unavoidable, not ideal but tolerable. As the illustration demonstrates an equalateral pentagon consists of five converging edges, separated by 72°.  This amount is probably the smallest angle you'd wish to stretch to avoid those nasty tell-tale lines appearing in your geometry when your character bends over (imagine watching "Finding Nemo" and seeing loads of sharp edges appearing when the fishes start swimming. i don't think so!).

Hexagons's

In a tutorail I saw for Nurbs modeling It said pentagons were ok (by which I mean five converging verts) but not hexagon's. So what's so bad about hexagons? Well if you break it down in terms of angles, an equalateral hexagon will have interior angles of 60°. Going back to the equalateral triangle, it too has interior angles of 60°. So from a Mayan modelers perspective, a hexagon is just as bad as a triangle. Infact it's just six triangles placed side by side - six times worse.

The Golden Rule of Modeling

I think the general rule of thum is keep interior angles between 90° and 72°. Obviously this will be pretty difficult to do by eye (possible scripting opportunity perhaps??), but the experienced modeler would surely be able to develop an eye for it? When it comes to the crunch and you have 5 verts converging, keep the angles as near to 72° as possible, and keep the  joining verts close as possible so it's not spanning too greater distance - if necessary add an extra edge loop in to keep things local. These are the areas that will get the stick when it comes to moving and animating it around and those nasty non-planar edges will begin to appear, like a crack in the very fabric of your workflow!

If you have to use a triangle or angle thats less than 72°, make sure its in an area where its only going to collapse down on itself, and won't be visible when deformed, imagine the geometry performing the animation's its required to do. Still uncertain? Skin it, move it, and try weght paint out the nasty edges and angles; you'll soon discover its impossible! 

Nobody has ever explained why it is imporatant to keep things four sided. It's a very simple principle, if you stick to it, you can't go far wrong!

Personal Statement

From ever since I can remember I have always had an intrinsic love for animation and moving image and used to rush home from school to watch the Cartoons from Warner Brothers, Hannah Barbera, Cosgrove Hall (Count Duckula and Danger Mouse in particular) and whatever Children’s Television had to offer. As I grew older and less susceptible to animations charms I began to focus more heavily on traditional artistic practices but always felt an inkling towards character based design. This interest was reinvigorated by the emergence of CG animation pioneered by industry leaders such as Pixar. I vividly recall sitting in the cinema watching the trailers preceding the film “Edward Scissor Hands” and being blown away by a short animation created in this exciting new medium. This was shortly before “Toy Story” was released – the rest is history.



When I started this course I was undecided which professional route I was to take. Having completed a number of briefs which focused on different aspects of digital media, it soon became apparent to me the natural attraction was pulling me in the direction of the diverse world of 3d animation (this pivotal moment was also swayed by the release of Pixar’s Ratatouille). From then on I deliberated over which aspect of the discipline suited me best and after researching the industry, since concluded that Character Rigging and Technical Direction is the direction I wish to take. It seemed that the most popular routes to take in 3d were either animating or modeling and students tended to shy away from the steep learning curve involved with rigging.


Character rigging involves critical analysis and observation in order to equip a 3d character with the right faculties that are essential for the animator to achieve the best possible performance. It is this technical challenge which I relish the moment. It involves gathering real life information and examples of movement from living creatures and transferring this articulation onto a 3d character. An animator can only extract the performance from the character that the rig allows.


Predominantly the industry caters for two key areas – gaming development and film and television, it is the latter I am interested in working in. I have recently been weighing up my options and currently favoring a move down to London to pursue a career. Once I have gained enough experience, and should the opportunity arise I would ultimately like to ply my trade from across the pond.

Showreel Content

Here's a few experimental pieces that appear on my YouTube account. I intend once graduated to be constantly bolstering my portfolio and try to get it up to this sort of standard. 

Edordo Pili





Victor Vinyals


Another example of successful rigging reel, good us of space changing - ie swapping the axis an object follows, in this case allowing the hand to be planted on the back of the head and follow it. Apparently a really nice feature, animators like. 



Toxic Boy Rig





This is therig I have developed for Dave. Features a bit of squash and stretch and dynamic chains for the ears.

For now, here's a few snippets...

Ribbon Spine



Arm Orient

victor_vinyals_demo from Animator.K on Vimeo.

Business Card Design

Layouts for business cards and logo/branding. Colour scheme is a bit basic at the moment and it is something I will develope.

logo design - j3d motif

Inverse

Web Address

Business Card Front

Profile

Here is a list of useful online resources aimed at bolstering my web presence.

Linked In

Linked In profile is up and runening and I have begun collecting contacts for my database.

YouTube

Useful means of publishing work on the net, thats cheap on webspace.

 Behance

Another useful Networking Site, free to join and focusses on the creative network

5OUP

Networking site that again focusses on the creative industry.

Twitter

I'm relatively new to twitter, but understand its potential in being able to get your opinion out and noticed. I have set up an account and linked it into creative threads.

Facebook

I've set up another facebook account that will seperate my professional and private life. Although Linked In will be my primary resource, facebook is free and will provide extra exposure

Potential Employers

Framestore

Leading VFX and animation company based in London but also have offices in New York. Anybody prospectively looking for a career in VFX and animation should give Framestore a look. They offer summer internships to students, a fantastic opportunity to build on industry experience and ann to the CV.

They Claim to be the biggest VFX company this side of the pond, clearly working for a company like this would provide excellent development opportunities.

Framestore Showreel

I don't think this is their definitive showreel, but demonstrates a subtle use of the technology and software - it has a really natural organic feel to it despite being realised on a computer, and illustrates the importance of concept and idea, rather that spectacle. 

The Mill

World renowned, oscar winning, multinational (branches in New York and LA). They provide entry level opportunities for runners, so could be a potential foot in the back door. They provide a range of services from CG, which I am focussing on, to film, digital to film - compositing, TV and Film. With such a huge ranging portfolio, they would be ideal for development.

 Showreel

Breakdown of a commercial produced by the Mill, advertising apples. Shows their innovative workflow, ticks all the boxes for me.  


Smoke and Mirrors

Visual effects and postproduction company, work in advertising, film and music industries. They have offices in London, New York and shanghai, fantastic reputation and have won many awards and commendations.

The House of Curves

As previously mentioned, House of Curves was setup by Andrew Daffy, who started out in Framestore. They also are keen on developing up and coming talent by using students on a free lance basis for character modeling as well as holding seminars around the countries universities. They obviously know a lot about the industry and are keen to share this wealth of knowledge with those who are interested.
 Hot Animations

Manchester based animation company. Produced childrens animations such as Pingu, Bob the Builder, Brambly Hedge, Rubbadubbers. Seem to do a lot of stopframe animation but also use CG to produce 3d white card or full maquettes and visuals.

Cosgrove Hall Animations

Dangermouse, Count Dukula, Wind in the Willows, the BFG, Postman Pat - these are all household names and cartoons I enjoyed as I was growing up. All these titles are associated with more traditional methods of animation, but their website indicates they have moved into 3d. 

VTR North

VTR North

Mezzo Films

Leeds based production company, would be very convenient in terms of travel.
Provide 2d and 3d visual effects and animation.

Games Companies

Although my main aim is to forge a career in TV and Film I have also been looking at possibilities within the games industry - They need TD's too and could provide a vital foot in the door.

The companies I have listed below are in and around the Leeds area.

Rockstar Leeds

Leeds based games company responsible for some of the Grand Theft Auto titles. Currently recruiting for 2D/3D artists, with some MEL and C++ programming skills. Require some industry experience - might be worth a call in, see if they need anyone to make their tea? 

Giant Robot

Leeds based media company, they work with advertising agencies and creative companies. Have produced campaignes in the past for GHD Spa, Gallowgate, Cognitive Media and Atkins Global. Their websites under construction, but have taken advantage of their feature which informs you via email once its back up and running.

 

Stargate Studios

US based production company.

Revolution

York based gaming company - nice and local. Done a lot of the Broken Sword series and won a few Baftas along the way.

Tuna Tech

Sheffield based "thinking mans" game company. Love their logo! Just won a contract with CH4 to produce their new project "Cover Girl" - an educational strategy game that explores the world of magazine and photo manipulation.

Team 17

I remember the guy vividly from Team 17 at the Bradford Animation Festival. Famous titles include Worms and Alien Breed. Based in Wakefield.

Sumo Digital

Sheffield Based, pretty big organisation (over 120 staff), Big titles such as sonic the hedgehog.

Job Websites and online newsletters

Arts Job Finder

Jobs and adverts regarding the creative industry. Invitations to tender, volunteering opportunities and a useful guide to pricing your time.

Arts Professional

Arts magazine with the latest news in the professional arts world

Arts jobs

News about up and coming exhibitions, call for submissions and opportunities. You can subscribe to the newsletter on the site.

Yorkshire Graduates

Aaron Holly

Had a series of DVD's from Farenheit digital presented by this chap, he seriously knows his stuff. The character he rigged for the tutorials was a caveman type character and provides loads of solutions for rigging and skinning. It was this series which first introduced me to the ribbon spine setup, which he uses in all sorts of creative ways to control deformation not only in the spine, but in the arms and legs.

The dvd's have also gone along way to demystifying the whole process and clarifies how the whole system works.

Crane Model

I've started to create a poly model of the Crane. My initial thought was to make it out of separate geometry, but having thought about it, I think i'll get a more realistic result if it was a skinned piece.

These images were rendered out using Maya Vector, with the edge options switched on to show the edgeflow. Some of the edges have not shown up but they do exist.

I've used the origami and Crane images as reference material. The wing will be setup using set driven keys so i'll be able to use the fk joint chain to make them fold properly.

Super Hands!

Really useful resource I found on hands amassed from Disney footage i found . The drawings delineate all the various poses the hands are capable of pulling and reflects the wide ranges of motion that can be achieved. This is very useful reference material and will come in handy when testing rigs out and will also help to determine appropraite set driven keys on common poses.