Inspired 3d Advanced Rigging and Deformations
by Clark, BradEdition: 1st
Format: Paperback
Pub. Date: 2005-03-25
Publisher(s): Cengage Learning Ptr
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Summary
More than just a step-by-step tutorial on rigging in Maya, "Inspired 3D Advanced Rigging and Deformations" helps you develop the skills you need to successfully manage your rigging process from start to finish. You'll learn the reasons behind each step in developing a character rig and learn how that rig fits into the entire pipeline process. The authors provide a unique glimpse at the real-world problems and choices that professional Character Technical Directors face, as well as the solutions they have developed for dealing with high-end digital characters. A follow-up to "Inspired 3D Character Setup," this book takes this difficult and sough-after skill and provides in-depth explanations and techiques.
Author Biography
Author Brad Clark is an award-winning artist and animator whose experience ranges from modeling and rigging for television and video games to editing motion capture for Gollum in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. He is currently an animator and Character TD at the Animation Farm in Austin, Texas Author John Hood He is currently a Technical Animator at Sony Pictures Imageworks in Los Angeles where he is working on the feature film Open Season Author Joe Harkins is a Character TD at Sony Pictures Imageworks in Los Angeles Series Editor Michael Ford is a Character Technology Supervisor at Sony Pictures Imageworks and is co-founder of Animation Foundation, an animation consulting company specializing in training and education Series Editor Kyle Clark is an Animation Supervisor at Reel FX Creative Studios and is co-founder of Animation Foundation
Table of Contents
| Introduction | p. xix |
| The Essentials | p. 1 |
| Maya Architecture | p. 3 |
| The Anatomy of a Node | p. 3 |
| Shape Nodes | p. 5 |
| Attributes and Plugs | p. 6 |
| Connections | p. 7 |
| Data Flow | p. 8 |
| Working with Nodes and Connections | p. 8 |
| Non-Standard Attribute Connections | p. 9 |
| Anim Curves | p. 11 |
| Automating Complex Behavior | p. 13 |
| Utility Nodes | p. 14 |
| What Are Utility Nodes? | p. 15 |
| Why Use Utility Nodes? | p. 15 |
| Some Useful Node Networks | p. 15 |
| The Reverse Node | p. 15 |
| The Condition Node | p. 16 |
| IK Solvers and Their Application | p. 19 |
| Building a Squash and Stretch Node | p. 19 |
| Building Stretch into an IK System | p. 22 |
| Turning It Off | p. 25 |
| Spline IK Squash and Stretch | p. 26 |
| Matrix Math | p. 29 |
| Points and Vectors | p. 29 |
| Some Vector Operations | p. 29 |
| Matrices | p. 31 |
| Objects in Space | p. 33 |
| Pivots, Pivots | p. 34 |
| The Locator | p. 34 |
| dagPose | p. 35 |
| Interview with Mike Comet | p. 37 |
| Rigging | p. 45 |
| Planned and Organized Rigging | p. 47 |
| Evaluation of Geometry and Starting with a Clean Plate | p. 47 |
| Initial Evaluation-Unit Size and Scale | p. 49 |
| Default Poses and Neutral Posture | p. 51 |
| Da Vinci Pose | p. 51 |
| Multiple Poses | p. 52 |
| Rig Pose | p. 53 |
| Bad Geometry and Other Hidden Dangers | p. 54 |
| Preparing the Book Character for Rigging | p. 55 |
| The Application of Research: Establishing Your Rig's Foundation | p. 61 |
| Artistic Research-Finding Anatomy References for Believable Characters | p. 61 |
| Using Reference Material for Cartoons and Creatures | p. 62 |
| Breakdown of Reference for Joint Locations and Movement | p. 63 |
| The Foot and Ankle | p. 64 |
| Foot Joints versus Rig Joints | p. 64 |
| The Wrist and Elbow | p. 67 |
| The Head and Neck | p. 68 |
| The Waist and Lower Back | p. 71 |
| The Upper Back, Chest, and Shoulder | p. 72 |
| Hands and Fingers | p. 76 |
| Dependencies in the Pipeline: Research Beyond Anatomy | p. 76 |
| The Animator: Friend or Foe? | p. 77 |
| Pipeline Planning and Questions | p. 77 |
| Applied Anatomy Using Animal and Human Anatomy as Reference for a Fantasy Creature: The pigGoblin | p. 78 |
| Template Joint Placement | p. 79 |
| Joint Placement | p. 80 |
| Template Joint Placement Continued-Extremities | p. 83 |
| Stable, User-Friendly, Flexible Rigs | p. 87 |
| Rig Features | p. 87 |
| Speeding Up Your Rig | p. 88 |
| From Template to Rig | p. 89 |
| Hidden Names and Trax | p. 92 |
| The Rig File-Low-Resolution Geometry | p. 93 |
| The Rig File-Rig Design and Planning | p. 95 |
| Pig Goblin Examined | p. 95 |
| Rigging the Pig Leg | p. 96 |
| Zeroing the Controls | p. 101 |
| Pig Feet Rigs with Pivot Nodes | p. 102 |
| Expanded Reverse Foot | p. 104 |
| Toes and Cleanup | p. 110 |
| Foot and Leg, Leg Twist, and Centralizing IK/FK Controls | p. 113 |
| FK Inherit Switch | p. 113 |
| Mirroring Controls, Rigging the Other Side of the Body | p. 115 |
| Shoulders, Arms, and Hands | p. 117 |
| Final Pass on the Arm and Hand, Adding in Options and Controls Over the Limb | p. 119 |
| IK/FK | p. 120 |
| Auto-Clavicle | p. 121 |
| Scapula Rig | p. 122 |
| Wrist and Fingers | p. 125 |
| Fingers-Pose-based Hand Controls for FK Hands | p. 127 |
| Multi-Character and Reference-Friendly Script Node | p. 130 |
| Head Rig | p. 131 |
| Spine Rig | p. 133 |
| Back Rig Requirements and Design | p. 134 |
| Squash and Stretch Back | p. 136 |
| Final Back Controls and Outliner Cleanup | p. 138 |
| Arm World Local Switching | p. 140 |
| Attribute-Driven Visibility Switching | p. 140 |
| Rigging the Right Arm | p. 141 |
| Leg Fixes, Separating Out Rotation Inheritance from the Hips | p. 143 |
| Rig Wrap-up | p. 144 |
| Visual Feedback | p. 144 |
| Outliner Cleanup | p. 145 |
| Lock and Hide | p. 145 |
| Selection Sets and Character Sets | p. 146 |
| Auto Tool Select and Custom Pickwalking | p. 147 |
| Props and Interactive Accessories | p. 149 |
| A Simple Prop Constraint Switch | p. 149 |
| A One-Handed Prop System | p. 153 |
| Easing the Transition | p. 158 |
| Adding Some Polish | p. 162 |
| Two-Handed Props | p. 164 |
| Focus on the Face | p. 169 |
| Interview with Caleb Owens | p. 169 |
| The Interview | p. 170 |
| PIG RIG-The Bacon and Eggs of Pig Facial Rigging | p. 174 |
| The Production | p. 174 |
| Time for a Facial | p. 177 |
| To Blend or Not to Blend | p. 178 |
| The Alternative Face Rig | p. 179 |
| Jumping Back to the Pig Production-Production Issues | p. 181 |
| Advanced Rigging | p. 183 |
| Automation | p. 185 |
| Principles of Automation | p. 185 |
| Converting MEL from the Script Editor to Executable Commands | p. 186 |
| Working with Maya Names | p. 188 |
| The Hidden Voodoo of the Character Rigger | p. 190 |
| An Automated Rigging Tool | p. 190 |
| Adding Simple Error Correction | p. 192 |
| Adding Some More Controls | p. 194 |
| Dealing With xforms | p. 195 |
| Making a Helper Command | p. 196 |
| Putting it All Together | p. 197 |
| Adding Complex Behaviors | p. 198 |
| Setting Up the Knee | p. 200 |
| Making It Name Safe | p. 201 |
| Batch Processing | p. 203 |
| Tail Rigging for "Paul and his Bananas" | p. 207 |
| Additional Characters and Rigging | p. 212 |
| Interview with Rick May of Toonstruck Animation | p. 215 |
| The Pipeline | p. 219 |
| File Structures | p. 219 |
| Referencing | p. 224 |
| Building a Multi-Resolution Pipeline | p. 227 |
| Referencing Pitfalls | p. 230 |
| Using Multiple Characters | p. 231 |
| Exporting the Deformation Skeleton | p. 232 |
| Problem Solving the Reference | p. 236 |
| Implementing a Fixit Script | p. 236 |
| Skinning | p. 239 |
| Form and Function | p. 241 |
| Introduction to Deformers | p. 241 |
| Model Preparation | p. 242 |
| Deformer Relationships | p. 243 |
| Deformer Types | p. 244 |
| Skin Clusters | p. 244 |
| Blend Shapes | p. 244 |
| Lattices | p. 245 |
| Clusters | p. 245 |
| Bend, Flare, Sine, Squash, Twist, and Wave | p. 246 |
| Jiggle | p. 246 |
| Wire and Wrinkle | p. 246 |
| Sculpt | p. 246 |
| Wrap | p. 247 |
| Plan Ahead | p. 247 |
| Research and Development | p. 248 |
| Technical Considerations | p. 248 |
| Skin Cluster Deformer Applications | p. 249 |
| Binding Options | p. 249 |
| Skin Cluster Weighting | p. 250 |
| Reverse Weighting | p. 251 |
| Fast Weighting-Add, Replace, Smooth | p. 254 |
| Mirror, Smooth, and Prune | p. 254 |
| Weight Storage Solutions | p. 256 |
| http://www.DavidWalden.com/ | p. 256 |
| http://www.highend3d.com/ | p. 257 |
| cometScripts | p. 257 |
| Bind Pose | p. 257 |
| Adding Influences | p. 257 |
| Layered Geometry | p. 258 |
| Modular Thinking | p. 259 |
| Blend Shape Deformer Applications | p. 261 |
| Layered Deformations | p. 261 |
| Blend Shape Algorithm | p. 262 |
| Additive Nature | p. 262 |
| Pose-Based Deformation Fixes | p. 264 |
| Mirroring Blend Shapes | p. 267 |
| Pipeline Methodology | p. 267 |
| Driven Deformations | p. 269 |
| Priorities and FACS | p. 270 |
| Advanced Skinning | p. 273 |
| Case Study: BMW Angels Rig | p. 275 |
| Defining Character Requirements | p. 275 |
| Rigging Philosophy | p. 275 |
| The Head Rig | p. 278 |
| The Body Rig | p. 280 |
| Cluster Deformer Applications | p. 283 |
| The Basics | p. 283 |
| Relative Mode | p. 284 |
| Envelope | p. 284 |
| Weighted Node | p. 285 |
| Deformation Order | p. 285 |
| Exclusive Partitions | p. 285 |
| Investigating the Obvious | p. 286 |
| The Cluster Re-matrix | p. 287 |
| Blend Shape and Cluster Relationships | p. 290 |
| Blend Shapes Driving Clusters | p. 290 |
| Clusters Driving Blend Shapes | p. 291 |
| Cluster Weighting | p. 292 |
| Cluster Mirroring | p. 293 |
| Muscle Systems and Skin Solvers | p. 295 |
| What Is a Muscle System? | p. 296 |
| Beginning with Bones | p. 298 |
| A Basic Muscle Volume | p. 299 |
| The Need for a Plug-in | p. 302 |
| Innerconnective Tissue | p. 303 |
| Tendons | p. 305 |
| Fat Distance | p. 307 |
| Skin Solvers | p. 308 |
| Faux Skin Solver Solutions | p. 309 |
| Index | p. 311 |
| Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved. |
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