rigTip on Transformation Rigs

Recently I worked on a transformation rig (organic) where a guy little cartoon character transforms into a big cartoon hulk like character. The character I was setting up was not a creature but a very toony cartoon rig with a lot of cartoon like deformation functionality for body and facial system. After spending some time on R&D and brainstorming,"EUREKA"!

The technique lies in building 2 separate rigs, one for the small guy and the other for the bigger guy. Both of these rigs (each of these rigs are laid out with all the features and deformation controls needed for a cartoony articulation) are controlled by a master rig. Think about it as a sort of IK-FK blending where we can intuitively blend from IK to FK and vice-versa. The target character model is then connected through blendshape from the 2 models (small guy & hulk) each controlled by separate rigs! Finally the new model can now be transformed from a small guy to a big guy, seamlessly through a custom attribute :)


You can use this tip to transform a character into any other character; biped to quadruped; cat to dog; man to hulk! Hope this helps...

Kim Min Woo Animation Reel

Kim Min Woo Animation Reel from kimminwoo on Vimeo.

Superb game animation reel by Kim Min Woo!

MAN

animator_reel by 이준우

animator_reel from 이준우 on Vimeo.

Seriously amazing animation over here by Korean animator 이준우. Loved the style of animation with multiple frames, smears and distortion :)

Make Human

Looks like open source programs are getting a much needed highlight these days. Here is another one to well make humans. Download it for free here!

Rebuild Blendshape Node 1.0.0 (maya script)

Ever been stuck with blendshapes while working with connecting SDK or shuffling around... well here is a real life saver script by Jay Grenier!

The script works by deleting all unnecessary connection from blendshape node except the one you manually selected from the stack! Check it out :)

Great thanks to Jay!

Sony Pictures Imageworks Sizzle Reel

Very cool reel from Sony Imageworks!

Project "I" - Making of by IXOR

Project "I" - Making of by IXOR from IXOR on Vimeo.

Check out this making of video by IXOR for their upcoming movie "Project I". I initially worked on the project as a rigger bringing the cg human and demons to life...

 

Making of Cham-Cham promo (rigging reel) from San_oOo on Vimeo.

Love these cartoon rigs by Alexander. Check out this equally impressive animation he have done below!

Cham-Cham promo from San_oOo on Vimeo.

Watch_Dogs featuring NVIDIA Technologies [UK]

Take a look at how Watch Dogs and Nvidia are working together to create visually stunning environment!

SolverBob rigging showreel

SolverBob rigging showreel from Giorgio Th_Jabba Macellari on Vimeo.

Intuitive and flexible rigging demonstration by Giorgio. The spring setup seems to be very handy for animation!

Unbelievable...16 Children And Their Bedrooms From Across The World. This Truly Opened My Eyes...

 

This article on children around the globe and their bedroom is a real motivator for Puppeteer Lounge's upcoming short "Dolpo School"!

cartoon Mouth experiment

cartoon Mouth experiment from Toni Buenavida on Vimeo.

Cartoon Mouth experiment by Toni Buenavida.
Reminds of good old Barbapapa! 

Nebraska Lottery - Stuck Santa Behind the Scenes

Nebraska Lottery - Stuck Santa Behind the Scenes from makevisual on Vimeo.

Nice concepts and designs!

Python Workshop Show Reel ~ Summer 2014

Python Workshop Show Reel ~ Summer 2014 from Puppeteer Lounge on Vimeo.

It's our great pleasure to present you all our very first Python Workshop show-reel featuring the works of our super talented students! Cheers:)

Venturing into the world of BLENDER

What do you folks think about BLENDER? I have been taking a look into it as an alternative for small projects and I have to say, despite being open source it can be a serious competitor to more high end industry standard software. For this reason, we at Puppeteer Lounge have been thinking of contributing to the Blender Nation by creating Training Workshops specifically geared towards Blender. For more about Blender goodness, do consult with Jimmy Gunawan. He has been exploring BLENDER for a while now and he has a great blog. He is a potential candidate for BLENDER training! I hope he lands as an animator for the BLENDER open movie: GOOSEBERRY! Speaking of GOOSEBERRY I would like to encourage every one to support Blender Nation's Open Feature Movie, GOOSEBERRY! For more about the movie, click here.

Check out this teaser shot from GOOSEBERRY! Looks stunning :)

Project Gooseberry Teaser Caterpillar Shot (Full) from Pataz Studio on Vimeo.

RIO 2 Behind the Scenes

RIO 2 Behind the Scenes Art Directing – Tom Cardone & Sculpting – Vicki Saulls



RIO 2 Behind the Scenes Rigging – Sabine Heller



RIO 2 Behind the Scenes Lighting – Jeeyun Sung Chisholm



RIO 2 Behind the Scenes Directing – Carlos Saldanha



RIO 2 Behind the Scenes Animation – Melvin Tan



RIO 2 Behind the Scenes Stereoscopics – Daniel Abramovich

Presto demonstration at NVIDIA's GTC conference

Presto demonstration at NVIDIA's GTC conference from Pixar Graphics on Vimeo.

Pheewww! That is some serious tech rigging to spoil the animators! 1500+ controllers...