Amy Animation Rigging Tech Successful
Added 2016-01-28 13:18:52 +0000 UTCOKay... I just ran a test with the new rigging tech I had in my head. I finally got to see how it work work. And I LOVE it!
Extremely geeky details to follow. Skip the rest of the message unless you have an interest in 3D character rigging stuff:
In previous animations.. Prior to Maggie, as she is a whole different approach.. But like Yui Remastered.. I modeled a lower-polygon "cage" model. This cage model deformed the main model. The one that renders and you see.
The limitation I observed with this method when making characters with extremely thick limbs/bodies is cross-talk. The upper arm is right next to the lats (back muscles). And so when the character lowers her arm, the triceps push into the lats. But since they started so close to each-other, the cage geometry of the lats will be pushing against the arm, and vice-versa. So you get concave dents that happen as the arm lowers.
This is where Amy is superior: I am using separate cage models for major sections of the body. The lats and the arms are no longer a single contiguous model. The final geometry of Amy has weight maps that tell the major areas to only accept deformation from it's corresponding cage section. Now when the arm lowers, the tricep retains it's bulgy shape. And when the clavicles are pushed forward, the pectorals do not have an invisible force field pressing them apart when they should press up against each-other.
In a way this rigging method is the best of both worlds. It can more definition because the skin is not simmed. And it has a similar "feel" to the skin-sim method. There are some drawbacks because it's not simmed skin, but over-all the positives seem to be out-weighing the negatives.. Especially when it comes to how long it took to put it all together.
So anyway.. I do need a wee bit more time to perform some fine-tuning on the rig. If all goes well, this time tomorrow I will be ready to record the mocap and move on to animation.
Thanks all!
