Random Papa Bear

[Rodney]

Have been investigating the possibilities....

 

 

This mod uses what I'd call a 'no frills' or 'quick' rig.

In other words, I'm not sure anyone else but me would call it a rig.

[johnl3d]

interesting idea

[Rodney]

Thanks John,

I'm having fun and testing out things as I go.

 

This (below) was mostly just to test out the Duplicate feature in v19.

It's one of those features that isn't a 'wow, look at that' feature but is one that is actually useful.

 

Also, testing no lights to get that flat shaded look.

[Wildsided]

I'm not sure anyone else but me would call it a rig.

Now, you say that, but aside from a couple of back bones and a pelvis bone, that's pretty much all my rigs usually are (I get very intimidated just looking at things like the 2008 and squetch rigs).

[fae_alba]

You couldn't go more minimalist (is that even a valid phrase?!) than that rig!

[Rodney]

You couldn't go more minimalist (is that even a valid phrase?!) than that rig!

 

Yes, indeed. That is the secret to 'no frills' or 'quick' rigging; rig only what needs to be moved/animated.

 

The (primary) downside to this approach is that the end result is not (generally) an all purpose rig that can be put into service of animation on demand. This approach would be geared more toward scenarios where what will occur in the scene is established. As such, if the scene calls for a shoulder and head shot not much else needs to be rigged.

 

In the rigging process of Papa Bear I first thought about core movements/articulations... what is absolutely necessary.

This breaks down to:

 

Placement of the object/character

This can normally be done by manipulating the Model itself but I must confess that I like objects/characters within a Model to be independent of that 'space'. In this way, two characters could inhabit that same space... becoming one 'model' and the rig would be build to order with consideration of interaction between the two 'characters'. This then leads to...

 

Orientation of the object/character

Again, I'd say this can be best approached by having all geometry belong to a root bone that is not the one assigned to the Model itself (that's the official 'root' in the strictest sense of the term).

If all (or most) that is required is for the character to do is slide across the ground, spin or somesuch it might be sufficient to pose a character and then use the static mesh sans all the bones except what is necessary. The extra 'weight' of unnecessary rigging and poses can then be avoided. Then to keep the performance alive, consider what else must have life in the scene... eyes are usually a good bet but follow through and overlap should also be considered.

 

Those are the two primary things.

 

This does then beg the question of how to best proceed where there is limited rigging in a character

As a suggestion I'd say that, like its real world counter parts, the bones define the gross/basic movement but then the geometry (read: muscles and flesh) is driven/influenced by that. So a jaw might move down but the corners of the mouth move up to form a toothy grin and to get at that Opposing Action that reads to the viewer so well as the brain detects the changing of shapes.

 

The downside is definitely that we can lose a major strength of fully rigged and articulate characters which is re-usability. BUT many animators flee from the very thought of canned actions applied to characters. This conundrum places us in a position of relying on rigs that can't meet our requirements for a shot or conversely, can't be reused/re-purposed effectively.

 

Bottom line for me at my naive stage of understanding is determining what needs to be animated. As I was rigging Papa Bear I constantly tested to see what the results of adding a new Bone... and where it was placed (i.e. child/parent hierarchy) that I found myself learning more about the personality of the character. This guy's ears will need to move to capture a particular look. His tongue will need to be seen at times... better model and rig that. He doesn't need to be holding onto his fish pole yet... so additional dexterity in his fingers can wait. Etc. Etc. This is a pretty nice way of prioritizing whereas there can almost too much to take in and consider with a fully articulated rig.

 

It should go without saying but I'll say it anyway; quick rigging in this fashion lends itself much more to still imagery than to fully articulated animation. And this would apply even more to gaming where a character needs to be ideally posed from all vantage points unlike where all shots will be seen from a camera's perspective which allows for many hidden cheats.

 

Fun stuff rigging!

 

P.S. I need to share my modified mesh with you but I don't want to distract you from the gains you've already made. I took a lot of splines out of the head and gave the shirt thickness because those two areas grabbed my attention. The pics above are rendered with the modified head but I changed the shirt later.