Sprint 3 Contributions

1. Interfacing with a 3D artist on model likeness

For this sprint contribution, I spoke with the 3D character artist about the model's likeness and design to better match the concept sheet. We discussed how the character should look to better fit the concept, as well as the topology for each character for rigging.

2. Updating Luna's rig

Per the animator's feedback, I implemented all requested changes to the current rig for Luna. In particular, adding helper bones for arm twists and giving the option to animate the upper body controls together with the hips, or separately. Because the model proxy has not been updated, the facial and hair rig have not been added.

Shown is the character's hand proxy, sliced off and replaced with a new hand model in which the thumb is not curved inwards. The base joints are then changed to fit this hand model.

3. Yarn character rig and tool creation

Created a first pass rig of the yarn character with the 3D proxy given. I made two tools to quickly create ribbon-rig systems for the character's string and a bone-driven squash-and-stretch tool for the ball. This is so I can quickly iterate on changes to the rig based on animator feedback later on, as well as additional changes to the mesh.

Currently trying to figure out how to create a tool that will easily snap the controls for the strings in place for complicated shapes the yarn might make, such as the heart loop. The concept is to allow the animators to draw the shape they want freely with a curve, then turn every point of that curve into points they can snap the controls to.

Perforce submission

Sprint 2 Contributions

1. Finished First Pass Rig for animator stress test

For this sprint contribution, I handed off the first-pass rig to animators to stress-test it and gather feedback on which control systems they need.

The rig has:

- Stretch and Squash hybrid FK/ IK spline matrix. The stretch and squash are matrix-based and distribute the joint volume evenly when it is stretched or squashed

- Auto Foot controls for foot rolls, heel twist, toe twist, side bank, and toe tap

- IK/FK Limb Switch

- Matrix Limb Stretch

- All main control joints, minus the hair and facial joints, due to needing to wait for an updated topology/structure to the first pass model

-Basic skinned weights

My next goal for the rig is to implement animator feedback, but regardless of that, I will need to add:

- Auto Finger Controls

- Hair Rig

- Facial Rig

- Better skin weights pass

2. Tested out ribbon-based controls for the yarn

I did a test for the yarn rig using a technique called ribbon-based controls in rigging using Maya's nHair. In my test, for the loose-string part of the yarn that will primarily serve as its "limbs," I created a long plane that matches the entire string geometry. Through this, I learned that for the actual yarn rig, I will probably have to split the plane into two so the string has higher-fidelity movement -- a plane for the string closer to the yarn ball, and a plane for the string that is actually loose. From the test, I also concluded that the loose-string geometry needs many more edge loops than initially thought, so that the deformation used to create shapes from the string would look better, and that having more control joints would also serve the rig better. This information has been passed to the 3D artist who will model the yarn character.

Plane, with hair follicles in each edge loop: