solutions for toony rigs

[noktUp]

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=88&t=447547

Hey there,
Maintaining volume over an extreme is much simpler than you think. It doesn’t have to be precise, just believable enough to work.



Lattices work well for most things, but can be heavy to calculate. If you break up the deformation across 2 or more deformers, letting each deformer calculate what its best at, you can potentially keep the rig very fast.



For instance if you let skin deformers do the majority of the deformation (because skin is the fastest of the deformers), and let blend shapes control JUST the volume you can seemingly have consistent volume over extremes, with very little tax on the CPU.



The rig in the above link uses that technique to keep the deformation fast and light. Plus, using Blends, also give the rigger a more artist friendly method of implying a rigid underlying structure, and makes the S+S look more natural.


hope it helps,
andy

[seema]

Hi Andy,
Thanks for the info. And yes I had seen your rig ealier! Its really a nice rig :-)

BlendShapes are good solutions, yes I agree. But they are predefined and thus limiting.So it works well on stretch and squash but not when the character bends extreme,and/or when the thighs are spread wide apart (especailly on fat characters) etc. For the thigh region, Psds may work pretty well but I am looking for a real time solution even if it is expensive , its ok. Something like the fat systems developed for "Happy Feet" (I read in the article) lets say. Something the animators need not worry keying. No matter how much extreme they wanna pose it should not tear the rig or lose volume.

Thanks

[darkjedi1929]

Comet's Muscle Deformer....enuf said. :)

[noktUp]

seema,
hey there. Glad you like the rig. Yea I agree sometime the simplest method isnt the best. If ya ever get it working the way ya want I'd love to see it. It seems like the more I try to learn the more I'm stuck in basics land. I have a hard time trying to find past the default features that come with any software.

Just brain storming, but..

what about a network of underlying muscle objects that have both a jiggle deformer and a blendshape on it to control volume. The jiggle gets you that nice fatty movement, while the blend shape gives you that nice volume effect. If ya connect the blend shape up with and SDK, and make the SDK curve post infinity with offset, the blend wont stop at 1 or 0. It will continuously apply that effect, ever increasing, and decreasing. Then you could just connect the effects as an influence object, or something.

The best part about blends is that you can create inbetween shapes for the object to hit, so you can create some very complex deformations.

anyhoo, hope it helps, though, sounds like the above mentioned pluging would work just as well, if not better.
cheers,
andy

[seema]

Andy,
Thanks.
The method sounds good . It will look really sweet, but again its blendshapes, so its limiting right. I am sure blndShape works for most part without problems. But wat if we cud have an underlying layer that not only helps maintain volume but also smoothens the skin ontop in areas which cruch up due to some extreme poses. So the animators get a perfect silluette.
I have no real idea on how to acheive it but I am sure it can be done. Like an elastic body underneath that deforms the skin real smooth!

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