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jinho326
03-29-2006, 12:11 AM
Hello everyone!

I've sort of had this question for a while and I guess I'll finally ask it. Could those of you here who work for a gaming studio tell us the pipeline that you go through to create your character? Now what I mean by this isnt like, oh first you think of the character, draw sketches, model, rig, animate, etc...like could you please give a more in depth glimpse of what goes on?

For instance do you write expressions while modeling- or does that come during the whole rigging process, or is there no real set boundaries between modeling, rigging, and animating? When do you do the UV mapping- while you're modeling, or only after everything about the mesh has been set in stone? (Do you see what I'm getting at?)

Now the reason why I'm asking this is to get a better idea of the process that each artist might take- I have yet to bring a character to life and one of the reasons is that I'm somewhat overwhelmed by all that XSI has to offer. Secondly, in a post I put up a long time ago I asked about the non-linear abilities of XSI and still I have yet to be able to take advantage of this and would like to hear the input of the community. While I'm only using Mod Tools at the moment, I am looking into upgrading to the educational license, but I have hesitated because I still don't know so many things. PLEASE TEACH ME!! (Also I hope that this thread gives us all a good idea of how each other works). Thanks a lot guys, I'm really looking forward to hearing what has to be said.
dwigfor
03-29-2006, 08:55 AM
If you do qualify for the educational version, I'd HIGHLY recommend you buy it! It could be the best $300 you'll have ever spent. That's a $6700 discount, and its value to you will only go up!


If you do buy it, have a look at rigid body dynamics - they're quite fun.
jinho326
03-29-2006, 02:35 PM
dwigfor, thanks for the recommendation...however I hope I dont sound rude, but I believe that that was getting a bit off topic, but I definately will look into purchasing the academic version.

Does no one have anything to say about character creation? Or are all the artists still asleep/at work? I really would like to hear what people have to say about this topic! Thanks.
RenisanceX
03-29-2006, 03:02 PM
Can't hit all but i'll try

First off

non-linear abilities of XSI..the main reason why i love xsi is becuase of this. Being ble to move back and forth and different stages easily. I cam from working with lightwave and maya to xsi and boy at first i was annoyed but the abilty to move back and forth in many aspects with out getting in to referencing is crazy imo.Only app i would say that has the same abilty is max .


Generally creation starts at concepts to modeling then a basic rig.. From there it becomes blurry up until rendering and then compositng then sound

I say blurry because some people start animating with box models rather than the final model once they have a basic rig and proportion of their character. They then update the model using referencing.


essions usually left to td. The modeler just does the model and blendshapes etc.
The t.d, if nice enough usually works with animator on what kind of controls he likes e.g fk or ik arms/legs...sliders or iconic controls etc comes down to the company depends on company

But thats for larger pipe when its you lol it can be very free :)

go here pics are better than words

http://www.cg-soup.com/archives/2005/04/put_this_in_you_1.html
Felipe
03-29-2006, 03:44 PM
I believe you will find this useful:

http://www.softimage.com/about_us/pdf/getting_into_character.pdf
RenisanceX
03-29-2006, 04:49 PM
felipe good stuff thanx
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