Puppet Master

#1

Hi all,

I have just recently watched Joe Cosmans mini-tutorials on Puppet Master. This is a very interesting feature and I can see a lot of uses for it. Unfortunately, Joe ended his tutorial just when I understod everything and wanted to see it used by a pro. He shows the rigging part of a Puppet Master-Model just in a timelapse video - sadly little real world animation stuff.

So I´d like to ask you guys (and gals) if you have used Puppet Master, what parts of your projects you have animated with it, and how it made your project easier. Examples would be nice to see…

From what I have seen so far I think Puppet Master could be used for a facial animation setup àla Face Robot; but I am still a newbie in M:S, so what do the experts think of this idea?

And Joe if you read this, thank you for your great tutorials. I have them all and I must say without them I would have been lost starting Messiah. Do you have any new tuitorials in the making, right now? I would be grateful for an “Animation 2”-CD on using the more advanced (or less used) animation tools, to make life easier.

Thanks in advance for your feedback

LX

#2

One thing I noticed about puppet master which might help you if you’re starting to work with it is that it requires a very clean model. If you discover while using it that your model seems to be shooting off in all directions (you’ll know what I mean if it happens), after looking at the more obvious potential problems first, check out the positioning of the vertices. Vertices that are too close to each other or overlapped can cause this problem. I know this isn’t answering your question, but it might save you some frustration if you get into it further.

Alex

#3

Been using PuppetMaster for ages.
Some rules :

  • No duplicate points occupying the same space. (Merge)
  • No orphan points
  • A point must belong ONLY to one section
  • Dont leave points behind when cutting sections.
  • All sections must compose the Anchor object EXACTLY without any change. In modeler, dont move points of sections

Good luck

#4

Thanks for your feedback.

Do you have some finished examples (animation) with a short info where you used the Puppet Master? I´d just like to see some examples to get my imagination going on how to ease complex facial animation by using Puppet Master.

LX

#5

Its a very difficult subject cause the recipe changes per application.
Generally speaking, your geometry plays the key role.
You have to analyze the anatomy of your character, how skin behaves simulating the muscles underneath. The space is very tiny to expand the topic in detail.
I suggest you begin with easy tests and make conclusions and then move on with more complex stuff.

Good luck

#6

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