This is the first time I have rigged in a long while and I must say I was a little rusty. Once I got the hang of it though, I had a lot of fun!
The best way to get better at rigging is to force yourself to rig four characters. That was quite the challenge but I am glad to say I am still alive at the other end.
Here is the deformation test for the N character...
Although in the final animation we are not using all four characters, they were still modeled and I still rigged them so it would be a shame to not show anyone so here is the deformation tests for all of the four characters.
Even though they were not all used, at least I have four rigged characters to play with when I get a chance. It was also good to practice my rigging as its a skill I think will be handy to keep up with.
In this project I had to model, texture and rig a character of my own creation. To begin we had to model a classmates head. This was to practice modeling heads as we had never done this before. I learnt about loop flow and where to put cuts to create shape without causing there to be any tris. This was done in a day but even though it was quick, it built my confidence for modeling a whole character.
Next I went onto creating my character. Because we had so much to do in such a short time with this project, we didn't get much time to create and design a character. I had to quickly draw up a turn around so I could go straight into modeling.
I spent a lot of time in Maya on my low poly model. ( probably more then I should have) I really enjoyed the form making and the fact I was creating something entirely my own. I tried my hardest to keep the model clean and neat so when I got to high poly sculpting, it would subdivide nicely. I had some trouble around the jaw, neck and shoulder area and spent a lot of time deciding where edges needed to be and how I could create that without causing other problems like tris. After modeling a whole body for the first time, there are definitively different ways I would go about things now I know how they should be. I wanted to go straight into modelling another character once I had finished this. I was happy with how it turned out and really enjoyed creating it.
Next I moved onto high poly sculpting in Mudbox. I have a lot of fun in Mudbox because I don't have to worry about a clean wire frame. I got to add all the little details I wanted and also add the texture and secular shading. It was fun to play with different material textures and the brushes to create different effects. Sculpting is something I would like to spend more time practicing at as I really enjoy it.
Here are the maps for the model (created using mudbox)
Texture Map
UV Map
Displacement Map
Normals Map
AO Map
Spec Map
Finally I had to rig my character. This was the first time I had rigged anything from scratch. I found it fairly challenging but once I had wrapped my head around how everything worked it wasn't too bad. I had a few problems with the feet and the shoulders but I eventually managed to get them working to a standard I was happy with. Unfortunately I didnt have enough time to go into any advanced rigging with this project (such and a facial rig, finger curls etc) Though I intend to go back to this over the summer and add more to it.
Deformation test of rig:
I would definitely like to work on my rigging skills in the future. I think it will help me a lot as a secondary skill to animation. I love the idea of being able to design, model, rig and then animate my own characters.
Leading up to this project I was quite apprehensive as I had heard a lot about CG lighting and all the problems that tend to come along with it. I was also very intrigued because I feel it is a very important skill to master as it can improve the look of your work incredibly.
We started by getting to grips with the lights and the material setting in Maya by creating a basic scene. We had to have one chrome, one glowing and one glass ball. We were given the environment and it was our job to add the relevant lights to the scene and manipulate the material settings to get the desired look.
Next we had to create studio lighting using mentalray to render rather then Maya software. We used our previous model of our hand as a subject to light. I found myself faffing around with this a lot because i just couldn't leave it alone. We had to use warm and cool tones while also making sure the whole model was lit and all the details were highlighted nicely. We also had to make sure there were no harsh shadows but shadows enough for definition. Its a case of changing small bits, rendering and changing a little again. I didnt think it would be as hard as it was and I have even more respect for people who can light a model well. I wish I could have spent longer on this, but I feel I learnt a lot and would be quicker next time. I see this being very useful for me when displaying any future work nicely.
Finally we had to add a GC object into a photo. We did this by using a chrome ball and taking RAW HDR images to capture the light of the scene. Using 3DS Max, we set up a camera for the scene and then took that camera into Maya so we could add our object into the scene. Then using Maya we used the HDR images to create a similar lighting set up to the lighting in the scene of the photo. Then it was up to us tweaking the settings and also editing in After Effects and Photoshop to make the object look as believable as possible in the scene.
I found this one quite challenging, mainly because of the shadows the plants cast. It took me a while to figure out how to cast the shadows onto the Dalek and make them match the shadows on the post it was seated on. I learnt a lot because of the challenges this brought up. I think if i were to go back I would perhaps make the Dalek model a different colour just to it isn't lost in the colour of the wall.
After the Dalek I moved onto this shot with the nail varnishes. I wanted to do a very different shot with different lighting so I could learn different things with each photo. I found the shadows cast on the table hard to replicate here. There were two light sources casting both warm and cool coloured shadows with a different harshness.
Over all I am happy with how both photos turned out. I don't think they were too bad for a first try and it sparked my interest at possibly doing some composting in the future.
Lighting is definitely something I want to practice and get better at. I feel this project really helped me understand lighting a lot more. It has made me want to go back and re-light all my old work to make it look pretty. I am definitely going to make sure I give myself the time to light my future projects properly to practice my lighting skills and make my work look more professional.
