Project 6 : Character Modeling

Winter 2000

Project 6 : Character Modeling
Date Assigned: Thursday, March 9, 2000
Rigged and Constrained Character: Monday, March 13, 2000
Animation Due: Thursday, March 16, 2000

This assignment will be your introduction to "rigging", or setting up a control structure to make a character easy to animate. In this assignment you will recieve only the geometry for the character(Mack). It is your job to create a skeleton, constraints, and controls for the character so that it is easy for an animator to use.
As you start thinking about your character and how it should move, use the eye for detail that you have been developing to study motion of people in the real world.
Getting started
You all should have watched the character setup demo in class. The tape is also available to watch in LA2. Use this tape as well as the handout you received during the character setup demo as a guide.

What to do
Build the character.
To complete the requirements for this project you must add the following features to the Mack geometry given in the project 6 setup.

Copy the setup file proj6_setup.mb project directory.

Construct a basic skeleton for the character. Think about how you want your character to move, and where the joints should be placed to create realistic humanoid motion.

Apply IK handles to the character. Test and make sure your IK moves your joints as you want them to.

Set proper joint limits on your characters joints.

Add constraints to your character. Here are the spline objects you're used to seeing: spline_objects.mb.

Remember: Build your character as you recieved him in project 5 FIRST, then make any extensions you wish to make. Make sure that the extensions you make are useful, and document them in a README file that you turn in with your maya file.
Create an animation of your choice.
Once you have your character complete and it moves the way you want it to, create an animation using your character. Use this animation to demostrate that your rigging was done properly. Some possible animations to think about could be a jump, a walk cycle, a run cycle, a push, a pull, or any other combination of actions that demostrates your creatures ability. Trying to animate your character is also a good method for determining what adjustments need to be made to easily allow someone else to animate this character.

(Optional) Create your own character.

The key here is coming up with a character that is interesting and expressive. Be creative! Think carefully about how the character moves and what the best way is to control it: what's the "root" of the hierarchy? Does it use deformable or rigid geometry? Think about how this type of character would move, and where you must place the joints to simulate this type of movement.

What we're looking for
The key is creating the skeleton and joints that would easily allow an animator to animate this character in a realistic manner with relative ease. What problems did you have with the Mack in assignment 5? How did you change things to make him easier to manipulate? We will examine the skeleton and IK handles of your character, and will look at how easy the character is for us to move. We will also take into consideration the type of animation you were able to create with this character.

Turn in
Monday, March 13, 8:00am (remember, it's finals week): place the following in your turn-in directory:

The wire file with your fully constrained character in his rest pose.

An .avi file with a turntable (360 degree animation around the character) of your character in his rest position.

Thursday, March 16, 10:00am

An .avi file with your animation.

(optional) A wire file with the character you created from scratch.