Types of Hand Rigs

So, it seems that I am destined to be rigging hands for years to come.  It's been quite a while since first rigged my hand for the spider crawl, which actually turned out pretty fun.

That was one of the first tests I did using that IK/FK rig for the hand.  A simple walk cycle - I can see now how certain fingers slide inappropriately and there could be a lot of refinement.  And I beg your indulgence in this video - a short clip of the hand from the animatic I made for a school project, back in the day.  But a good example of the animation I was doing then.

I'm not even going to go into what I would change - but I would love to revisit this animation.  And I may do so eventually.  It was a fun concept.

However, this is one example of what kind of animations can be produced with a semi-decent IK rig.  A more generalized type of motion, very fluid, not very precise, but more 'movie-like.'

I consider this to be a 4 (on a scale of 1 to 5) for complexity.  I didn't include a way to manipulate individual carpal bones, like you can do with this type of rig.

Hand rig with carpal bone manipulation

Most rigs don't need carpal bone changes, as they actually change very, very little.  I also realized that most rigs aren't using actual bones either, but pretty much all of mine do.  A 'hazard' of being a medical illustrator.

I have done some animations that actually show the changes in carpal bones during tensing and relaxing of specific motions.  However, those were all FK only rigs, as I needed to very specifically place and animate all of the bones (based upon fluoroscopic videos and segmented bones from CT scans from the tensed and relaxed positions).  This was another early rig, and I can think of better ways to do it now, but it served it's purpose at the time.

I just finished another rig, one for an arm, including the hand.  We are testing out a new, innovative type of motion capture (that I can't actually say much about now...) and we needed a basic rig for said testing.

So, I have a FK rig for the shoulder, elbow, wrist, and fingers here.  I used to bind anatomical bones to rigs using the rigid bind method, as they are rigid bodies, but that actually really limits you on later editing.  So, I now bind using the smooth bind, but I limit the influences to 1 and bind to selected joints only.  This helps me during the process of editing the rig as necessary (and makes for very pretty colors).

The hand itself is a fairly simple rig as well.  The thumb has a metacarpal joint, but the fingers do not.  The finger metacarpals are pretty stationary (with some exceptions, but not an appreciable amount for this type of rig).  The fingers and thumb can bend at every joint, and the wrist also has basic movement as well.



I'm not entirely happy with the way the wrist moves, as there is sliding motions involved in true wrist movement, and my rig just has the rotation involved now.  I'm thinking there might be some MEL scripting that I can incorporate to automatically slide the joint as it rotates, but I haven't worked it out yet.  I'm letting it percolate in the back of my head right now.

As you can see here, the joints were improperly rotated at first.  This caused the fingers to deviate improperly when formed into a basic fist (as well as other movements).

I generally use the finger curl/fist movement to initially test a rig as it shows big problems right away without a lot of testing needed.

I popped back into the component editing and straightened out my joints further.

And now you can see that the fist is correct.  This is the extent of this rig, as it is only being used to test another system.









I've certainly learned a great deal since that initial hand animation.  I use hand rigs quite often at Stanford, mostly just to position different types of anatomy, especially the bony structures.  I don't use the IK-FK method often, as I usually need to position bones quick and dirty like.

My next greatest challenge (probably a 12 on the scale) is to make a rig that can handle all of the soft tissue elements (muscles, ligaments, arteries, and nerves) as well as the bones.  That's... going to take some thinking.

Atlantis

Well, it's been quite a while. I'll start catching up on what I've been doing this past month over the next couple of weeks or so. One of the things I've been working on is an update to the submersible scene that I've posted here before. I've updated some texturing, played with a few new camera angles, and put in some more dramatic lighting. Obviously, I'm not finished with it yet. Any comments or suggestions that you have, I would love to hear.

Just to re-iterate. The sub was originally built in 3Ds Max 2008 as part of a challenge I was unable to complete. I took it into Maya this semester to spiffy it up and add it into an animation. The scenes are rendered with Maya software when I could get away with it, Mental Ray for the first two scenes. Personally, I think it shows and I can't wait to actually have the time to let my computer render it out.




This was all keyed by hand rather than using any sort of dynamics system. I may change that in order to get a little bit more natural movement in the beginning. Animating the chain holding the sub up is proving to be a pain. I hope I can rig a hair system that will flow a bit better. I've done it before, but it's been a few years. I also need to add more animation and character to the last scene where we are following the sub. Not to mention that is an awfully barren sea floor, and those ruins are kinda pathetic. I have plans to continue to build that environment up so it is much richer.

I'll continue posting more on the animation front after I move across the country. Egads.

Volcano

As promised, a volcano. Also done for a class tutorial project in Maya. I slapped a water-like plane and a sky sphere into the scene to give it a slightly more natural look. I also did not include sparks coming out of the volcano. Sparks are rendered with Maya Hardware, seeing as they are streaks, not sprites or clouds.

So, there is a sprite volume emitter spewing smoke (way too fast, by the way, but I didn't feel like tweaking the uniform field on it any longer). The volcano was made live, a curve drawn on the surface, and then it was made into a flow emitter with blobbies. Finally, there is a second volume emitter with cloud particles for the steam.

I found that working with particle systems is a heck of a lot of tweaking and fiddling, but it can be fun. Especially if you have a book nearby that you can read while it is rendering.

So, a volcano, in the middle of the ocean with nothing else around, on a bright sunny day.... 3D, maybe? Naw...

"Ring of Fire"

So... wow, school sure is busy. In any case, here is a quick tutorial that I worked on for one of my classes. It's a semi-homage to my program, Biomedical Visualization - or BVIS for short, in case you can't tell. I didn't want to just have an animating circle, which is what the tutorial called for. And when I say short, I mean it took me about 20 minutes, and that was only because I had to retrace part of my steps for the texturing.

This was just a quick "emit from curve" with a scale animation on it. The fire texture was yanked from a procedural texture from Maya. I did have some issues with density, but I just ended up copying the sequence in After Effects rather than try to render it out to tweak it.

There was a volcano tutorial that was a pair with this one, but I am having severe issues with the curve actually adhering to a live surface. It's driving me nuts, really. So, no volcano.

Now, I'm off to do something (hopefully) productive and related to the multitude of projects that are looming.

Creeping Hand

Well, for my Maya class, I have a creeping (or is that creepy?) hand. It is moving veeery slowly across the floor, so that will have to change. I have been given the suggestions of "more wrist movement, put the thumb down for weight balance, have the wrist drag, do more of a quadruped movement with pairs of legs" etc. The low position of the carpal bones also lends itself to that creeping motion, like it is trying to hide. Having them in a more 'up' position may give a more aggressive or alert feel.

I was going for a very spider-like movement with this test. I've changed the rig multiple times since I first posted the summary of it. I also just completely deleted the rig that went with this movement and started over again. I did not have a bone in the right place to allow for a mid-carpal movement to happen. And I'm thinking of some sort of 'reverse wrist' like rig to have the wrist inherit movements from the fingers as well. I haven't decided that yet... I'm also thinking of having it drag something. A watch and a purse were two suggestions, but that really doesn't fit with the animation that I am going for. So, maybe a tag, like an archeological identification tag or something similar. Hmm...

Hand Movement Test

Virus Animatic

My fellow classmates and I (there are six of us in this particular ensemble) are undergoing what teachers like to call a 'group project' and students usually affectionately refer to as 'collective procrastination' (among other less savory terms). In any case, this project involves working up an animation for a mock client. We came up with a topic, a client, a budget, and a script to start out with. The fact that the script was finished without coming to blows was amazing to watch.

Now, this paints a not-so-nice picture of our group, which isn't true at all. We all genuinely like each other and enjoy our fellow classmates' opinions. It also appears that we have very wide stubborn steaks. It was an amusing, very polite and amicable, absolute refusal to back down or admit defeat. However, after hours of research and discussion, a script was born (and revised and studied and rewritten and mostly finalized). Naturally the storyboards stemmed from there.

Another thing that has tripped us up to some extent is the unrealistic-ness of the situation that our group finds itself. Six freelancers would not band together to work for four months on a 2 and a half minute animation for an educational institution. You would be lucky to get two animators together, and we won't be touching the actual time frame. So, to start with, there is quite the interesting set-up.

However, as mentioned before, we are stubborn and we persevere. Thus, here is our animatic from said project. It's like a baby animation that was born slightly deformed and is missing some fingers. And maybe an ear.

Red Stick Animation Festival

Well, I never thought I would open up an email from highend3D to see my old home town gracing the pages of their newsletter. However, that day has come! It's kinda cool.

In any case, the Red Stick International Animation Festival has been going on in Baton Rouge since I was a.... something or other in undergrad. Anyway, it was first started in 2005 as a little smallish thing that I thought looked kinda neat. It was hosted on campus then, but it was quite fun.

"The [Festival] is an exciting community event that converges the worlds of technology, art, entertainment, and exploration."

Now, the Festival has gone on to bigger and better things, make no mistake. Events are being held at the Shaw Center for the Arts, the Manship Theatre, LSU Museum of Art, the Old State Capitol, and The Art and Science Museum Planetarium. Much grander than the Union theatre that I remember. The Shaw Center is a beautiful building in downtown Baton Rouge.

The international aspect is very cool, and winners of the Festival come from all countries. And larger companies also scout out the competition. Such as the American Animation Market, and a "Pitch! Contest" that allows animators to showcase their work from start to finish to show to industry professionals.

It's a great event, and I'm proud of my hometown for sponsering it. Which is a strange feeling, let me tell you...

Mudbox Tutorials

Mudbox Tutorials:
Wayne Robson (i.e. DarthWayne)

Wayne has been working in both Zbrush and now Mudbox for a very long time. His tutorials are online and free, and utterly fantastic. I really cannot teach Mudbox nearly to the level that he can, so head over to these sites to check them out. The two 'series' are meant to work in conjunction with one another.

Mudbox "From the Ground Up" series:









Mudbox "Quickstart" series:

Example: "This is a real time viewport capture of my latest work inprogress 'Insectoid'. He only stands at 4 million polys so far."

Travis Vermilye

Travis Vermilye is a talented medical illustrator with a wonderful animation ability.

Bio: He holds a Master of Fine Arts in Medical and Biological Illustration from the University of Michigan and is experienced in multiple areas ranging from 2D traditional illustration to 3D animation and graphics to physical modeling and sculpture. In addition, he has worked with Medical Modeling LLC in Golden Colorado creating company websites, illustrations and photography as well as research and development of new medical products and devices. He has been involved in the creation of anatomical models, illustrations and animations derived from medical image data for the surgical planning of more than 20 cases of conjoined twins. His work has been shown on the Oprah Winfrey Show, Dateline NBC and Discovery Health as well as international magazines, e-zines and publications. He is a Professional Member of The The Association of Medical Illustrators. He is also involved with local museums such as The Denver Museum of Nature and Science via donated work and illustration.


Demo Reel: click here for higher quality



Image Examples:


website

Inner Life of a Cell

Okay, here is a set of videos that we can all live to shoot for. Biovisions with Harvard finished this lovely rendition of the Inner Life of a Cell. I love the depth of space accomplished within this video. Also, it's interesting as to when a fade-to-black, a cross-fade, or a zoom is used during the video. Some of the choices I don't necessarily agree with, but how the shots are divided vs. what type of fade used can be intriguing. The lighting used really highlights the area that is in focus, whether by spot-lighting, back-lighting, or a combination of depth of field and a lighting technique.

The long video has a great golgi apparatus - very fluid and floaty. It also has an interesting take on the fusion of the vesicle to cell membrane. Rather than actually showing the fusion, it has a shape change that alludes to the fact that something joined. At one point, vesicles are budding off of a surface as well, but far in the background. What can be really nice, is that something new catches your eye almost every time it is viewed.

It was created in LightWave 3D and Adobe After Effects.

"The idea with this was to make something different, and there was definitely an effort to make it as cinematic as we could.

In some instances, that meant sacrificing literal accuracy for visual effect. “What we did in some cases, with the full support of the Harvard team, was subtly change the way things work,” Liebler says. “The reality is that all that stuff that’s going on in each cell is so tightly packed together that if we were to put every detail into every shot, you wouldn’t be able to see the forest for the trees or know what you were even looking at. One of the most common things we did, then, was to strip it apart and add space where there isn’t really that much space.”

And a shorter, "demo reel," version. (higher quality option)




High Res version with a good article.

Submersible Anamatic

Okay, this is the much anticipated (if anyone - other than Nia - is actually reading this) submersible anamatic. Which translates into "really rough animation." An anamatic is a way to get the basic movements of your story down. So, I knew I needed the crane to lift the sub, for it to move through the water, and then the scene on the floor of the ocean. Some of the movements aren't quite right (such as the fish, some of the crane movements, etc.), but the intent is there.

At this phase, your client can look at what you are producing and really start to cut or add scenes. Hopefully not add, really. It's better to be working from multiple shots and cutting down to what you want. A major difference between movie-making and animation is the editing process. Movies will shoot more than they need and then par it down after it is all said and done. Animation will try and nail down their scenes in the storyboard phase, if not the anamatic phase. Time is most certainly money in animations, usually by the second. So, you really only want to produce your final product.

Movements should be critiqued (i.e. those fish are stilted, try to work in more variety of motion paths; that crane shouldn't jerk like that, it needs a greater feeling of weight). At this point, something that was just in your head is now in a format that other people can give an opinion to. And opinions should be sought after. So, tell me what you think! (and let me know I'm not just talking to myself, cause I do that quite a bit)

First project storyboard

So, this is a really basic storyboard for the first assignment, using the concept of the submarine from last spring. I was really interested in finishing up the "Atlantis" theme, so I extrapolated from there. This story board is, as I said, pretty rough.













So, the sub starts out on ship board. It's lifted off, swung over the side of the ship, then lowered into the water. Cut to it descending with fish and the water getting darker. Finally, it crosses over the landscape to reveal the other submersibles and Atlantis. Animatic coming soon.