Rigging

It was a lengthy process, but the rig is complete.

I wanted to utilise an IKFK (inverse kinematic, forward kinematic) switch handle, as shown above. It is a technique that I learnt during a previous module, but never used it then because I changed from character creation/animation to visualisation. Despite this, I was coming across problems in creating the rig. I think it was an orientation problem, and the root joint decided to ignore world space. Typically, I would persevere and continue until I found the problem, but it wasn't really necessary to use the IKFK switch here. I wasn't planning on having wild, over the top animations.

So instead I settled for a standard orient constrained arm set-up. It's boring but does the job.

It was a shame, because I have used an IKFK rig before with rigs that I have downloaded, and it's completely user-friendly and gives the user more control over the arm, as well as allows for fluid animations. I wanted to see how my one would fair in comparison.

Preperation for rigging

The sculpting is done, as are the textures, and facial animations. I am happy that I am now comfortable working between Maya, Mudbox, and Photoshop, and am familiar with the integration workflow. Now comes the rigging process, which is one of my favourite things to do, despite my reluctance to work in character creation. I enjoy the problem-solving element and overcoming challenges. I have yet to come across a rig where I didn't meet some sort of anomaly which required the use of my brain.

I am interested to see how this character turns out. Naturally, the limbs are expected to move, but what about the neck? Even though his neck is quite stocky, I intend for it to move and operate like any other neck.

Furthermore, In order to get the arms to look the way they do, I had to compromise the topology around the shoulder area. I suspect that will cause a little bit of a hiccup during animation, but don't expect a huge problem.

I have never created a character that was to hold something, so I'm interested to see how I will tackle the issue of the character holding the sword. I suspect a series of constraints and parenting will do the trick, but am not sure at the moment.

Other aspects are accounted for, however. The sword fits in the hand nicely, and the fingers match the hand nicely -- the fingers aren't too long and the palm isn't too small.

Blendshapes

The animations for this blog entry is on the CD I handed in. They are found in the folder called Blendshape Tests.

At first, I was convinced that I would create facial expressions by using skin clusters and painting weights, as this is my comfort zone, but I have already made a point here about wanting to push myself and learn things that are foreign to me. Mudbox again had more to offer in this regard. It is possible to use Mudbox sculpt layers to create blendshapes that can be used for seamless animation in Maya.

I had heard of blendshapes before, and had even used them, but never created any of my own as I thought that modelling polygons in maya at a sufficient level for them to be effective would take too long, because Maya is only good for creating base meshes as far as modelling goes. I never knew that people were using sculpting programs like Mudbox and Zbrush all this time.

Anyhow, once I knew what facial expressions I wanted, I set about sculpting them in Mudbox, and then brought them back to Maya for animating. 

Here are some printscreens of the expressions, starting with the default one I made with the base mesh:

During the creation of this character, I decided he wasn't going to be a dastardly, scheming villain like Jafar or Maleficent, but rather a fighter like Shan Yu. That is why the facial expressions are limited to angry grunts and hard blinks, instead of sinister smiles, or raised eyebrows of opportunity.

I tested them out and they all work. The final shape looks a bit odd, but I think that with some context it will be more suitable, like when he is pulling this face and performing an action that fits.

Here are some playblasts:

Final textured version

A few printscreens of the model fully textured:

The next step is the face.

Comparison between skinny and bulky

With the texturing complete, I imported my Mudbox file from Maya and decided to put my two creations side by side to see which one would be most convincing as a villain.

First, the new, tweaked villain alone:

And the comparisons:

I like the adorned Mudbox version better. The skinnier design is okay too, but I think that it is more suited to the role of foot soldier or minion. Someone who the bulkier one can command and boss around.

Texturing with Mudbox

I opted to use the painting tools within Mudbox rather than export to Photoshop as a means of fortifying myself with unfamiliar software and becoming adept in it.

Admittedly, it would have been so much easier for me to do this via Maya and Photoshop. But I wanted to learn how to do this and have the software under my belt. Luckily, all of the concepts and principles of 3d space, materials, and spec/bump maps that apply to Maya and Photoshop also apply to Mudbox. After a day or so of constant use, I felt comfortable using this software for this purpose, and am happy that I persevered.

Here is a shot of the paint layers that I used to get the shader settings correct:

Sculpting a bulkier villain

Having exported my low-resolution base mesh into Mudbox, I quickly added more sub-divisions and began sculpting.

Already, the character is taking up a much more shapely and charismatic form. One which so far looks much more befitting of a villain.

My first time using Mudbox, I really enjoy the attention to detail that I'm able to achieve almost effortlessly, such as crevices in certain muscle areas such as the lower leg.

Considering what I touched upon regarding attributes of villains, such as rough, gravelly voices, imposing physiques, and spiky/sharp corners, I thought I would make a few touches of my own. Of course, I followed suit and applied the theory to the eyes, as shown below. But I wanted to exasperate the feeling that this is character is a piece of foliage from the wild, so I thought to make use of the stamp tools within Mudbox and add some nice scale-like detail, which is true to the villainous form.

Inspiration for this idea came from the enemies from the video game Gears of War. I always admired the modelling techniques used to create them. I was aware that Epic Games used Zbrush exclusively when modelling for that game, and always thought it was a difficult task to do, but it's actually surprisingly easy.

Here are some shots of the said characters: