Thursday, March 12, 2009
as I play around with different 3D rigs in maya I think to myself how I'm going to plan out my end of year narrative. I've decided to go with moom, he just looks right for my idea. I'm sure alot of hardcore animatiors will argue that it doesn't matter what the rig looks like so long as the animation is good, but I've been thinking and its not just an animation. It's a short story. And since my story has a fair bit of slap-stick humour involved I thought it would be appropriate to use a cartoony looking character.
Imagine if you will, a game of charades that goes out of control. you draw a card, it tells you to act out a scene, but as you begin to express to the others what your trying to act out, it becomes an invisable reality. You lose control of the situation but it most certainly puts the message across. whether that message is juggling chain-saws, stepping in the ring with a heavy weight boxer, or even tap-dancing through a mine field. But just like any looney-tunes-esque short cartoon, the characters will be a-ok by the end of the film no matter how many times they blow up.
but the story is still a work in progress.
9 comments:
Research Mitch! Or in other words produces some animation with the rig before you dicide.
I agree that Moom looks great, but he is prone to a bit of gimbal lock through the body when he turns 90 degrees in the body and some student last year had troubles with his legs when rendering. Just in the last month there have been some interesting new rigs appearing on the scene, I'll pop back later when I track em down so you have more to consider.
http://www.highend3d.com/maya/downloads/character_rigs/Blake-5644.html
http://sites.google.com/site/normanrig/
Have a look at these.
I know its tempting to do otherwise, but its functionality that has to take priority over looks. On your showreel you arn't going to get the credit for how any of these rigs look, it will be how they move that counts. :)
thanx Ian, I especially like Blake. I've been looking for a rig that can curve limbs instead of just bending them, he will be fun to play around with
Hey Mitch
I had problems animating with MooM as a previous version but there is a newer version now.
I think aesthetically you have a point about choosing a rig that outwardly, by appearance, indicates to the viewer, the style of animation you would like to present.
But you don't want to spend weeks trying to fix arcs where MooM fails to go. It's a great learning experience but the frustration is high, especially if you could have been powering along animating with a more responsive character rig.
I think researching, test driving, especially now the Norman rig has been re-released and with the Blake rig, you have more options.
As Ian points out get a good look at the mechanical parts of the rigs, the controllers. Put them through a 100 frame tests of challenging physical animation and see which ones respond best to your driving.
If you stick with MooM you may be driving a Lada when you shoulda coulda test driven a Ferrari, or a 1956 Holden FE (now there is joy).
very true frank. I take alot of things for granted. The 'lada' is just one of those.
Lada
... and respect the ladies.
http://www.highend3d.com/maya/downloads/character_rigs/Azary-5524.html
Mitch I'd advise against using the Azary rig in any animation that you may want to put on your showreel. The rig has a dubious reputation in the wider animation industry, especially where ex-AnimationMentor students may be the recruiters. It is seen as a rip off of the AM Bishop rig.
Certainly consider giving it a test drive as another free rig and getting experience with its controllers. But I'd advise against using it for any planned showreel pieces at this time.
but.... its soooo pretty :(...
Its really quite odd how we're told from day dot the unimportance of visual style and that at the end of the day we're all about movement, but when someone copies the style of an animation mentor rig suddenly they, and anyone else using the rig are frowned upon. Is there some sort of unwritten law of respect... I was going to play around with an official "copy" of a simpler animation mentor rig, and then I read some comments about people saying don't dare use it like the rig is cursed to doom you as an unemployed animator.
I can understand a pixar or dreamworks rig from a motion picture, but a training rig?... It must be a magical self animating rig if you need to pay something like $40,000 just to use the damn thing.
but for the sake of animation superstition, I'll only ever use free public rigs... Maybe if 5 years down the track, if I still haven't got a job and I'm cold, bitter, unshaven, and hopeless, I'll lock myself away in my room, be an animation pirate and see what its like to use $40,000 worth of animation rig.
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