Week 15

Last week before final presentations. I've really got nothing much else to show except how everything is starting to look in the weight painting area. I guess I could state that my future plans are to start learning python (despite my past struggles with learning how to code.) I'll try and have a nice little pose for both animals by next week.

Presentation

Original Plan

Topology

Change

A few complications along the way

Zebra Skeleton

Giraffe Skeleton

Zebra Controls

Helper IKs

IK controls currently

Weight Painting has begun

A nice little pose

Week 14

Alright, last week was Thanksgiving and it's time to get back into the groove. Due to some unfortunate life endeavors, I've kind of struggled a bit to get back into this project. Anyways, I've gone ahead and done some control replacements on the giraffe and zebra. I noticed that some of my control placement choices were not really the best and ultimately did not make sense. In example, the individual hip controls I had were not functioning due to the IK handles. Since those controls were originally labeled to be IK, it made sense that I get some working IK handles in there. I also put in some pole vectors into the knees and the giraffes wrists. The elbows were unneeded since the shoulder controls were already manipulating them. After that I have begun some weight mapping on the giraffe. It's slow going but it's going none the less. Big problem was trying to get the map to show at first (which it refused to do.) But it's working now so no problems. Again, not a lot to show yet other than this picture. I'll have more to show next week.

Week 12

Hey everyone. I have nothing to show for this week. I had a passing in the family and it's been really hard. I'll post something over Thanksgiving.

Week 11

I've got good news and I've got bad news. The good news is The Giraffe is almost done!!!

I've gone in and fixed most of the errors presented to me last week as well as started adding controls to the tongue and fk controls for other areas. I've also added scaling so it should now scale properly. I've also worked on the zebra to help it catch up.

So next week I will be adding in ik/fk switches and trying to fix those stretchy legs. Then hopefully over the break I can do more catch up work and start weight mapping!

Oh, the bad news is fallout 4 came out and I didn't buy it.

Week 10

This week has been very frustrating. My middle mouse button has been acting really funky and it was hard to get a lot of things done. I did some research and trouble shooting and it seems to be a software issue with maya for some reason. So I'm going to reinstall it later tonight after I make this post.

Anyways, this week is basically about trying to help the zebra catch up to the giraffe. Nothing too much to show other than some of the new controls I've put in. I've also allowed my class to play with my rigs a bit and break them, just to tell me what they've noticed. (I told them to not have any high expectations on functionality since it's not a finished rig. I got a lot of great feed back including some pictures that show how they broke it.

According to this picture, the individual found that my hip rotate would actually rotate the entire rig. I'll have to double check that to see whether my hip control is under the root control, or vise versa. If it's the latter, then it's working fine and this picture actually proves it.


After a second look, it appears that one of the stomach joints and back joints are out of alignment. I'll have to go in and fix that.

This individual took the base neck control and asked me if the pivot was supposed to be located where he clicked. The answer is no, and I'm glad he showed me so I can now go back and change that pivot.








One individual asked why there was a white triangle showing when one of the ik handles was selected. Fortunately that is not an issue, rather just shows which direction the joint will bend.

This picture is a little difficult to decipher as to how they arrived at this giraffe that now looks like a brontosaurus/poodle hybrid. I see that they broke it, but I'll have to experiment on how they arrived here. My point is "Thanks for telling me it's broken, but HOW is it broken and HOW did you break it." That would be very helpful and faster.








So there are a lot of things to work on so it looks like these same issues will be applied to the zebra rig. Next week, fix it week!

Week 9

So last week I said I would catch up with the zebra, but I encountered a little problem. Nothing was organized and everything was a mess. Controls weren't grouped, clusters were out in the open, some controls were parented under other controls, and some item coordinates were not frozen. So this week was all about doing that instead. If you can't keep your work clean, how can you expect others to use your rig, let alone have the rig work itself. Here are some pictures to show that the giraffe is mostly done and the zebra is closing in behind.

I have also been testing out nvidia's shadowplay so I can start making videos for the rigs themselves. I got it to work, but I don't feel comfortable with taking the videos just yet. Next week. In the meantime, here is a little video I took of the giraffe before the cleanup.

Giraffe from Travis Souza on Vimeo.

(Post note: It seems my middle mouse button is acting funky in maya. I hope it isnt broken)