Character Setup

1
Character Setup

• In addition to rigging for character models,
  rigging artists are also responsible for setting
  up animation controls for anything that is going
  to be animated. This include vehicles and parts
  of the environment or set that will need to be
  animated in addition to any characters. This can
  also include special rigs for specific cases
  where a character or vehicle must perform a
  unique action in a particular shot.

2
Character Setup

• When a shot has reached the lighting and
  composition stage in the pipeline, sometimes it
  is necessary for a character rig to be sent back
  to character setup to fix an issue that became
  apparent during rendering.

3
Order Of Rotation

• A sequence of multiple rotation on different axes
  returns different results depending on the order.
  Euler rotation is a method of rotation that uses
  three angle values (X,Y,and Z) in addition to a
  rotation order to specify an objects
  three-dimensional orientation.

4
Gimble Lock

• Gimble Lock occurs when one axis of orientation
  is rotated in such a way that the axis is place
  over another axis. In this situation both axes
  lead to the same result when animated. This
  point at which a model runs out of rotations is
  called gimble lock. Gimble Lock is a drawback to
  using Euler angles to represent rotation. One
  method to used to avoid gimble lock is to
  separate the X,Y,and Z rotations into different
  nodes.

5
Locators

• A Locator is a representation of a point in 3D
  space. They are often used as place holder and
  handles that represent the translation, rotation,
  and scale information for another object.
  Locators allow character TDs to set up animation
  controls outside of the actual character
  geometry. This way animators do not have to dig
  through the skeleton to move specific joints in
  the skeleton.

6
Constraints

• Constraints are the restriction of the position,
  orientation, or scale of an object. It is to
  create animation for an object by setting up an
  relationship with another object suing
  constraints. Constraints give animators the
  ability to have specific objects drive the
  animation for a character.

7
Constraints

• Point Constraint connects the translation
  attributes of one object to another.
• Aim Constraint adjusts and objects rotation
  attributes so that they are always pointed toward
  another object
• Orient Constraint connects the rotation
  attributes of one object to another object
• Scale Constraint connects the scale attributes
  of one object to another
• Parent Constraint - connects the
  position(translation and rotation) attributes of
  one object to another object.
• Normal Constraint aligns an objects orientation
  with the normal vector of another object
• Geometry Constraint restricts an objects pivot
  point to the surface of another object.

8
Special Cases

• When a character is being animated, special cases
  can occur where an animator will want another
  object to drive a characters motion. Character
  setup artist have to consider this type of
  situation when setting up the character rig.
  Sometimes special character rigs are setup for
  unique motions that only occur in a handful of
  shots.

9
Set Driven Keys

• Set driven keys link the attributes of one object
  the the attributes of another object. The
  relationship between objects is created to fit
  the specific needs of a rig. This includes
  situations when one control drives the movement
  of multiple joints like when a hand rig has the
  option of opening and closing the hand all at
  once instead of having the animator close the
  hand finger by finger.

10
Indirect Binding

• Indirect binding is a situation when joints are
  bound to deformer like a lattice which is then
  attached to geometry. In the lattice case the
  joint animation is directly influencing the
  lattice and then the lattice is deforming the
  surface geometry. This type of binding is
  especially useful for creating realistic muscle
  movement.

11
Muscle Systems

• A Muscle system is an advanced form of indirect
  binding where a skeleton controls muscle geometry
  which in turn influences the surface geometry of
  the character model. This allows the character
  model to have more realistic shape deformation
  based on the movement of underlying bones and
  muscles.

12
Blend Shapes

• Blend shape deformers allow the user to change
  the shape of one object called the base object
  into the shape of another object called a target
  object.

13
Facial Animation

• In addition to setting up the animation controls
  for body motion, character technical directors
  must also create facial rigs that allow the
  animators to convey a range of different
  emotions. In most cases that facial rig for a
  character is much more detailed that the rig
  setup for the rest of the body.

14
Facial Animation

• Blend shapes deformers are often used to create
  facial poses for characters. Base facial poses
  are set up as target shapes that animators can
  use to blend together to create performance.

15
Hair

• If a character requires hair, a character setup
  artist must set up controls for the hair or in
  some cases set up a dynamics system that animates
  the hair based on movement of the head geometry.
  Since hair is so complicated , special character
  technical directors are generally assigned the
  job of focusing specifically on all of the hair
  needs for the production.

16
Cloth

• Similar to hair, Cloth set up is usually handled
  by a technical director that will focus
  specifically on the Cloth needs of a production.
  Since cloth reacts to a characters body motion
  it is generally completed after animation has
  been approved. In order to create realistic
  Cloth movement, a physically based simulation
  must generally be performed so that the cloth
  geometry will react in a manner similar to actual
  cloth.

17
Cloth

• In large productions, cloth simulations are
  tweaked down to individual folds in order to meet
  the directors vision. This often means that
  once a shot has gone through a first pass at
  lighting, it must be sent to the Cloth department
  for tweaks specific to that shot.