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)

Week 8

Halfway through the semester. So I went about trying to fix a little IK problem I found with my helper IKs. I noticed that two of my IK handles in the front legs had mysteriously disappeared at some point. So I went in and added them in as I was making the Helpers for the front legs.

I was not sure what was going on, but I was able to fix it despite taking several hours to figure out the situation and as to why everything was acting funky. Because the bottom of a giraffe's foot is so different in it's build (I blame the foot being off the ground) It makes determining where IK handles go a little difficult. But at last, I've fixed them. Al be it with a little awkwardness. But nothing a little pole vector constraint won't fix. Sadly the stretch controls are not all working properly, so I'll have to fix that this weekend.





So I've been beating up this giraffe in my mind and my peer Cameron is wishing for his rigged zebra. So next week, I am returning to it and essentially copying all of these controls over to it.

Week 7

Week 7 was a little bit of a hassle because I ran into a interesting problem that I personally caused myself. Before I get there, I went in and parented all of the controls in the appropriate order in the outliner. Everything flows now.

Now my problem occurred when I started playing with the IKs in the legs. I decided to put in a helper IK system as I was taught to when I first learned how to rig, but then I went and decided to play around with the IK settings and all hell broke loose. Even the helper was practically destroyed and I was freaking out as to where I needed to even begin on fixing it. I first went and put all the settings I played with back to their original setting, but low and behold, that didn't work. So now I had to figure out how to fix this properly. I went in and broke the leg system appart, took down all connections, deleted joints that were not mirroring the other side, and even deleted a few IKs. It took me a few hours to fix, but I was able to get it working again in it's original state before I messed with the controls.

Because the giraffe's leg is so long and it's knee starts so high up, simply lifting the foot control causes the knee to extend instead of bend, so a flex control was necessary to counteract this little flaw. But it works and looks fine, just requires an additional control. At this point, all 4 legs have helper IKs and flex controls. I wanted to get around to the stretchy back and legs, but it's been a very busy week. ("Life finds a way" - Ian Malcom)

Week 6

Alright, another week and more work to be done. This week I went and put in controls, ik splines, and cluster controls for the neck, back, and tail. Not really much to say here that is analytical or different from the Zebra. So I will just Present the pictures. Although, I do have to say, I noticed that I had attached the ear joints to the first neck joint, so I fixed that.

Next week I will move onto what stumped me last semester on the wooly mammoth. The stretchy legs and stretchy back, and I will perfect it until I get it down pat. I will also go back and continue retopologizing the giraffe's eyes, because I'm going to need those to be good enough for blend shapes.

Week 5

Last week was a major set back in terms of re-mapping topology. My frustrations are justified, I spent 8 hours retopologizing, an hour putting in the skeleton as well as orienting it and giving it ik handles. But, I have to move on, and to give myself a break, I began to work on the giraffe.

Retopologizing this one wasnt as bad as the crocodile was, but it still took time despite what I started with.

But, after many hours, my efforts are fortuitous.











However, there is a point where I just have to move on, such as the head here. I got really frustrated in this area, but this is not the worse of it. Now, I get it; downloading models can come at a cost. Some aren't ready for animation. Some are made of nothing but tris with no quad pattern to go back on. But I do have one question...

WHO USES SPIRALS FOR LEGS?!

I'm not even aware that that is even a technique! I've asked several peers if they have even seen this before, and a few of them say this is the result of using zbrush' zremesher. But I never used zbrush on this specific model yet, and just by looking at the flow of that spiral, I'm betting this is how it was made.

 Moving on, I went in and created the skeleton. Now, for a short necked animal or a character, you would probably need only a few joints, if not only one. But a giraffe has such a long neck, you're gonna need more. Now, to be more realistic, I went in and gave it 7 joints, one representing each vertebrae in a giraffe's neck.

 Now I downloaded this model and it came with a tongue. Normally I would have deleted it and moved on, but after thinking about it, a giraffe is also well known for it's very prehensile and long tongue. So I went ahead and gave it a few joints as well.





Last I put in the IK handles for the legs. Basically the same setup as the zebra, just longer. Next week I'll be putting in the controls for the giraffe and also going back to the zebra to shorten the tail, use some blend shapes for the stomach and mouth, as well as add in the IK splines for the neck, back, and tail.

 

Week 4 (Disaster!)

Ugh, so this week I had experimented further with the quadraw function in maya on the crocodile. It was not really getting me anywhere so I decided to try and figure out a technique my peer had taught me last week. That didn't work either. So I decided to just go in and manually delete and create edges to retopologize the mesh.

After awhile, I finally had it all finished and it looked much better than it did before. Sure there were a few tris, but there were no six poles, no ngons, and there was an edgeloop that cut the whole model in half. It was good enough for my purposes. I saved the file the night before presentations and went to bed. I woke up the next morning with the intention to make some screen grabs at the lab.

I get inside and I open up my file on my flash drive, only to get an Error Line 0, File unreadable. The file on my flashdrive was corrupt. No biggy, so I wont have pictures for my presentation. I can still go to my backup at home, work on the model some more, finish the skeleton that was basically done (just needed to be mirrored) and take screen grabs for this post, like I do every week.

I get home, and pull up my programs and open up the backup. Error Line 0, File Unreadable. My backup was corrupt as well. I scoured the internet for solutions and found that there IS still data on the file, but because I cannot read MEL, I can't tell what is good data and bad data, or whether my model, at the least, was salvageable. Sadly, I have nothing to show for my work this week, and I've essentially lost a solid 8 hours of work.

I'm bummed, yes, because I not only have nothing to post for my week of effort, but also because it's all gone. But, it's not a complete loss. I redownloaded the model (along with ALL of it's initial topology flaws) and will just slowly retopologize while working on everything else. I just wish I had something to show for this week.

Other than that, I took some advice from my critiques and added IK handles to the zebra from it's heels to it's toes as well as shortened it's tail.

Next week, moving onto the Giraffe is a must, because I need to move onto a different animal temporarily.

Week 3

I have found a method in where I can create a completely new mesh for the models that need it where I make the model active, create a new object with numerous polies, and then wrap that around the active model. It's not perfect so I still have to work on it.

My main focus though is that the zebra is mostly rigged at this point with constraints, ik handles, and controllers. Still needs some fine tuning though and add some special attributes I thought of (though I hardly think they're original)

For the legs I currently have a dual IK system in place. I'm thinking of adding a third for the feet, but I'm unsure if that is practical at this point.

I have also moved the toe joints back towards the heel, but I may place that more towards the center. Hooves are not easy to think about since they are so hard and dense, allowing NO movement.

I also came up with a little breathing control for the stomach. It's not perfected yet because I'm going to have to figure out how many of the stomach joints it is going to affect and where the pivot will be.







So as I was going in and constraining everything, I ran into a problem when it came to orient constraints. The joint would fly out at a 90 degree angle every time. I even went back and researched it to see if I was doing anything wrong with no avail. And then I looked at the maintain offset box. It was unchecked. This is what I get when I change computers and install maya 2016, everything is reset.

 

I've gone in and added some FK controls for the tail, but that doesn't mean there won't be IK splines there. I just haven't added them yet.

Last is I have added some clavicle and shoulder controls. I'm aiming for these animals to be as detailed as possible.

Next week I will be perfecting the remesh process of the crocodile and the lion, but mainly just working some more on the zebra rig as well as giving the giraffe a skeleton.

Week 2

This week I tried to hammer out some more of the geometry for the crocodile and the lion, but it's a slow process. Fortunately, I got some advice on using Mayas quadrawl or Z-Brush's remesh tool, which will definately speed up the process. But until then, I have focused on starting the rigging process on one of the models which is for certain, ready.

 

The Zebra is an interesting skeleton for a few reasons. One being, as said earlier, the jowl is far away from the jaw joint of the head.

 Second, the zebras leg, like most ungulates, is very different from how it is laid out, but still the same in how many joint sections it has. Like every mammal, it has a clavicle, a shoulder, an elbow, a wrist, a palm, and fingers. It also has a hip, a knee, an ankle, a heel, and toes.

This project has a secondary goal that is more personal. Last time I rigged a quadruped, I did really well, but had numerous issues in very important areas such as the legs and the stomach. I am now addressing the issue with the stomach here:

What happened last time was that when the quadrupeds legs moved, its stomach sort of wrinkled and has a noisy effect on the polygons nearby. I realize now that the issue was because this section of the body needs its own end joints in order to curve and flex properly without that distortion. This way, the polys will be weight mapped to these end joints, which will be affected by how the spine bends, just like most animals.

Next week I will work on the poly layout of the croc and lion in the lab since Z-brush is SUPER expensive. I will also add controls to the zebra and start constraining them as well.

Week 1

Alright, so this whole past week has been dedicated to not only finding good models for my rigmaroles, but also ensuring that their topology is perfect or at least good enough. I have gone out and found a giraffe, a lion, and a crocodile, and I have borrowed a horse model from my colleague Cameron Shulz. I'll do a mesh combine for the mane and make it a zebra. Anyways, as I have said, it's all been about finding models (free ones are not easy... especially ones that are good enough and in OBJ format.) I have found models that were perfect and one's that need a little work. I have only gotten around to the giraffe, lion, and crocodile so far since the "zebra" already has good topology.

The one issue I had with finding these free models is that none of them were in quads, all in tris. I'm sure tris are acceptable, but I'm used to working with quads and quads provide a cleaner look in animation. The giraffe here is from the game Goat Simulator and started with tris. Using the quadralate tool (not sure if I spelled that right or if that is what it is even called) it changed from tris to quads fairly well. Only had to change a few polies.

The crocodile and lion on the other hand, did not convert so neatly, and I've had to go in and do a lot of retopologizing for numerous areas. One issue I ran across is that the models do not recognize topology symetry, so these models were unequal to start off with, which makes using the knife tool a little more tricky when creating edges. I should have these hammered out more next week along with a skeletal beginning for at least one of the four animals.

The Need for Riggers

So I claim to be a generalist, but I do have a big interest in rigging. It's not as simple as "Oh I just like doing it" because I like doing as much as I can, which includes modelling, animation, texturing, lighting, etc. But I'll admit, I'm not the best, and modelers, animators, and texture artists can be cycled out easily (according to my college professors). So I need to have a specific focus in an area that is not as easily cycled out, rigging being one of them. Below I have found numerous links to rigging jobs just to show how big the need is for riggers:

http://www.indeed.com/cmp/Penrose-Studios/jobs/Character-Rigger-55b5899b479678af?q=Animation+Rigging

https://www.upwork.com/o/jobs/job/_~01fa62be08c6881bbc/

http://www.simplyhired.com/job/technical-animator-rigger-job-job/yoh/lx4da6fn7r?cid=gacmblhsliaesrgoywnnboohxhaopcgk

http://www.simplyhired.com/job/3d-game-animator-rigger-job/epoch-games/ksaelqus7k?cid=nniegzpygpqelyokuwmtbjtwyttkreak

http://www.simplyhired.com/job/rp-cg-rigger-job/laika-llc/6nquu4go4q?cid=teeidlmuvvlhmcuvtxlnxgzsvamsbvri

http://www.simplyhired.com/job/character-td-rigger-job/naughty-dog-incorporated/nskv27bf2a?cid=pfjvjwrvmkycfoupvtsvlporlrkepjuq

http://www.simplyhired.com/job/character-rigger-job/hi-rez-studios-inc/bfae4ud2ve?cid=sxkrbgpqenvekuwcqnivrltqxczletgt

https://www.creativeheads.net/job/14851/3d-rigger-mf-in-hamburg

Rigging isn't as simple as just giving a model some bones and connecting it to a controller. There is a need for refinement, organization, limitations, specifications, added attributes, and all sorts of other possible needs. What is also important is the cleanliness of a model, which I will post my past weeks work of doing later today.

Introduction to Project Rigmarole

Second time with this project process. My last project I kept a weekly blog on was a centipede where I focused mainly on the rigging aspect, but the whole thing was made from scratch. I even dabbled in texturing for it with the ultimate goal of animating it. I scratched that goal halfway through because I wanted to perfect my rig. I did not finish by my deadline, but I finished it (abeit a different way than I first expected it) and now I am setting my sights on perfecting my rigging skills in an area I felt I fell short in the spring.

Quadrupedal rigging was really fun in my rigging class and I took on the challenge of rigging a woolly mammoth. It came out great except for a few problems with the legs and that is going to be one of my goals in this series of posts. I will be rigging several quadrupedal animals with the theme of being from Africa. My initial candidates will be a lion, a zebra, a giraffe, and a crocodile. The other point in this specific selection is to experience how the rigs themselves affect the models in different ways. A small example of this:

A lion's mouth is a lot like a generic quadrupedal animal's, it has jowl that goes far back to expose a lot of its teeth, its tongue, cheeks, and the back of the throat.

A zebra, on the other hand, has a jowl that comes up a little short, only really exposing the incisors while a majority of the mouth is hidden away. The rig for a lion would not be similar to that of a zebra for this reason, because when it comes to weight painting, the zebras cheeks have to keep that horse look, but the jaw joint still has to go all the way back to where it naturally is in a zebra skeleton.




Another example:

The giraffe is famous for it's long neck, and that is especially why it is on my list. Unlike most quadrupedal rigs (or even bipedal rigs), when it's neck bends, it needs to be more subtle, but still acquire the same result. It needs to be able to touch it's ear to its shoulder. But due to its length, this means it will require more joints than the usual rig in this area.

Last axample:

The crocodile is unique for its large and fearsome maw, but that is not why I have it on my list. It's legs can poke out more to the side when it walks than the other quadrupeds on my list and it's tails rotation range is more limited in vertical aspects, so I'll need to find a way to properly rig its legs while still allowing them to walk sideways and stand straight, while also restricting the animators ability to move the tail vertically.

My thoughts are that this choice of project isn't just to see how many animals I can rig in a few months, but it's also a study as to how the rigs differ and affect the model as a whole. In that sense, (and with a little play on words) I have dubbed this Project Rigmarole. Wish me luck, because it is going to be fun!