Some Basic Rig progress

 So here is a few snaps of my basic rig so far, by basic I mean typical humanoid shape. For the shape I am rigging a standard man model found on XSI.

So far I have the an IK - FK (Forward/Inverse kinematics) mixed rig , so I can switch between either mode at any time. The grey structure around the bones will be used as for skinning later and helps distinguish between IK/FK. Both legs have been fitted with some basic sliders for foot movement as well as some extras like stretch (seen in the picture below).

I reached the point of finishing the spine. This too will stretch but rather than have a slider to switch that function on and off, I've added a colour changer to the material to let me know if there is any accidental squashing/stretching.

Now I really do wish I could come up with something like this by myself. But whereas I may have no difficulty in producing my own rigs, this one has been done following a "pro rigging" tutorial set from start to finish. I just hope its sinking in.

Settling In

So its been 3-4 months now and I'm settled at my part time job now and getting into the swing of using the Studio. Now I say settled, but really I'm just waiting to get to the studio every time I'm there. As far as part time jobs go, its the best I've had! its relevant to my interests at least, but its just not enough!
So, I'm increasing my efforts to get myself back out there. I recently saw Cubic Motion had hired another animator, I was aware of the position but I really need to build up for next time, I wont be caught short again. So I'm cranking out a fair number of rigs, trashing them and restarting a million times, but Its sinking in. Once I've cracked XSI ive got Maya to work on next and with maya comes the programming, which is going to hurt! Ill post pictures of my progress soon.

Buses, Tonsils,Studios and Pets!

Jobs as they say jobs are like buses, wait for one for forever and then two saunter along cheekily begging the question, which one do I take? Well for me it was a no brainer, after my last journey through a circle of hell known as Primark I was left once more without employment and therefore money to live and learn.
So, march rears its head and I find myself trying for any job going whilst trying to squeeze in an opp to have my tonsils out, great timing I know. But sure enough I landed an interview at Pets @ Home, "sounds like fun" I thought! and despite a great interview I wasn't chosen. After sulking for a day or two I was offered another interview for a separate branch. You may think that having been to one previously I would have the upper hand! But then this time, I was going in post opp, heavily dosed on strong pain medication and having trouble standing, talking and all that usual basic stuff. But Victory was at hand! If ozzy Osbourne was a muppet, a very hyper active muppet, then you get an idea of how I came across in that interview, but still I must have done something right!
So finances once again stabilised I had one less worry on my mind. Enter Paraboxy! My university friends having got their office space finally, offered me a space for learning, the one request being that I learn rigging...fair enough here goes nothing!

Love, hate relationship...

No this one isn't a gripe about my girlfriend. More a confirmation of the previous post..yes you guessed it. For the second time this year my pc packed in.. My external hard-drive's untimely demise shortly before hand was an additional torment that has deprived me of some of my university files. True I only wanted them for nostalgic purposes but still.. I find my work is usually outdated the moment it's finished, but I also lost all my files for my competitions and current projects etc. I'll be honest, having to live a truly tedious part time job over Christmas and loosing my software and files truly put a damper on my learning. Although the past half year wasn't without its moments. In the face of adversity I did receive some good feedback from "Cubic Motion" for whom I did a short test piece. Would have been nice to have gotten that position but at least now I'm free from part time work to focus on future chances...also free of money to go with it unfortunately. With the mention of potential work in the next few months with my fellow uni graduates new company I focus my learning more on towards the rigging side of character animation. Yes its a shame to split my learning between two disciplines, but I really need the "foot in the door" and I enjoy what rigging I have done.. Not a fan of coding though. Luckily a good friend of mine who just last year got a job at framestore as a rigger has offered his help in my learning. If I finally have my brain switched on I'll jump on that opportunity!

A Slight Set Back...

So, turns out my graphics card has died on me, at least I think that's what the problem is...If I need to wipe my pc, all is lost!! But it won't be the case, else that would suck to say the least...wish me luck, else its bye bye to the competition idea - along with a lot of work....yikes.

So, What am I up to lately?

Having watched and loved Stuart Sumida's talk and anatomy of fighting within animation (two of my favourite things) I have decided to get a few small projects on the go. Firstly I want to create small sequences from various Bruce Lee fight moments, to focus my timing, and weight. I can often blow my mind thinking too much about grand animation projects, when all I want to be doing is the actual animation itself. I just want to create some clips and see where I go.
Secondly: A friend of mine created a great model of the Batman villain, "Bane" unfortunately the project never went the distance and he has kindly lent me the model in which to hone my animation skills, that is once I have developed my rigging abilities to get the big guy moving. Bring on the smashing! Project number three:

Canamation, Red Bull have been jabbing at me for a few weeks now with there adverts in the cinema about "Canamation" Their animation competition. Looking into it the deadline is close, so I can at best only do a small entry. But at least its exposure, there are only a few entrants as yet and most importantly, the two prizes I could compete for include software and a laptop...(yay!) and a placement at the Mill! If anything it would just be nice to have some industry professionals have a look at something I did. Plus If i got anywhere with it people I know could see my stuff in the cinema and thats pretty cool...Got my plate loaded this month, wish me luck! -Paul out

Dr. Stuart Sumida - " The Anatomy Of A Fight"

Well, I remember one animator saying to me once, when asked "What should my show reel be like" He said that "It should show your interests" Or something like that...it was a while ago anyway. Thinking back now along those lines I thought I would go ahead and do what a few people have discouraged me from doing and that's some animation tests for a fight sequence. In an Ideal world I would be working on cut sequences for games animating exactly that! and to help me a long the way I will be consulting the help of Dr. Stuart Sumida. He is a bit of a wizz with anatomy and animation and having watched a talk of his a few years back at Animex I thought I would watch his latest Webimar on "the anatomy of a fight"

"Dr. Sumida is the animation industry's foremost authority on anatomy and fight choreography. In this exclusive webinar, he shares the key points of animating realistic human/human, human/animal and animal/animal fight sequences. He also reviews Animation Mentor student shots and highlights how our programs teach you the proper techniques to kick butt with your animation".
-Sounds pretty cool but It's at 3am and with my track record of falling asleep during lectures this will be interesting, Should hopefully give me a kick up the backside and squeeze in some animating hours...else I'm not gonna get anywhere...considering today's job market I might as well. Paul Out!