Project #6: Character Posing & Rigging

• Assigned: Tuesday, Nov 7 2006
• Due: Monday, Nov 13 @ 11:59 PM

Reading & Resources: (Don't forget this!)

• Posing a Character
• You can look at some sample poses on the network at \\Preproduction\student_data\cse458_au06\RESOURCES\pose_examples . These aren't perfect by any means, just some examples to get you started. See if you can figure out what each pose was trying to communicate. Think about what works well and what doesnt. Does the pose feel balanced? Is there twinning? Is the silhouette easy to read?

Part 1: Posing a Character

Posing characters will help your understanding of balance and weight placement on a character. As with other exercises, try to mimic these actions yourself so you can feel (rather than imagine) the position the character is supposed to be in.

For each of these positions, pay attention to where the weight of your character is placed. If the exercise calls for the character to stand on one foot, then how much weight will one leg hold and what must the other body parts do in order for the character maintain its balance?

When you pose the characters, you should work from a locked camera to achieve the best line of action and silhouette, but it is good practice to look at the character from all viewpoints to check balance. If the character does not look balanced, alter it until it is correct.

What to do:

• Download the PackageMan character.
• Pose your character in the following positions:
  1. Carrying a box that is...
     • ...light
     • ...heavy
  2. Balancing with one leg...
     • ...in front of the character
     • ...lifted up high to the character's side
  3. Pulling a rope
  4. Pushing something large and heavy while facing towards the object
  5. A pose that conveys the emotion of being...
     • ...angry
     • ...frightened
• NOTE: These are NOT listed options to choose from! All poses must be completed!
• Please leave PackageMan in low geometry mode and hide curves.
• Draw a series of thumbnails for each pose to explore your options. Your first idea will generally be your worst idea. Cliché poses are a good place to start when brainstorming but try to stay away from them.

Turn-in:

• 8 jpegs at a resolution of 800x600 (for 1a, 1b, 2a, 2b, 3, 4, 5a, 5b)
• 2 turntable playblasts for poses 2a and 2b
• thumbnail drawings representing the curves of motion.
• label each file with your name and description in a labeled folder Be sure to name your files: "lastname_firstname_projectname".mb or .ma, "lastname_firstname_projectname".jpg NO SPACES IN NAMING.

You will be graded on Balance/Weight, Line of Action, Appeal, Creativity, and Thumbnails (these don't have to be pretty).

Part 2: Rigging a Character

Reference text and tutorials:

• Getting Started with Maya 7.0, Chapter 7 - Character Setup
  • Preparing for the lessons
  • Lesson 1 Skeletons and Kinematics
  • Lesson 2 Smooth skinning
  • Lesson 3 Cluster and blend shape deformers
• Zhi's Online Tutorial
• Zhi's video demo: located at //preproduction/course_material/demos_and_lectures/ rigging_demo_01.12.06.avi

What to do:

• Download the initial model which you will be rigging.
• Follow Zhi's online tutorial and watch Zhi's video demo for instructions on how to complete the assignment.
• Do a simple animation of your character to demonstrate how the rig works & deforms. This doesn't have to be anything too pretty or complicated - just animate something on every control so that we can see him move, and try to keep the movements in natural directions.
• Turn in your final maya file.

What we're looking for:

• Intuitive naming convention on all joints and controls
• Placement, orientation, frozen transforms on all joints and controls
• Clean weight-painting
• Logical control scheme
• Grouping and hierarchy