Week 4: Rigging

Stop 1:For the first stop, I have created all the joints for the entire body. This includes the fingers and feets. Every part of the body is renamed for usability purposes and it is also what the video asked for.
For creating the joints, some knowledge about the human anatomy would definately help in the creation process. There is no IK handles yet and the joints still moves individually. I later on learnt that even with the IK handle, you can still move the joints seperately by holding onto 'D'. I have parented all of the joints accordingly and they all can be controlled by the pelvis.

Stop 2:
After the joints are set, their rotation axis has to be in sync with the world's axis. Hence each and every joint has to be manually selected and their axis changed. The visibility of the axis can be shown and hidden via the option.

Stop 3:
I have now placed in the IK handle for the arms and the legs. I have also added the options for the feets such as Toe_Roll_Control and Ball_Lift_Control so that it can be controlled when the rig is completed.

Stop 4:
Next, a NURBS circle is drawn and moulded using the vertexes to shape like the foot. This is the leg's control and by selecting it, the leg can be move around easily. A Point and Orient constraint is placed on the ankle as when the control is rotated, the feet will rotate with the ankle as a pivot point.

Stop 5:
After some steps, the knee Controls are created. They are created using 2 spheres and the texture of the ball is removed entirely and it is dragged away so that it will not be mixed up with the body. The control is parented under the foot control so that when the foot control moves the leg away, the knee control will follow. A poleVector constraint is used for the knee Control so that the knee will point to the direction where the control is at.

Stop 6:
Next is the Elbow joint control where a box is created along with a Pole Vector and Point Vector constaint. Now the elbow joint of the rig points to where this Elbow control is and this is mirrored on the other side.

Stop 7:
Now, a Hip control is created along with the Shoulder controls. These allows the movement and rotation of the shoulders and hips. The hip control is constrained to the pelvis which would mean that it will move the whole rig if the control is rotated/moved. Then, a NURB curve is created for controlling the spine of the rig. It will allow the rig to bend forward and backwards.

Stop 8:
Next, a minor refinement on the rig is made. The neck now has a upper,middle and lower bone. This allows the Neck control to move the bottom of the neck nicely while the Head control rotates on the top neck bone. There Spine, Neck and Head controls are constrained such that when the lower body control is rotated around, the top body control follows it.

Stop 9:
Now is a long and tedious Driven key process where each and every finger joint has to be "Driven" by the new attribute controls. This process is slow but necessary for a good and flexible rig.

Stop 10:
At this stage, the rig is binded with the model. When the rig is moved, the model moves. New layers are also created along with a High-polygon count layer and a Low-polygon count layer. I have also done painting the weight for the skin which was difficult and quite troublesome. The painting process took time but the results are obvious. The rig is complete at this point (or at least for the number of videos provided).

Stop 11:
For the last two videos, we were taught to create eyeballs. For the first picture, a regular pair of
eyeballs are created. They are Aim constrained to the eyeball controll which is a rectangluar box. For the second pair of eyeballs, they are Stretchy eyeballs which has a joint in the middle of them, binded to the eyeballs. The joint can be  move to make the eyeballs have a cartoonist stretch. The other box is the head control which the eyeballs are constrained to.

I am sure I have missed mentioning many steps but this exercise is realllly long and I unfortunately, can't remember all of the steps. I hope these are the rough outlines of the process and.......yea......tired. Haha. I can somehow predict our assignment already.

Week 3: Eleven Rig

Posing For this exercise, we are given a new rig to play with. The rig controls for this rig is different from the Spiderman rig, especially for the controls of the joints. After we recieved this rig, we were given 3 pictures of poses to pose our rig to. Here we goooo!!!!!

Pose 1

This pose is one of the more difficult poses to pose as yet again, the rig does not consider collisions and the muscles in this sitting pose are pressed againest each other, something the rig is unable to do. For this pose, the spine is curved forward as the lady is resting her hands on her thighs. I have rig the fingers and I find them quite "well-rigged". The sole of the feets are pointing outwards and I have rigged them such that they do not go through the thighs.

Pose 2

This pose is the pose of Yoona from Girl's Generation. She has placed both her closed hands on the sides of her hips and is leaning to one side. I have rotated the entire hip to a direction to show that she is leaning on one side.

In the picture we were given, Yoona was smiling with her teeths slightly opened and her eyes were "squeezed" smaller.

From the back 3/4 view, it is visible that I have added the breast to show that she is a SHE. We can also see that the hands are closed entirely and that by rotating the hip, the butt is perked up on one side.

Pose 3?
And finally for the last pose, I was unclear if we were supposed to pose the women of the boy. Hence, I posed both. Haha. Firstly, the boy pose which I was supposed to pose. The picture hid half of his body from view and for that half, I had to guess the posture for it. For this pose, the boy has a forward momentum and hence has a forward-leaning spine. The knees are pointing forwards and the sole of the right feet is pependicular to the floor. The hands are actively bouncing the ball and hence are bent inwards with the palms facing downwards.

From the other view, we can see that he is moving towards us but facing another direction. And the right arm is hopefully positioned correctly. =D

The woman which I was not supposed to pose, was quite difficult in my opinion. Her lower spine in bent forward while her upper spine is straight up. Her legs are wide open and her eyes are focussed on the ball which is positioned lowly.

Week 3: Spider-Man poses

This week, we were given the SpiderMan rig to rig poses.

The first pose is the classic upside down pose were is holds on to his web. In my pose, his head is tilted to the side to show him being curious about something. His shoulders are pulled towards his body because of him holding the web and his thighs are widely spread because of him being upside down, letting gravity pull his legs downwards.

Pose #1
Front View

Side View
From the side view, we can see that his spine is curved and that his knees are infront of his hands. The legs are brought down and the centre of gravity is at his hands where he is holding onto the web.

Pose #2
In this pose, Spider-Man is in the air shooting his web. This is the picture which I took my reference from.

And this is the pose I rigged.

For this pose, the entire hip and shoulders are rotated as his body is facing towards the left. The chest if emphasized in this pose and the arms are muscular in the picture. The rig however, is not so muscular and hence having a skinny arm. The legs are difficult to balance out between the rig and the image as in the image, the legs have muscles and collides with the thighs etc; The rig however has no collision and the shin could just go through the thigh. Hence a balance had between the two had to be done is make sure it looks similar to the image but not too distorted.

Pose #3

For the last pose, the pose I have chosen is quite difficult for this rig. The reason being there is no collision in the rig. This is the pose I have chosen.

 The legs are all "compressed" against each other and for the rig, this is quite difficult to rig. This is the pose I have attempted to rig.

I have tried to keep the spine straight upwards and the left thigh pointing straight but the body size of the rig is different from the picture and hence the small overall body build. The right shoulder is stooped  down and the hand is resting on the right thigh. 

From the front view, he looks slanted to the left because of his left thigh pointing too much to the front. He is supposed to be resting on his ankle but this is not possible for this rig as the leg would go through the thigh and the model will look very distorted. For all the poses, I have modified the fingers to make them fit the pose and they are quite fun to play with.

This is the starting of rigging for the subject and up till now, it is still quite fun to play with. I hope to have more sessions like this! ^_^

Hallic (Character)

Character Overview

Name: Hallic

Tagline: “For the people….., For the species….”

Brief Introduction:

Hallic is known for being the swamp’s best Headhunter, besides being the twin-brother of Tresh, Leader of an amphibious race called Sellion. The Sellions are a native species that rules the swampy region of the Planet. They are elites in combat and even though not as technologically advanced, they are feared throughout the Planet for they strength, speed and dexterity. Besides being a Sellion, Hallic’s position in the kingdom has made him even more protective and he will mutilate any and everyone who dare touch those whom he cares for.

Purpose

Ever since the technologically-advanced Aquaborns have decided to expand to the swamps, fighting and bloodlust between the Sellions and Aquaborns have been going on for seemingly centuries. For the Sellions, the generations of wars and killings have only strengthened their bond as a species. Hallic, brother of Leader Tresh, have been sent out on another covet mission to assassinate one of the Aquaborns most hated leader, Molgon the Merciless.  

The magnitude of this covet mission is at such a scale that it is kept under the wraps even to their fellow family members. To them and everyone else, Hallic and the other headhunters have merely gone on an intensive training camp. After their religious blessing and just before midnight when the Creeper’s Roots covers most of the moonlight, Hallic and his trusted headhunters voice their goodbyes to Leader Tresh and vanish into the shadow of the night.

Character’s motivation

Two reasons why Hallic wants to kill Molgon. The first is for his people. He and his brother have the responsibility of protecting both the people and the pride of Sellion. This is what the species live for and Sellion will die protecting it.

The second reason is personal to both Hallic and Tresh. Tala, a female Sellion who was slightly older first met the brothers when they were testing out basic Sellion weaponry. Talented and wise, Tala knew how each weapon worked and she taught the interested but naive brothers how to wield them proficiently. Their relationship flourished and soon enough, they made a pact as a family.

While still youngborns, Hallic, Tresh and Tala, sneaked off into the borders of the swamp to catch the sunset at the sea. The view they saw was grand and unforgettable. The brimming blue sea was a stunning contrast to the gloomy swamps and for once in their young life, the entire sun was visible.

Their view however, was short-lived as a huge curved blade pierced through Tala’s back, protruding from her front torso. As Hallic and Tresh turned back in horror, Tala’s small body was lifted like a doll on a pitchfork only to face the huge and over-sized Molgon the Merciless, who was merely a scout back then. As combat-instincts kicks in for both brothers, Tala yells at them to run as far as they can. Tala then took this brief moment to scoop a handful of highly acidic muk dripping from her torso, and splashing it into two of Molgon’s four eyes.

As Molgon yells and flails in pain, Tala’s body hits the swamp floor. Tala then yells a final plead to the brothers “RRRRRRUUUUNNN- “ right before her head was crushed by Molgon’s massive stomp. Snapping out of confusion, the brothers agilely fled back into the familiar swamp, vowing vengeance and never forgetting the Aquaborn who stood over Tala’s dead body.

Unique Traits

        Appearance:

1)    The most prominent feature that distinct Hallic from other Sellions is the unique tentacle-like organism that drops from the back of his skull. Chanted only to the best headhunter in the swamp, Hallic undergoes a religious ritual which accelerates the growth of an organism found on the back of Sellion’s skulls. The organism then takes the shape of tentacles and reacts to anger. When Hallic is in battle, foes will cower in sight largely because of the visual of the tentacles.

2)    Being through many battles and trials, Hallic’s war scars accumulates and combined with the tentacle-like organism, Hallic gives an overwhelming image even to other fellow headhunters. Occasionally, Hallic doesn’t hide his scars with armour in battle just to intimate the enemy.

3)    Being the brother of the Leader, Hallic appears calm and respectfully. Because of his high status, Hallic has to look composed to his people. He has to maintain a high-standard of composure to his people to give them a sense of security, that they are safe when he is around them. However, his image in battle or when angered is entirely different.

Behaviour:

1)    All Sellion’s are protective of their kind. Since birth, their instinct to protect kicks in when one of their kind is bullied or in danger. Hallic however tends to be overprotective. Because his position and largely because of he and his brother’s past trauma, Hallic will even kill other Sellions if they are any danger to those whom he cares for. This behavior has caused him trouble with the council but with the help of his brother, he has managed to stay out of any major trouble. This over-protective behavior and actions are heavily covered up from the people to maintain Hallic’s image.

2)    As mentioned above, Hallic looks calm and composed to the people. However when out of sight, Hallic shows a wide range of emotions. When annoyed, Hallic shows high levels of anger. This aggression is however, well-controlled and he rarely blinds himself to rage. Battles and fights are won because of his ability to self-control and he is also respected by fellow headhunters because of that. However if he is blinded by rage due to an unforgivable event (etc. death of twin brother Tresh in battle), Hallic goes wildly berserk and is temporarily almost indestructible. His mood will then crash when he stops and physical and mental pain will set in.

3)    Hallic is extremely close with his brother Tresh and he has no problems serving his brother. Being the younger twin, he respects his brother’s choices, occasionally giving insight to certain situations which his brother eagerly considers before giving out commands. Hallic frequently spars with Tresh, seeing him as his only worthy opponent thus far. The brotherly bond they share displays in battle where it seems almost rehearsed as they synced their movements to cut down Aquaborn beasts five times their size. No one has questioned their teamwork and if Tresh wasn’t tied down to his Leader position, he would have gladly followed Hallic for the covet mission to kill Molgon himself.

        Dialogue

               (Leader Tresh finishes blessing Hallic and his fellow headhunters)

                Hallic: Thank you Brother, (Stands up) we shall take our leave.

               (Tresh holds Hallic on his shoulders)

        Tresh: Brother, come back triumphant!

        Hallic: For the people… For the species…

Tresh: (Whispers) And for Tala.

Hallic: (Softly)It will be for Tala when I thrust my blade into Molgon’s neck.  

(Hallic moves back to his trusted headhunters, readied to head out)

Hallic: We will come back with Molgon’s head in our hands with a victory for our people!

(Headhunters lifts their weapons and growls softly but enthusiastically)

(Hallic then leads his headhunters and dashes out into the night)

Hallic's Lineage

Lineage

Predator

The Predator is my first reference when I thought of my character. In appearance, Hallic looks a lot like the predator without so much armour. Hallic’s body size should be the same as the Predator, which is a few heads taller than an average human. The tentacles Hallic has on the back of this head looks like the predator’s headdress but reacts to his anger. Personality-wise, like Hallic, the predator is also calm and agile but violent and strong. Hallic however, is much more socialable, respectable and bonded with his people

The Elites

The Elite from the Halo series is is another reference which I thought of. The Elites are loyal to their leaders. They are also civilised to a certain extent and are respected by others. The Elites are natural leaders and are quick and agile when in combat. The Elites and Hallic are more similar personality-wise. Hallic is still however, more composed and much more protective. He tries to protect his people instead of sending them out to die. Hallic’s appearance differs from the Elites, being more native and tribal-like.

Jugo

 A third reference is a anime character called Jugo. When out of battle, he is usually quiet and kind. He speaks carefully and shyly and is even talks to animals. However, when in battle, his personality and appearances changes drastically. He turns into a powerful and reckless beast while his personalilty turns erratic and arrogant.  Hallic’s personality too, changes when in battle. Hallic however does not turn arrogant and reckless. Instead, he becames more intimitating and tactful. He only turns berserk when a major event occurs and Hallic becomes extremely strong but reckless, much like Jugo.

Avater

My last reference is from Avatar. The native species of the island Pandora are the Na’vi. They are a humanoid species which is similar to Hallic and the swamps. The Na’vi can move through the forest with extreme speed and flexibility and are too, protective of their people. Like the Aquaborns invading the swamp, the Na’vi were attacked by the humans. Unlike the Na’vi, the Sellions are still technologically-advanced, although not as advanced as the Aquaborns. And different from the Na’vi, Hallic and the entire Sellion species are more brutal and aggressive when it comes to dealing with their enemies.

Hallic sketches and poses

Hallic Face
I have tried drawing different faces and decided which one I wanted to use. Below you will is sketches of 3 different faces, the final one being the decided face to use.
Face 1: The face most obvious point is the long and pointy chin. The nose is concaved into the face and a helm is wore. The tentacles are at the back of his head.
Face 2: This time, the head has a long scaly neck. It looks more dinosaur/serpant-like then what I would like Hallic to be. The tentacles falls off the side and back of the head.

The final front and side view of Hallic's head are shown below. His mouth is split to 3 portion. The top and the bottom left and right. He also wears a mask-like plate covering the left side of his head. The ears are concaved while the nose are gill-liked (but he doesn't breathe underwater!).The tentacles too, fall from the back of his skull. The side view showns how his mouth would open.

Hallic Body

I started out thinking of poses and have sketched them out. This gives me an idea of what I will be drawing and the propotion of the body.

Hallic's body and poses

Firstly, Hallic's Front and side view. In the front view, we can see his battle scars and his overall build. He carries an extendable two-sided spear on his hip.

Hallic Pose #1

This pose is an aggressive pose where Hallic is in battle and roars at the enemy. The tentacles on the back of his head reacts to his anger, flaring up and intimidating the enemies. Hallic is huntched forward and has his arm spread out, ready to charged. I first start out with a light sketch of the pose. (Sorry if it is difficult to see! It is very lightly drawn) Next, the muscles and head are drawn in. The mouth being wide open should be easily seen in the picture. Lastly, the details are added in and we can see the entire picture.

Hallic Pose #2

In this pose, Hallic is carrying his spear and jumping off a higher ground down to his enemies. This pose is commonly used for tribal and native-like people attacking and ambushin their enemies. Sorry again about the visibility of the light sketch.

Hallic Pose #3

For this pose, Hallic is standing tall and proud, putting his right fist up with his left hand holding slightly above his right elbow.

Hallic Pose #4
This is last pose of Hallic I have drawn. In this pose, Hallic is throwing an electric-tipped spear. He leans slightly backwards with his left leg and hands up.