CHARACTER RIGGING IN SPINE

Hello Patreon Supporters. My name is Archie William Mike Harvey, and I’m the lead animator for project LOKR. Today I’ll go over the full process of making of character rig for this game using Photoshop and Spine.

PHOTOSHOP SET-UP

Soon after getting the PSD (Photoshop Document) from Kuja, the first thing I do is check every layer for any errors or oversights. Since all the visible layers will be exported as a separate PNG file for use in Spine, it is crucial to make sure that the images are usable with animation in mind. If there are any issues, I report them to Kuja so that he can make the corrections. Once everything is good to go, I set up the PSD names, folders, and layers in such a way that when I run the Photoshop to Spine script it will create a directory to pull the images from and a json file that holds the positional data of those images.

SPINE SET-UP

With the image directory and json file in place, I import them into Spine and begin the set-up process there. I start by creating a skeleton and the constraints that will either influence or prohibit the bone movements. Once that is done, I create mesh vertices for each image and weight them to the bone(s) that will affect their movement. This allows me to move the bone rather than the image or its vertices. With these steps done, I can create a skin placeholder for the images, bones, and constraints. Since there are 5 angles the character will be animated from (and quite a few customization options for each character), separating parts of the rig into skins makes managing them all much easier. When all of this is done the rig is complete and I begin testing its mobility to check for any errors or oversights.

ANIMATION

I begin animations when the rig is complete. Most of the basic video game animations (like idle, walks, runs, and jumps) can be made from a single pose, but more often than not some specific animations might need additional images, bones, or constraints. These new images, bones, and constraints are often created to get the desired look. This is also true for add-ons or highly customizable features. When the animations are complete, I export them for Unity and let Gizmo take it from there.

THE BENEFIT

Making a character rig is a lot of hard work. Each character in LOKR consist of 5 angles, over 500 images (not including any customization), and a high level of detail. So what is the benefit? By using Spine we are able to reuse assets and animations whenever possible. Any characters that share the same build can use the same animations with little to no added changes (most would call it a palette swap). Since each character has lots of intricate parts, the amount of time and effort saved starts to add up when you have a fully functional character rig to work with.

That's all for today!