Thursday, 8 December 2016

FK/IK arm joints to Bind joint, using blend colours node in Maya Hypershader

Connecting FK/IK arm joints to Bind joint using Blend Colours Node in Hypershade...

Here goes!



Elbow and hand controllers - Maya Outliner hierachy

Loud Ceilidh music playing, whilst creating elbow (E) and hand (cube) controllers, constraining > pole vector and parenting to the 'spine_03' joint

Outliner on the right shows the hierarchy....

Sunday, 4 December 2016

Mudbox blend shapes and material finishes

More blend shapes and playing with different material finishes in Mudbox, to give me an idea of how this ice man figure will look when he's glossy and lit....
and of course transparent!

Photoshop concept art for storyboard

Mudbox blend shapes with simple reflective material




Saturday, 3 December 2016

Friday, 2 December 2016

Critical Review - Allied

#Allied' Is a World War II Romantic Thriller, the art direction and costume design are brilliantly observed...
I expected this film, based on the trailer, to be a vintage action packed James Bond spy thriller..with a significant emphasis and tension regarding whether the Protagonist's wife was an ally opponent, or an ally. 
To a certain extent this was the case, but the true emphasis was on their relationship, rather than violent, slick combat.

I found the design to be the most compelling and convincing part of the movie, and felt that the final resolution  at the end, was seemingly hurried. A rather swift ending to an otherwise thorough script.


Rigging, FK, IK controllers - and how to create a nurbs curve in 30000 hours

Rigging today...
So I find the rigging process and creating the hierarchy fairly relaxing...
Creating a Nurbs Circle with 8 sections, and a Nurbs Cube....3 hours of tension !!!!!

For my own notes, so that next time it's not so laborious...

For the wrist controller cube...
Make coffee.
Put on Music.
Create Polygon Primitive Cube
Create an EP curve (curve tools)
Set cube to component mode 
Shift select EP curve
Snap to points (part of the magnetic toolbar icon)
Select cube, component mode, shift select new curve and snap vertices to the cube corner vertices.
Adjust, tweak and repeat (for about 30000 hours) until all cube edges have a curve (straight line!) attached to them. 
Delete cube in outliner
Select all curves (straight lines) and under curves drop down menu, select 'attach'.
Hopefully all the curves will now glue together and become one complete object...

And now back to the straightforward easy part of rigging....
Outliner below showing the Hip, Knee and Foot controllers

 Foot controllers with the IK handle
Hip, Spine and Arm controllers
Duplication of the Shoulder, Elbow and Wrist joints, with a rename to IK, FK and Bind...
and then repeated for the right side