Twinkle Twinkle Little Star from Nani and Babu

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! :)

Blendshape Combination System (Facial Setup) Overview

Watch an overview of the facial setup from Puppeteer Lounge Blendshape Combination System Training Workshop lecture session. The video goes over a comparison of Standard Blendshape vs Blendshape Combination System (BCS), developed by Daniel Pook-Kolb.

You can learn to setup a high-end feature quality facial rig using BCS toolset at Puppeteer Lounge.

SAM ~ Cartoon Character Rigging Demo | Puppeteer Lounge

Watch cartoon character rigging demonstration for Mr. Sam! If you like the demo and would like to learn how to create a similar character rig, feel free to check out Puppeteer Lounge Rigging workshop :)

Hyper Real Body Setup Demonstration in Maya | Puppeteer Lounge

Muscle & Skin Musculoskeletal rig and deformation demonstration for "Tejo" character from Puppeteer Lounge Hyper Real Body Setup Rigging Workshop. The rig features a combination of musculo-skeletal deformation, pose space deformation corrective shapes, skin simulation and automated detail wrinkle maps.

Rigging Show-Reel by Puppeteer Lounge student Ponmudi Chidambaram Poyyamoli

Puppeteer Lounge Rigging Workshop 3 Show-reel by student Ponmudi Chidambaram Poyyamoli. Ponmudi is currently a Rigger at Method Studios, Vancouver. Be sure to check out Ponmudi's Rigging Demo-Reel here!

Showreel by Puppeteer Lounge student Deivid Garcia

Test01_Akuma_ Facial Rigging (WIP) from Deivid Cg Artist on Vimeo.
Demo reel 2015 from Deivid Cg Artist on Vimeo.
Facial Rigging demonstration by Puppeteer Lounge student Deivid Garcia Betancourt from
Puppeteer Lounge Rigging Workshop. 

Hyper Real Facial Rigging Demonstration in Maya | Puppeteer Lounge

Quick video demonstration on facial rig and deformation for "Ajar" character from Puppeteer Lounge Rigging Workshop. The facial rig and character presented in this video is featured in Puppeteer Lounge's Facial Rigging training workshops in Maya. The rig features a combination of musculo-skeletal deformation and corrective shapes.

SUBSCRIBE to Puppteer Lounge:  Like Puppeteer Lounge on Facebook: 

BoGo Morphing Character Rigging Demo in Maya | Puppeteer Lounge

Rigging demo of Puppeteer Lounge latest cartoon character BoGo.
Learn to model BoGo here.
Learn to rig BoGo here.
Learn to animate BoGo here.

SUBSCRIBE
Like us on Facebook.

Puppeteer Lounge former student Jimmy Gunawan on YouTube

Procedural Facial Muscle Tension and Compression experimentation and R&D by Puppeteer Lounge former student Jimmy Gunawan. Be sure to check out his channel for Computer Graphics, Animation and Experimental Videos inside Maya, Houdini and Blender.

 Puppeteer Lounge Rigging Workshop.

TrashBot - Mechanical Rig Demo by Brenainn Jordan

TrashBot - Rig Demo from Brenainn Jordan on Vimeo.

TrashBot - Mechanical Rig Demo by Brenainn Jordan. Nice articulation and very well explained!

Puppeteer Lounge is now on YouTube too :)

Check out Puppeteer Lounge Super Toon Character Setup Workshop demonstration!

If you like our work be sure to SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube channel so you can see it all and more in the making :)  

Alike

Watch the beautiful award winning short film "Alike" by Daniel Martínez Lara and Rafa Cano Méndez.

Learn how to rig a cartoon character in Blender here at Puppeteer Lounge.  

Body Mechanics Exercise by student Bibhuk & Ronit

Body Mechanics Exercise by student Bibhuk & Ronit from Puppeteer Lounge on Vimeo.

Check out Body mechanics #animation exercise by Puppeteer Lounge student Bibhuk & Ronit Shakya.

 → Apply to Learn : http://puppeteerlounge.com/apply
→ Animation Workshop : http://puppeteerlounge.com/animation-workshop

Maya Muscle simulation with ncloth

Maya Muscle simulation with ncloth from junkiLee on Vimeo.

Maya Muscle simulation with ncloth by Junki Lee.

shot sculpt tool

shot sculpt tool update from Luiz Elias on Vimeo.

Shot sculpt tool demonstration by Luiz Elias.

BOUDHA Stupa - Time-Lapse Renovation

Off-topic post here :)

I would like to share with you a Time-lapse video captured from Feb 2016 to Nov 2016 to showcase the complete renovation process of Boudha Stupa. Beside animation Me and Sachina love to capture indie videos around Nepal.

You can find more videos in our hobbyist YouTube channel :) 

Puppeteer Lounge Discount Offer for New Year 2016

Did you know... Puppeteer Lounge is offering a special discount on training workshops this New Year & Holiday Season! :)

Learn more on the programs here : http://puppeteerlounge.com

Modeling Workshop: http://puppeteerlounge.com/modeling-workshop
Rigging Workshop: http://puppeteerlounge.com/rigging-workshop
Animation Workshop: http://puppeteerlounge.com/animation-workshop
Python Workshop: http://puppeteerlounge.com/python-workshop
Blender Workshop: http://puppeteerlounge.com/blender-workshop
Unreal Engine Workshop: http://puppeteerlounge.com/unreal-engine-workshop

Apply here: http://puppeteerlounge.com/apply

Animation Workshop 2 Reel by student Nitin Shakya

Animation Workshop 2 Reel by student Nitin Shakya from Puppeteer Lounge on Vimeo.

Check out body mechanics exercise by Puppeteer Lounge student Nitin Shakya.

 If you want to learn like Nitin, apply here!

Animation Workshop 2 Reel by student Pranesh Shakya

Animation Workshop 2 Reel by student Pranesh Shakya from Puppeteer Lounge on Vimeo.

Check out body mechanics exercise by Puppeteer Lounge student Pranesh Shakya.

If you want to learn like Pranesh, apply here! 

Body Mechanics by Puppeteer Lounge student Nitin Shakya

via GIPHY

Check out this body mechanics fight scene exercise by Puppeteer Lounge student Nitin Shakya.

Rigging Reel - Aurélien Cova from Aurélien Cova on Vimeo.

Rigging Reel by Aurélien Cova. An interesting approach to showcasing the show-reel! Check it out :)

Character reel by Dario Triglia

Check out this beautiful character rigging reel by Puppeteer Lounge former student Dario Triglia!

Wrap 3 face scanning test by Ten 24

Wrap 3 face scanning test from Ten 24 on Vimeo.

Morph based muscle deformation from Ten 24 on Vimeo.

Judging by the result here, looks like we are very close to crossing the Uncanny Valley for CG Human creation. Here is a quick animated 3D scans by Ten 24.

Qualoth for Maya Tutorial

Here is a nice set of tutorial going over cloth creation, dynamics and simulation using FXGear's Qualoth tool set. Qualoth is a great alternative to using Maya's in-built nCloth tool-set.

facial rigging by kimsumin

facial rigging v001 from kimsumin on Vimeo.

facial rigging v002 from kimsumin on Vimeo.

facial rigging v003 from kimsumin on Vimeo.

facial rigging v004 from kimsumin on Vimeo.

Exaggerated facial expression shots by Hyun Mi. Great stuffs!

Character TD show-reel by Joseph Stanley

CharTDdemoReel from stanlee joseph on Vimeo.

Love the simulation and how he have integrated it with the character rigs. Joseph is currently taking Rigging Workshop at Puppeteer Lounge.

It’s about his butt!

It's about his butt! from Alissar Kobeissi on Vimeo.
Great performance by Alissar Kobeissi.

morph_nex_test by Izabela Zelmańska

morph_nex_test from Izabela Zelmańska on Vimeo.
Very cool morph and animation test by Izabela Zelmańska.

Homemade Face MoCap Veronica Morera

Homemade Face MoCap Veronica Morera from Vero Morera on Vimeo.

Check out the facial motion capture experiment done by Puppeteer Lounge student Vero Morera. Well done :)

Nikki Christie - Rigging Tools Showreel

Check out these beautiful show-reels by Puppeteer Lounge student Nikki Christie from Scotland.

Unreal Skaarj Fanart

Unreal Fanart from Ben Erdt on Vimeo.

This is beautiful!

Proportional Modifier Setup Demo

Proportional Modifier Setup Demo from Suchan Bajracharya on Vimeo.

This video goes over Proportional Modifier Setup which can be applied on-to existing character rig to create multiple character variation from the same base rig. This approach can also be used in fixing, fine-tuning or polishing the look, appearance and silhouette of a character during animation. To learn more about Proportional Modifier Setup, take a look at Puppeteer Lounge's Morphing Character Setup Workshop. You can watch Morphing Character Setup Demo below:
BoGo Morphing Character Setup Demo from Puppeteer Lounge on Vimeo.

Maya Command Search

Looks like a great tool to speed up the workflow

Rigging an Ogre for Shrek4

Deformation demonstration of the Ogre character from Shrek 4 (Forever After) movie by David Otte.

FACS Facial Rig Discussion

FACS Facial Rig Discussion by Puppeteer Lounge alumni Mathias Røyrvik.

Super Toon Animation Workshop @puppeteerlounge

At Puppeteer Lounge, we have introduced a new mini-workshop "Super Toon Character Animation". The training workshop focuses on full body shot with a Super Toon Cartoon character for films where students will learn to animate an entertaining shot with full body gestures and facial emotions giving importance to Traditional 2D Cartoon look and style by implementing Smears, Multiples and other Animation Gimmicks.

Watch Puppeteer Lounge's Super Toon Character Bucky Bunny Rig Demo below.

If you are interested you can apply here to learn...

Puppeteer Lounge Intro Animation

Puppeteer Lounge's new Intro Animation featuring Bucky Bunny. Character Animation by Puppeteer Lounge instructor and animator Sachina Shakya.

Learn to rig Bucky Bunny at Puppeteer Lounge :)
Learn to animate with Bucky Bunny at Puppeteer Lounge :)

Character Setup show-reel by student Ogulcan Otayman

Character Setup show-reel by student Ogulcan Tayman from Puppeteer Lounge on Vimeo.


Character Setup show-reel by Puppeteer Lounge's student Ogulcan Otayman

Check out the the first 8 minutes of The Lord Inquisitor, a full CGI short movie set in the universe of Warhammer 40k created and Directed by Erasmus Brosdau. The short movie is the outcome of collaborative effort of very talented artists from around the globe. Puppeteer Lounge is very proud to be a part of this team!

Watch a quick rig test done for the lead character in the short below!

Marcus Allenbrisk (Rig Test) ~ Sci-Fi - CGI - Warhammer 40,000 from Suchan Bajracharya on Vimeo.

BoGo Morphing Character Setup Demo from Puppeteer Lounge on Vimeo.

Rig demo of PUPPETEER LOUNGE morphing cartoon character BoGo.

 Learn to model BoGo here: Learn to rig BoGo here:
Learn to animate BoGo here: Like us on Facebook:

Follow Puppeteer Lounge on Twitter: @puppeteerlounge

Animation Workshop 1 Reel by student Nitin Shakya

Animation Workshop 1 Reel by student Nitin Shakya from Puppeteer Lounge on Vimeo.

. Training Workshop : Animation Workshop 1 “BASIC FOUNDATION” If you want to learn like Nitin, apply here : https://puppeteerlounge.com/apply For More Info : https://puppeteerlounge.com/animation-workshop Like us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/puppeteerlounge Follow us on Twitter: @puppeteerlounge

This is so beautiful. An inspiration short about the fastest man on the planet, Usain Bolt!

Facial Rigging Based on FACS Theory

Facial Rigging Based on FACS Theory from Siting Liu on Vimeo.

Rigging Showreel by Adien Dendra

Rigging show-reel by Puppeteer Lounge student Adien Dendra.

Verónica Morera Rigging Reel 2016

Verónica Morera Rigging Reel 2016 from Vero Morera on Vimeo.

Rigging show-reel by Puppeteer Lounge student Verónica Morera. Good job Vero!

Character TD reel by Tiago Mesquita.

Tiago Mesquita - Character TD - Reel 2015 from Tiago Mesquita on Vimeo.

Love the reel! Nice deformation and tool-set.

Joe Lee Animation Reel

Joe Lee Animation Reel from Joseph Lee on Vimeo.

Animation reel by Joseph Lee.

Rigging Reel by Thibaud Gambier.

Thibaud Gambier - Rigging Reel 2016 from Thibaud Gambier on Vimeo.

Rigging Reel by Thibaud Gambier. Nice cartoon rig!

Animation Workshop 2 Reel by student Ronit Shakya

Animation Workshop 2 Reel by student Ronit Shakya from Puppeteer Lounge on Vimeo.

Puppeteer Lounge Student : Ronit Shakya Training Workshop : Animation Workshop 2 "Body Mechanics" If you want to learn like Ronit, apply here : http://puppeteerlounge.com/apply For More Info : http://puppeteerlounge.com/animation-workshop Like us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/puppeteerlounge Follow us on Twitter: @puppeteerlounge

The Angry Birds Movie - Character Animation

The Angry Birds Movie - Character Animation and Rig Calisthenics test by Sony Imageworks.

James Butler CelAction Rigging Showreel

James Butler CelAction Rigging Showreel from James Butler on Vimeo.
CelAction 2D Rigging Showreel by James Butler. Very interesting and intuitive setups based on digital vector workflow using the "Vectrinsic" Path system in CelAction 2D.

Animation Workshop 3 Reel by student Serghey Badragan

Animation Workshop 3 Reel by student Serghey Badragan from Puppeteer Lounge on Vimeo.

Check out Puppeteer Lounge Animation Workshop 3 student Serghey Badragan's latest reel.

猪猪侠大电影4_片花GG Bond_Movie04 Trailer01

Check out the trailer for the latest animated production, Puppeteer Lounge student Parker Lai and his team is working on

Woolmark “The Innovator”

Woolmark "The Innovator" from Antfood on Vimeo.

This is Fun :)

Modeling Workshop 1 Reel by student Sanjay Suyal

Modeling Workshop 1 Reel by student Sanjay Suyal from Puppeteer Lounge on Vimeo.
The classic VW Beetle, an iconic car modeled by Puppeteer Lounge Modeling Workshop 1 student Sanjay Suyal.

Warrior Battle Scene - 300 Inspired Animation

Warrior Battle Scene - 300 Inspired Animation from Puppeteer Lounge on Vimeo.

Here at Puppeteer Lounge, we worked on an experimental in-house project to re-create one of the famous battle scene from the movie 300. This is purely a fan work!

Enjoy :)

The Warriors Gate (Flesh and Cloth Simulation)

The Warriors Gate (Flesh and Cloth Simulation) from Ehsan Kiani on Vimeo.


The Warriors Gate (Flesh and Cloth Simulation) by Ehsan Kiani. If you want to learn how to setup SKIN dynamics and realistic looking flesh deformation, you can purchase the recorded video of SKIN (FAT) Simulation Webinar that we conducted with Ehsan Kiani.

Watch Demo video below.

SKIN (FAT) Simulation Webinar with Ehsan Kiani Teaser “Demo” (16-4-2016) from Puppeteer Lounge on Vimeo.

MultiBall 2.77 Rig Demo

MultiBall 2.77 Rig Demo from Wayne Dixon on Vimeo.


Bouncing Ball rig by Puppeteer Lounge student Wayne Dixon for Blender. Download it here: http://www.blendswap.com/blends/view/85010

Student Feedback: William Esteban Méndez (Costa Rica)

EstebanMendez_CartoonReel from Esteban Mendez on Vimeo.
Anatomic Character Rig&Setup DemoReel from Esteban Mendez on Vimeo.

It is always great to hear from your student's progress and feedback! Here is what one of my star student at Puppeteer Lounge has to say about our training workshops :)

Student Feedback: William Esteban Méndez (Costa Rica) ~ "I`m very happy with my experience in Puppeteer Lounge because I learned how to make a entire rig with a world-class quality being sure that's going to be friendly with any animator. Also, with the rigging workshops you become more than a simple rigger, you understand and apply all the additional areas which help to make you a good rigger and better artist, as anatomy, sculpture, logical thinking and more. All the investment that you make on PL really worth it."

If you want to learn like William, apply here!

Pose Space Driven Realistic Character Setup Demo

Pose Space Driven Realistic Character Setup Demo from Puppeteer Lounge on Vimeo.

Rig demo of Puppeteer Lounge's latest character AXE. The rig's deformation is based on multiple corrective shapes. There are no muscle objects. Joint Puppeteer Lounge's Training Workshop program to learn to model, rig and animate a similar character.

Sam McHamm : The Kingdom Of FooDoo Character Setup Show-reel 2016

Sam McHamm : The Kingdom Of FooDoo Character Setup Show-reel 2016 from Puppeteer Lounge on Vimeo.
Character Setup show-reel for Frogtale Studio's series Sam McHamm : The Kingdom Of FooDoo.

At Puppeteer Lounge we worked on all of the character rig for the TV series production by Frogtale Studio.

If you like the demo and would like to learn a similar setup, feel free to check out Puppeteer Lounge Rigging Workshop.

If you would like to collaborate with us (Project), feel free to contact us for Modeling, Rigging and Animation services: 

Do like us on Facebook too (Stay Posted):
Follow us on Twitter: @puppeteerlounge

Technical Artist - Showreel 2016 from Borna Nayer Nouri

Technical Artist - Showreel 2016 from Borna Nayer Nouri on Vimeo.
Check out the technical artist showreel by our student Borna Nayer Nouri. We would also like to congratulate Borna on his new job at The Foundry :) For Training Workshops: http://puppeteerlounge.com

Miracle Worker_Gift Offering by Rubix Studios (Work by my student)

Puppeteer Lounge's student Toochukwu Ogbogu from Nigeria would like to share with us a short music video that he created. Toochukwu joined us for our Rigging Workshop program. The character in the video is rigged based on the techniques he learned with us.

Lion_R&D_Test-Walk_Turnable_Playblast_v002_with Title Lables from Antoine Cunningham on Vimeo.


Lion_R&D_Test-Walk_Turnable_SkinMuscle_v001 from Antoine Cunningham on Vimeo.

Realistic quadruped rig test by Puppeteer Lounge's student Antoine Cunningham.

Bucky Bunny Rig Demo & PL 4th Anniversary

Bucky Bunny Toon Character Rig Demo from Puppeteer Lounge on Vimeo.

Today is Puppeteer Lounge's 4th Anniversary!!!

We would like to celebrate this wonderful occasion by sharing with you all the rig demonstration video of Mr. Bucky Bunny. Hope you like it!

There is much to celebrate! Learn more at Puppeteer Lounge website.

How Pixar created its most complex character yet for 'Finding Dory' (CNET News)

It took 2 years for animators at PIXAR to complete one of the most complex shots in the movie "Finding Dory"!

Richard Maegaki 2016 Show Reel

Richard Maegaki 2016 Show Reel from Riggerman on Vimeo.

Check out the rigging show-reel by Richard Maegaki one of my former student at Puppeteer Lounge.

Anatomic Character Rig&Setup DemoReel

Anatomic Character Rig&Setup DemoReel from Esteban Mendez on Vimeo.

Here is what one of my student have to say and share through his Facebook post:

Hola personas! :)Desde hace bastantillo me propuse hacer un portafolio de rigging (una rama de Animacion Digital, :) ) para poder trabajar algun dia en eso. Ya he llevado 2 cursos y ya estoy en el tercero de una escuela llamadaPuppeteer Lounge, la cual recomiendo montones, el segundo de los cursos que he llevado era de rigging anatomico, un reto bastante importante porque habia que entrarle bonito a la anatomia, entenderla y esculpir montones. De hecho tambien lleve un curso de escultura anatomica que valio montones la pena, aunque me sigue costando.En fin, el video del link, para los entusiastas del CG, es un reel de un rig anatomico, con estudio de anatomia previo, MayaMuscle, WrinkleMaps y lo que aprendi a usar.
Para los no entusiastas, es un video de un bicho verde moviendose, y se mueve porque yo configure para que se pudiese mover, aunque son otras personas las encargadas de darle la actuacion especifica, esas personas se llaman animadores de personajes y en este caso fueron la gente de Puppeteer Lounge. :)En los comentarios voy a dejar el reel del curso de rig toon que hice antes de este. :)

ParaNorman Dialogue Tests

ParaNorman Dialogue Tests from David Vandervoort on Vimeo.

ParaNorman Dialogue Tests by David Vandervoort. Love to see 2D reference being used to bring the best out of 3D animation.

Rigging Workshop 3 show-reel by student William Esteban Mendez

Rigging Workshop 3 Reel by student William Esteban Mendez from Puppeteer Lounge on Vimeo.

Check out the rigging show-reel by one of my student at Puppeteer Lounge.

FLEX Super Toony Animation Test

FLEX Super Toony Animation Test from Puppeteer Lounge on Vimeo.

Super Toony Style Animation test by Puppeteer Lounge animation instructor and animator, Sachina Shakya for our Flex character utilizing various kinds of animation gimmicks such as smears, multiples, etc. The dog character in the test video is from our cartoon quadruped setup workshop. Learn more here: puppeteerlounge.com/rigging-workshop Flex character features in our animation workshop. Learn more here: puppeteerlounge.com/rigging-workshop You can learn how to rig a character like Flex through our Super Toon Character Setup training workshop. Learn more here: puppeteerlounge.com/rigging-workshop

Locomotion in animal test by Laurent Benhamo

Silverback Gorilla Motion Tests Vol 1 from Laurent Benhamo on Vimeo.
Gorilla locomotion test by Laurent Benhamo, Lead animator at ILM.

Tiger walk cycle test from Laurent Benhamo on Vimeo.

Here is another test of Tiger walkcycle by Laurent.

Rigging Workshop 2 Reel by student Clare Swift

Rigging Workshop 2 Reel by student Clare Swift from Puppeteer Lounge on Vimeo.
.


Check out the Rigging Workshop 2 show-reel one of my student at Puppeteer Lounge, Clare Swift! smile emoticon

Apply here to learn: http://puppeteerlounge.com/apply

AXE rig demo WIP

Here is a quick WIP rig demo for Puppeteer Lounge new character AXE. The rig will be available for our animation students to practice realistic animation exercises. We will also have AXE in our Rigging Workshop too!

Plugin and Nodal Demo Reel 2016 from Hans Godard on Vimeo.

Plugin and Nodal Demo Reel 2016 from Hans Godard on Vimeo.
Plugin and Nodal Demo Reel featuring modeling, rigging and pipeline tools by Hans Godard.

Bucky Bunny WIP rig demo

Here is a quick WIP rig demo for Puppeteer Lounge new character Mr. Bucky Bunny. The rig will be available for our animation students to practice super toony cartoon animation exercises utilizing the many different kinds of animation gimmick that is built into this rig such as bendy controls, scalable controls, multiples and smears. We will also have Bucky Bunny in our Rigging Workshop under the upcoming new Super Toon Rigging Workshop. More details with animation test will come soon :)

The Division_Cloth_Simulation_RND

The Division_Cloth_Simulation_RND from Koutal on Vimeo.

Cloth Simulation R&D for The Division trailer by Tonton Koutal.

SHAPES 3.2 - Features and improvements

SHAPES 3.2 - Features and improvements from brave rabbit on Vimeo.
Check out the quick features and improvement demo of SHAPES 3.2 by Ingo Clemens. More Details: http://www.braverabbit.de/shapes/ Puppeteer Lounge SHAPES Webinar: http://puppeteerlounge.com/webinar

Alike Progression Shot from psl

Animation progress reel forAlike Short by Pepe School Land.

EISKO Facial Rig Demo

Facial Rig based on captured expressions (3d Scans) by EISKO. Check out there webpage for workflow on detailed facial rigs.

Transfer UV onto a rigged and animated model in Maya

Transfer UV onto a rigged and animated model in Maya. from Marko Vukovic on Vimeo.

Handy little tutorial to transfer UVs without creating junk nodes on the actual bind rig. You can use this technique of tweaking the Orig Shape node to quickly update you rig mesh with updated new model with the same topology, run multiple meshes with the same base Orig Shape mesh and such. #rigTips

#rigTips on Faster Character Rig

#‎rigTips‬: Avoid using a lot of contraints in a rig unless it is absolutely important (needed). To create a stable, fast rig use parent child hierarchy based relationship for rig objects like controls and joint. Often time a direct parenting is the best solution of fast, intuitive and scalable rigs! Using a direct connection from controller to driven joints also speeds up the rig. This is applicable for FK joint chains. Lot of the time, we use constraints from controller to drive these joints which in greater number significantly slows down the rig (for complex rigs). In the fig. I used the locators to store the offset position of each joint, so that we can directly connect from control object to joint to maintain offset.

Always use a proper rig hierarchy system: Hierachy in a character rig is similar to a book library where you have a lot of books kept in each department in an orderly manner. Think about it, let say there is no library and we have books all over the place, you will be spending a lot of time searching that one specific book you needed! Well that is the same case with a character rig, your PC will have to process each of those nodes to process the calculation, hence a slower rig. Below is an example of a standard rig hierachy for character setup. :)

ü  (Character)_ALL                                                                                (Top Node)

o   (Character)_TRS                                                       (Transform Node)

o   (Character)_PP                     (Puppet Parts Node)

§  (Character)_IK           (IK handles Node)

§  (Character)_SKL        (Skeleton Node)

§  (Character)_CC          (Control Curves Node)  

§  (Character)_LOC         (Locators Node)                               

o    (Character)_GEO                                                                      (GeometryNode)                                                                                                

o   (Character)_XTR                                                                                                              (Extra Node)     

e.g.

ü  Momo01_ALL                                                                                                                                                   

o   Momo01_TRS                                                                                                                                   

·         Momo01_PP                                                                                     

§  Momo01_IK

§  Momo01_SKL                                                                   

§  Momo01_CC

§  Momo01_LOC                                                                                  

o   Momo01_GEO                                                                                                                                 

Momo01_XTR         

       
Join us at Puppeteer Lounge for educational training Character Rigging Worskhops!

SKIN (FAT) Simulation Webinar with Ehsan Kiani Teaser “Demo” (16-4-2016)

SKIN (FAT) Simulation Webinar with Ehsan Kiani Teaser “Demo” (16-4-2016) from Puppeteer Lounge on Vimeo.

Watch the Demo Teaser of Puppeteer Lounge's Exclusive Webinar Event on SKIN Simulation with guest instructor Ehsan Kiani :)

Special thanks to Puppeteer Lounge's guest instructor Ehsan Kiani for sharing all the tips and trickeries on FAT & SKIN Simulation inside Maya.

Blender Feature Request: Constrain bone extrusion to local axes of previous bone

Blender Feature Request: Constrain bone extrusion to local axes of previous bone from Chris Offner on Vimeo.


#‎Blender‬ Feature Request: Constrain bone extrusion to local axes of previous bone by Puppeteer Lounge student Chris Offner.

"THE GIFT" (created using "MARZA Movie Pipeline for Unity")

 

Very cool. An entire shot created with Unity 3D. 

Last Breath by Yousuf Abbas

Last Breath from Yousuf Abbas on Vimeo.

Love this fun little animation by Yousuf Abbas. Really liked the idea of how the animation is based on an anime fight scene. Nicely done!

Using the anime fight scene as a reference for animation sure is a fun way to experiment and enhance your skills! For those of you doing some body mechanics exercise, go through some japanese anime and manga series, choose a few shots and give it a go :)

Illustrations to 3D Making of

Illustrations to 3D Making of~ from freebird on Vimeo.

Making 3D Model based on 2D Design!

Setting up Multiples on Character Rigs

Here is a quick #rigTips on Setting up the Multiples. 

Multiples are traditional animation gimmicks to give you those wacky cartoon look, more like motion blur these days but 1000 times more cooler if you implement properly in 3D animation. Watch the video below which shows multiples on Eyes (yes multiples can be applied any where):

Now the trickery... Well the trick to creating Multiples is pretty simple! You might be wondering on creating each and every rigs one by one from scratch!! Well, let us keep it simple, the idea is to just select the nodes associated with any limb and Duplicate special with input graph connection (Yes that Duplicate Special button/command is the magic wand :). Works like a charm!!!

To make it even more simplier, easier and convenient without much headache; just duplicate special the main character node (See the image below). When duplicating special, make sure you have "Duplicate input graph" and  "Assign unique name to child nodes" is checked on (Very important, we want all the input output connections well connected and ofcourse with unique name for every nodes.) After a few second, minutes or more, you have multiple copies or clones of the same rig. Now, just some clean-up and organising to do which I will leave it upto you! And ofcourse you will also need to show hide the mesh parts which you can simply achieve by detaching and separting mesh parts for head and limbs, simple stuff, just make sure you don't delete the mesh history; finally some tweaking with the shader for blending transparancy and that's pretty much it. (Check the image below for breakdown :) 

Implementing multiples will slow down the rig as you know we have multiples for every rig, so I think it is wise to create 2 version of rig one featuring multiples and the other the standard one OR you can make some smart connection on the visibility of multiples mesh to show and hide depending on user input to make the rig faster to compute.

Well that's all folks! Easy as a piece of cake. Well go on, add some multiples on your rig, let us bring back those good old tradinal animation back into CG!

Check out this cool site for reference on many trickeries (gimmicks) used in traditional animation: http://animationsmears.tumblr.com/

For more exciting topics on character rigging, feel free to join Puppeteer Lounge training workshops at Puppeteer Lounge! We offer a wide range of training workshops! 

We now offer an exciting new course called Super Toon Character Setup which goes over creating a super cartoony rig featuring multitudes of animation gimmicks.Watch a quick demo here ;)

BTW do check out a quick animation test below with multiples!

FLEX Super Toony Animation Test from Puppeteer Lounge on Vimeo.

Classic Linear vs Dual Quaternion

How often do you use Dual Quaternion Skinning Method?

Notice how Dual Quaternion method preserves the volume (very important). There is also a 3rd option called Blended Weight where you can paint the DQ and CL influence on bind mesh.

The dual quaternion smooth skinning method is designed to eliminate these undesirable deformation effects. While linear smooth skinning allows a mesh to collapse or shrink when a bone twists, dual quaternion skinning helps to preserve volume in the mesh, creating more realistic deformation in those problem areas.

BTW feel free to take a look into these wonderful tech demos on skinning & deformation.

Fight 2D-2014

Fight 2D-2014 from Neeko on Vimeo.

2D fight animation reel by Nicolas Leger.

Jimmy Hulk morph

Jimmy Hulk morph from Jimmy Gordon on Vimeo.

This is cool! Just in time when we are preparing this Hulk Setup Workshop at Puppeteer Lounge! This is some serious Voodoo magic, all of this in less than an hour!

Ted Dance Moves

via GIPHY

Ted show off his dance moves...

Join us for animation training workshops at Puppeteer Lounge :)

Digital Humans: Crossing the Uncanny Valley in Unreal Engine 4 - GDC 2016

Take your time and go through this video! Some clever techniques here for ‪#‎mocap‬ facial animation. Looks like it's time to stick my gopro on a head mount to do some perfomance capture and cross the uncanny valley (hehe)... As for the rig here since it is optimised and needs to be driven real-time in UE4, is fairly based on blendshapes and joints. The details come from the wrinkle maps and shading networks. I like the idea how they are using stereo camera to capture the facial performance in pseudo 3D, this helps in realistic facial animation! And yeah the blood flow gives added realism, but looks like they missed the skin pores and dynamics! Bottom line is 3D facial scans (Blendshapes based on FACS + Multiple combination shapes) + Stereo facial performance capture + Texture Analysis + Dynamic Facial Shading + Realtime Rig Logic system to sync between Maya and UE4 ...

Disney Infinity Combat Animation

Disney Infinity Combat Animation from Jamie Titera on Vimeo.

Very cool!