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Joel Mongeon|Rigging Presentation

Joel Mongeon|Rigging Presentation 

This is a presentation I gave at Microsoft Studios concerning my experiences as a character rigger both before and after joining Microsoft. It describes the unique challenges faced on a publishing team with several offsite rigging projects and how I overcame them.

Evolution of a robust rigging toolset

Creating better characters faster

Topics:

• My background and experience with rigging
• Automatic solutions vs. manual rigging
• How to get the best of both worlds
• Projects that prompted my new toolset
• Looking forward

Philosophy on Character Art:

A well-designed and implemented rig can have as much impact as a great sculpt or a beautiful concept drawing.

Everything is Interconnected:

• Design
• Anatomy
• Kinesiology
• Topology
• Deformation
• Sculpture

Making a Rig into a Character:

• Gather input from Art Directors, Concept Artists and Animators
• Design the rig for acting and emotion, not just motion
• Test!

Must easily hit the characteristic poses of the design for the shot, cut scene, or game animation

Good Character rigs:

• Are based on real life anatomy
• Are designed to emote
• Have layers of control
• Are fast
• Are FUN!

Fun???

A fun rig is:

• Inspiring
• Encouraging of experimentation
• Easy to use

Previous experience:

rigger on commercials and television series

Created rigs by hand

• Customized to shot/job
• Takes long time
• Prone to user error
• Requires a very experienced rigger
• Inconsistent for animators

Scripted automatic rigs

• Very fast to create
• Typically limited to one type of character
• Eliminates user error
• Anyone can use it
• Consistent

Microsoft Games Studios (MGS) Projects:

Questions:

• How do I help a studio choose between a manual or off-the-shelf rigging pipeline?
• How do I deal with the constraints of a short production deadline?
• How can I lend my experience to an off-site staff?

Case Study: "Animals" Rigs

Problems with one of our partner's quadruped rigs:

• Their first foreleg attempt:
  Can't create a complete gesture from a single control

• Their second foreleg attempt:
  Used biped, which is not built for animal locomotion

• Their face rig:
  No rig heirarchy and no pose library

"Animals" Research:

Anatomy of a quadruped

• Scapula slides over ribs
• Walks on Toes
• No clavicles
• Forearms twist
• Flexible body
• Can walk in crouch

"Animals" Solutions:

Write scripts to rig quadruped components:

• Proper animal leg set up:
  Gesture is complete from scapula to toes

• Fun!
  Acts like a cat with few controls, encouraging play and experimentation

• Layered facial controls:
  Elastic influences allow for natural stretching and motion

"Animals" Take-away:

• Needed the advantages of a manual rig because biped was not built to handle this specific situation
• I do not have enough time and resources to rig and support characters for multiple projects at the same time

I have to create a rigging toolset!

Case Study: "Alan Wake" Rigs

Dog Rig

• Reuse a lot of the "Animals" rig scripts

Raven Rig

• Not a quadruped rig, still reused some scripts

"Alan Wake" Take-aways:

• Anatomy between a dog and cat is similar and could have used a similar rig
• Anatomy between a raven and a dog is dissimilar, but I still reused some scripts from Animals

My toolset should be modular!

Toolset:

Modular
Customizable
Flexible enough to be manual or automatic

Breakdown:

• One maxscript that contains all functions used to rig a character
• One macroscript that contains a rigging UI and macro recorder

Usage:

To generate a rig macro:

• Using the provided UI, create rig components manually
• As you use the UI, macro commands are created in the UI macro window that can be edited
• Save the rig macro for future use
  
  In this example, I create a simple finger rig, recording as it is created.
  Then, I duplicate the recorded macro for the other fingers of the same hand.
  I am then able to duplicate and mirror the entire hand to the opposite side.

To create a new rig from an existing macro:

• Load it
• Run it!
  
  In this example, I load a rig template and a rig macro.
  I run the macro, which creates the character rig.
  I can then undo the rig creation and edit the template to fit a new character.
  The rig macro rebuilds the rig to the new proportions.
  At the very end, I show a dog rig example using the same toolset.

Advantages:

• Custom rig macros for a specific job/studio can be reused, edited or built upon later
• New rig components can be easily created through the macro recorder, no scripting required
• Rig templates can also be created, recorded and saved using this toolset
• Avoids reliance on external plugins or specific software versions
• Easily used by riggers of any skill level
• Allows for quick iteration and experimentation

Summary:
How do I help a studio choose between a manual or automatic rigging pipeline?

• Why choose? One toolset can support both pipelines.

How do I deal with the constraints of a short production deadline?

• I can easily and quickly combine existing rig components into a new customized rig

How can I lend my experience to an off-site staff?

• I can provide rig macros that they can apply to their cast of characters without my further involvement

Future updates:

• More rig template and rig macro files
• Facial rig functions available through the UI
• Documentation and videos

 

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