Andy took on the task of rigging this amazing character. His contributions and efforts have simply been astounding. He has spent countless hours building this rig and trouble-shooting it. Without Andy, this character would not be what it is. Here is what Andy had to say:

Andy: Hey guys,
My role in the project was the last one in the pipeline. It can also be the most stressful. Trust me, when you work with a super talented crew, you really have to push your self and hit the ground running. The sketches were awesome, and the final model was killer, so the pressure was on. Though rigging is very complex, it can be succinctly broken down into a few processes.

Thinking like a Cartoonist.
This is important. One of the best things you can do to help your rigging and animation is picking up a pencil and learning how cartoonists draw, and therefore think also. The best way to get this information is getting the book, Animation 1, by Preston Blair. This book teaches you in a few months what many go to school for 4 years to learn, and its only $8 bucks. You can also buy all the Tom and Jerry DVDs you can find. Hanna and Barbera did an awesome job on these early cartoons. They push everything so far, but it’s all believable. The best part about cartoon rigging is the research.

Prerigging: The kinda fun part.
This is the stage where you start collecting information about how the character should look when deforming, and also what controls will work best and be the least restricting to animators. One technique that works pretty well is roughing out a geometry skeleton, to act as markers for where the mesh should be rigid as opposed to squishy. In cartoon animation even though the character is supposed to be squashing and stretching(S+S), there is still an underlying rigid structure, such as the cranium or rib cage. You still want these part to S+S, but not nearly as much as, say the fleshy parts.

You can also grab a sheet of paper and pencil, and draw the character in its extremes, to get a feeling of how you will eventually want the character to look after everything is said and done.

Rigging: The time consuming part.
There’s no easy way to describe this, so I’ll try to keep it to general terms. There is also no perfect way to rig. What ever works, is the way you should be doing it. I found rigging to be a necessary evil, because animating is the fun part. Before animation can begin, there has to be controls to manipulate. That being said, I thought it would be better if I limited the amount of scripting I did, and focused on the controls and aesthetics of the rig. It’s also why the rig is heavy on SDKs. Plus, most of the scripts you will ever need have already been created. Doing things the long way also makes learning more intuitive, and helps avoid Cycle Checks. It leaves you with an understanding that you could only get with slow and laborious review.

Creating the final bones: The first thing on this big list is making the final bones that will be the last set in the chain, also the one skinned to the geometry. They are roughly based on the geometry ones created in the pre-rigging stage, following the tips set forth by the SuperToon Rigging DVDs from Autodesk. Once these are created you can then duplicate off the bones for the appendages you are working on, to create the base controls that will eventually drive the final skeleton, removing the extra bones that will be used to make the Line of Action (LOA) effects.

The Back: In creating the back you can ignore the rotation of the joints to make things simpler. Rotation will be calculated on the final set of bones, so it shouldn’t be a concern. This has a number of benefits. For one, it keeps the amount of data being moved about the rig to a minimum. The rotation is calculated by orient constraining the back bones to both the hip and shoulder controls, then adjusting the weighting of the constraints to make a nice smooth effect. It would also be good to mention that SplineIK’s are the devil! I’ve never had any good experiences with them on a stretchy IK system, so I use points on a curve that drive the translation of the bones.

 
The Arms and Legs:  Probably the easiest part, because there is so much information out there about good setups. The IK/FK switch arm setup described on Rigging101.com is great, and the stretch can be calculated using the SuperToon DVD method. The LOA can also be calculated by using the follicles on NURBS planes, also from the SuperToon DVD.

The Face: I’d like to take credit for the face controls, but that goes to Judd Simantov and his wonderful jsFacialWin script. Here experience is the key. So, download all of the free rigs off the net you can and pick them apart to find the controls you like to use the most. Try to get as many rigs as possible, so by the end you have a great list of controls you like, that don’t minimize the level of control you get from your sliders.

The Tweaking stage: The annoying part. I’ll let you guys know when I’m done. It’s an ongoing process, and probably the most labor intensive part. It includes hunting down any redundant nodes, finding and eliminating any pops and flips, trying to speed up the playback of the rig, and most importantly taking heed of user requests and implementing the best ideas.

So, I guess there’s only one thing left unanswered: Would I work with this crew again? The only thing I can say is: “HELL YEA!”

I hope you guys have as much fun picking it apart and animating, as I did rigging it. Thanks to all, with a big thanks to Tim, Lisa, and Joel for making it all work. I had a blast and learned a ton.

To summarize this project, I'd have to say it has been a tremendous experience overall. To see three talented artists working at their best has been inspiring, to say the least. All three gave tirelessly, always delivering at each request and always with encouragement to one another. Their efforts resulted in a tremendous character that will really benefit the animation community as a whole. I am sure you all will love using this character. I'd really like to thank them publicly for putting out such a selfless effort and say it has been a great experience working with all of you. Thanks crew!!

-tim

::STRUT