Digital humans the art of the digital double
Ever wanted to know how digital doubles are created in the movie industry? This course will give you an insight into how it's done.
# 1 18-05-2003 , 11:17 AM
BabyDuck's Avatar
Subscriber
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: USA
Posts: 1,170

how many handles for animation

i am trying to learn setting up an character for animation. and not to do something only i can use, i wanted to do it usefull from the beginning. probably i should get a book about it which i am not willing to do just now. not sure if it is possible, but i dont want me (or the animator who gets the model) to go down to ik-handle level or locators. so i imagine parenting them to little objects outside the character which then can be animated and drive all the skeleton. it might be overkill, but you only set a character up once. now the questions:
  • how many of the animateable little helpers are usefull?
  • what kind of help would a animator dream about?
  • is documentation needed to explain the animator how to use the character?
  • is a command center (a big thing with a lot of sliders to control most of the character (head nodding, open/close hands, flex muscles w/o moving, breathe .... ) a waste of time to implement or very handy ?
i know - a lot of questions. hope to get a few answered.

thanks

# 2 18-05-2003 , 12:18 PM
Kurt's Avatar
Registered User
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Niagara Falls, Canada
Posts: 5,310
1) i just use selection handels for all the spine, shoulder, head, elbows, wrist. Ik for the legs. Loactors for the hand functions, and locators for the eyes.

2) A MAYA built in skeleton genorator=)..

3) Is good for a beginer to have some back up documention to help you along

4) I only use sliders for the facial animation, but it comes down to the person.

I like having as much control as I can over my charcter so I use mostly FK from the root up. I do use all IK for game animation.


I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination, knowledge is limited, imagination encircles the world. (Albert Einstein)

https://www.artstation.com/kurtb
# 3 18-05-2003 , 02:55 PM
BabyDuck's Avatar
Subscriber
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: USA
Posts: 1,170
thanks kurt.

you use mostly FK? wow, sounds like a lot of control (and a lot of work while animating). is that the secret to sucess?

# 4 18-05-2003 , 03:02 PM
Kurt's Avatar
Registered User
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Niagara Falls, Canada
Posts: 5,310
Depends mate... most animation for games is IK, but a lot of work for feature film is still done using FK.

I just find I can pose my characters better using joint rotation than moving the ik all over the place and sometimes get that nasty elbow flip=) The other thing about Fk you can get better offsetting in the elbows and wrists.

My last animation with the baseball oger was all Fk except the legs had IK.

I guess i like the pain of a little bit more work to have a bit more control...

Im working on a freelance job right now for a game and it all IK=(


I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination, knowledge is limited, imagination encircles the world. (Albert Einstein)

https://www.artstation.com/kurtb
# 5 18-05-2003 , 07:13 PM
Nem's Avatar
Subscriber
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Faringdon, UK
Posts: 1,480
what about IK/FK switching? user added image

if u wanna set up a character for complete animation, then good luck to ya cos you would need a lot of control to suit everybody cos the more advanced lot wud want stuff like individual finger curls, finger spread, some expression driven stuff and i reckon it wud just get very messy


- Simon

My Website: www.Glass-Prison.com
Posting Rules Forum Rules
You may not post new threads | You may not post replies | You may not post attachments | You may not edit your posts | BB code is On | Smilies are On | [IMG] code is On | HTML code is Off

Similar Threads