Rig a retro-future film monster in 7 steps

01. Jaw rigging
I look at fish skeletal structure: often their jaws have multiple points of rotation as well as translation. Laying out locators and joints
Before I lay down a single joint, I lay down loads of locators. With all these questions answered, and with Miguel’s model completed and ready to be taken further, I can start the process of rigging. I need to know how it moves, what type of animation is expected, and whether it will move in a realistic or cartoon-like, exaggerated fashion. Here I’m going to show you how to rig a model for animation. Not only does a rigger need to know how to place joints and paint weights, but also knowing a scripting language such as Python or Mel can be really beneficial. Now the animator can animate related parts of the creature. These attributes are connected to Blendshapes via set driven keys. Rigger, creature technical director, or puppeteer, whatever the name or tag for the role, it’s all the same – we make the models ready for their performances on screen. The last one also has an open jaw specific Blendshape to help create wrinkles and nice fleshy movement. Our film The Ningyo is a 1909 period film about Cryptozoology and the search for mythological creatures. 03. During the rigging stage it’s my   chance to have an input into our movie: I mainly focus on rigging, modelling, cloth/hair, and   rigid dynamics. This constant communication is extremely important for a rigger and helps for a smoother performance. When all the controls are created, I add attributes to certain controls, like the jaw controller, to activate certain Blendshapes associated with the mouth. Painting weights
Setting rotation keyframes on joints and playing it while I paint weights is an easy way to interactively see how the skinning is affecting the model. 07. 06. Once all the locators are in place, I snap joints to the locators and move on to other parts of the creature. Words: Dave Lo
Dave Lo is a character TD who has worked for Disney Animation, Digital Domain, ILM, Sony Imageworks, and Rhythm Hues. This article originally appeared in   3D World   issue 184. I usually start from the base of a joint chain down to the end joint. Facial rigging
I create Control Curves to help guide the animator to activate certain shapes. Controls, blendshapes set driven keys
Once all the joints were in place I created the controls using a script I wrote that would place them in the correct location and name them correctly. Skinning a creature
With all the new innovations in painting weights included in Maya and third-party plug-ins, skinning a   creature has become less intimidating. Playing keyframes while painting weights is a good trick to learn. Make sure that you delete the keys and set the joints back to the proper bind   position. Before I start to rig The Ningyo, I need to know some information about the creature. As you can see in the image, the first is a neutral pose, the second a pure rotation, and the final image is a combination of rotation and translation. The project has been set-up by VFX veterans Miguel Ortega and Tran Ma, who left roles at some of   the industry’s biggest studios to make their first independent film. These locators are generated with a script I wrote and will be created in the centre of my selection. I lock and hide unnecessary channel attributes to prevent distraction or potential issues with extra curves.