Is rigging/animation an essential quality in a 3D game modeller?

[IkerCLoN]

I don't have a lot of experience as other have, but I've found in my career the same percentage (more or less) of modelers and animators both with rigging skills. But they use to have a lack of 'deep' knowledge about it (as I can model an animate but I'm not as skilled at it as a modeller or animator are), and they know how to do the things in a very general approach. On the other hand, this is quite obvious! :)

So after this meaningless words, I think that it's better for you if you specialize yourself in one field, and trying to know at least some general stuff from the other disciplines, so you have a more general point of view when doing your part of the process.

Good luck, dude!

[acamporota]

hey man i belive like a modeller you should be able to rig a little bit..
nothing too complex but see how the mesh deform with the bone rotation..
but if you work in a really little company you also need to know a little bit animation..
see ya

[LordEdwin]

Thanks for the responses - I do have some rigging and animation knowledge and practice, but as said, in a very general sense. I've made walk cycles and gone through the 'pain' of rigging envelopes and adjusting for bad twists and knots. That said, I would certainly rather concentrate on creating models and textures for others to animate.

[IkerCLoN]

So I think there is a need here to distinguish between 'rigging' and 'skinning'. For the process of weighting the vertices to a mesh, you just need to put some bones, create a hierarchy between them and rotate to see how the mesh behaves while skinning.

IMHO a modeller does not have to deal with controllers, math or scripting ( = rigging). Animators shouldn't try that... it could melt their brain, hahahaha (just kidding)! The main point is that if you know a little of how the skinning process is, or how the character is going to be animated, as modeller you can anticipate the problems before they come :)

[edwardG]

I would say this much:

It never hurts to know as much as you can about the 3D Process. Knowing how to rig helps you as a modeler because you will know first hand what topology does & doesn't deform correctly. Just because you can model something that looks good in 3D doesn't mean you're a great 3D modeler.

Having said that, if you want to be a modeler than it is good to concentrate on modeling and constantly practice and push yourself in that direction. It's much better to be outstanding in one area than average in every area. Most well-established companies use the production pipeline, and they like to find the most talented people to fit a certain role for their production to keep it moving quickly and smoothly.

Just some food for thought.

[LordEdwin]

Sounds like excellent advice. Thank you all.

[Leionaaad]

I won't say anything new, if I say you should focus on one thing. Sooner or later you will learn the other stuff as well, but you have to start somewhere. Nobody will ask you to rig, if you want to be a modeler, despite the fact game studios want jack of all trades. They will find somebody to do that.
I noticed the trend is to ask a lot from somebody ho wants to be a character TD. the bar is raised. nowadays you have to show scripted rigging processes and a lot of such. placing two joints, skinning and adding a few ik's really is not a big deal. rigging goes way beyond that.

[eek]

I would personally like to see modellers, have good knowledge of skinning, and bone placement. Its helps both departments extremely well - it not only benefits you personally because you'd be able to skin you models with correct bone placements, but will also encourage you to think in terms of articulation and the final result of your part of the process - not only thinking it as a static object. Your'l gain deeper understanding of topology, edge looping & deformation. Your'll be faster and more effiecent when your asset goes to the next department namely rigging, and your'll get less problems with work being bounced back from other departments in the chain.

Essentially, learn to understand modelling as a link in the chain of the development process; and not an isolated asset. For example a rigger builds the rig for the animator - likewise the modeller should model the mesh for the rigger. Understanding and gaining strong knowledge of your dependencies is crucial.

cheers,

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