Technical and CHARACTER Rigging from 3DBuzz

[digitallysane]

Not to step on any toes, but isn't this mainly focused on technical rigging, as in hard objects etc?

Technical rigging to me means the technical aspects of rigging (which those DVDs seems to deal with brilliantly) and not rigging technical objects.

Anyway, the volume II is all about capturing, so not only hard objects (fortunately).

And I do think that there's a strong need for a muscles DVD to make the series complete.

Dragos

[stevetwist]

Not to step on any toes, but isn't this mainly focused on technical rigging, as in hard objects etc?

And for the future, we need Quote: "tutorials on muscles" Mantra rendering, and the list is just so long.

Ah well, we have only so much time.

Again, great work 3d Buzz!

digitallysane was spot on - the technical aspects of rigging, and not just rigging technical objects

Whilst the vehicle rig is very much a mechanical beast, the series is focusing on the technical aspects of rigging, as opposed to rigging only hard objects. We look at capturing (which is very much for organic rigging) and stretchy systems (very much designed for toon characters) to name but a few topics that focus on areas more related to characters than mechanical rigging.

As for muscles, this is an area I'm interested in persuing at some point, but isn't on my immediate list of priorities. I'm currently hard at work researching and developing the character rigging series of DVDs. Once they're complete, the next volume into the rigging series will most likely focus on muscles, but I don't yet have a schedule in mind for when I'd like to move onto producing that volume.

If ever you have requests for areas you'd like to see, be sure to head over to 3DBuzz.com and be vocal about it! I read every single post made in the Houdini forums at 3DBuzz (even if I don't always reply), and I always take suggestions and comments seriously

Thanks for the interest, if you have any further comments, suggestions etc., be sure to make them heard

And for those of you who've just purchased any of the volumes in the Technical Rigging series, I really hope you benefit from them, and enjoy them thoroughly

Thanks!

Steve

Edited September 11, 2008 by stevetwist

[digitallysane]

I'm currently hard at work researching and developing the character rigging series of DVDs.

Muscles ARE about character rigging. You cannot talk about character rigging and muscles as separate entities in Houdini.

Dragos

[stevetwist]

That's not 100% true. Yes, muscles are part of character rigging, BUT there are still plenty of other aspects to character rigging to take into account. Building a character rig to provide articulation etc. and easy animator control is a huge part of character rigging. The muscles would then sit on top of the rig, if one chose to use muscles to capture their geometry, but it's also very valid to capture to bones (just because Houdini has muscles doesn't mean you HAVE to use them. If that was the case, why provide the ability to capture to bones? Capturing to bones is very powerful, and certainly not a dated technique. If you think otherwise I'd strongly advise you check out Technical Rigging Volume II).

The character rigging DVDs will focus on building complex interfaces between the animator and a bone hierarchy, giving the animator a flexible, easy to use rig, whilst still giving them a lot of power. From there, a muscles DVD could then look at using that rig to capture the geometry, by layering muscles ontop of it. Yes, muscles would come into the Character Rigging series of DVDs, but it's very valid to have earlier volumes in that series talk about character rigging without introducing the concept of muscles. We DO plan on doing a muscles DVD, I'm just not sure of the time frame for production on that volume. There are a lot of concepts that I think are important to know before tackling something like muscles.

Steve

[michael]

the rigging series looks great Steve!

re : muscles

as someone who has and is currently working with multiple characters that use muscles I think I can speak with reasonable authority on this subject.

muscles in Houdini are, I'm sorry to say, not fully implemented. while you can use them and get some very good results they are not for the faint of heart, they require a very strong understanding of Houdini and it's current character workflows.

could then look at using that rig to capture the geometry, by layering muscles ontop of it.

this is wrong, if I understand you correctly. sorry Steve.

currently in Houdini you either use bones to deform the rig or muscles - not both

what you can do is build a skeleton and drape muscles on top of that (just as our muscles are on top of our bones), then use the muscles to deform the rig.

there have been some good improvements to the muscles in the last few months and I expect there to be more in the future.

but, as much as I love Houdini and the good folks at SESI, if I'm to be honest, I wouldn't recommend anyone spend the time/resources making a muscles DVD right now. - in 6 months things might be different.

dig into the SESI supplied auto rigs and see how muscles are used there and do some looking around, experiment, look at ALL the help's example files.

if you are working on a project that uses muscles post here early and often, with example files of your rig, and there are people who can/will offer as much help as they can.

[stevetwist]

what you can do is build a skeleton and drape muscles on top of that (just as our muscles are on top of our bones), then use the muscles to deform the rig.

Hehe, that's exactly what I meant . I guess we both have different uses for the word "rig". When I referred to rig in my earlier post, I guess I should have really said "bones and control objects" - i.e., control objects affect bones, we layer muscles ontop, and then those muscles capture the geometry .

Thanks for the kind words about the rigging series, that means a lot, coming from someone with your reputation

Steve

Edited September 11, 2008 by stevetwist

[digitallysane]

Great info Michael, thanks for clearing some things. I was thinking that I fail in using muscles because of lack of info (which could be solved by tutorials / docs).

Seems the problems are deeper. Steve, please ignore my previous posts and keep on bringing the goods with the rest of the Rigging series until SESI fixes the muscles mess.

dig into the SESI supplied auto rigs and see how muscles are used there and do some looking around, experiment, look at ALL the help's example files.

The problem is that the number of help example files on muscles is exactly ONE, showing some basic usage of muscle handles. Nothing on capturing, nothing on sliding-inflating, nothing to explain possible workflows (except for the Calin's videos which are nice but can't replace some example files with to-the-point examples). I bothered Support about the need for more example files in the help for muscles and muscle workflow, with absolutely no result.

Dragos

[michael]

it's really just the age old dilemma...focus on new features or improve existing features/docs/tuts or bug hunt...

they all have to take turns :\

[Guest Swann]

Tik... tac... tic... tac... tic... tac... tic... tac... It,s Cooming

[Guest Swann]

3D Buzz Advanced Character Rigging DVD Tutorials are ready.

3D Buzz

Edited October 18, 2008 by SWANN