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.