Cover image for Digital creature rigging : the art and science of CG creature setup in 3ds max
Title:
Digital creature rigging : the art and science of CG creature setup in 3ds max
Personal Author:
Publication Information:
London : Focal Pr., 2013
Physical Description:
xv, 413 pages : color illustrations ; 25 cm.
ISBN:
9780240823799

9780240824062
General Note:
Includes index
Title Subject:

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30000010332658 TR897.7 J664 2013 Open Access Book Book
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Summary

Summary

Get annbsp;inside look at the creation of production-ready creature rigs fornbsp;film, TV and video games.nbsp;nbsp;Garnernbsp;strategies and techniques for creatingnbsp;creatures of all types, and make them ready for easy automatic use in many different types of media (transmedia): film, TV, games - one rig for all.nbsp; You will move step by stepnbsp;fromnbsp;idea, to concept, and finally to completion through a proven production-pipeline. "Digital Creature Rigging" gives you the practical, hands-on approaches to rigging you need, withnbsp;a theoretical look at 12 rigging principles, and plenty of tips, tricks and techniques to get you up and running quickly. This is the definitive guide tonbsp;creating believenbsp;production-ready creature rigs with 3ds Max.

The companion web site has all scene files, scripts, tutorials from the book.


Author Notes

Stewart Jones started out by studying Graphic and Multimedia Design, giving him a solid foundation for the work he has created for film, TV, games, visualization and print. Both artistic and technical, he has held many roles in the computer graphics industry over the years including animator, technical animator, character/creature technical director and CG supervisor.


Table of Contents

Prefacep. xi
Acknowledgmentsp. xiii
Chapter 1 Introductionp. 1
Why a Book?p. 2
Custom Rigs vs Auto-Riggersp. 2
Bipedp. 3
Character Animation Toolkit (CAT)p. 4
Customp. 6
Who Should Read This Book?p. 7
Who Should Not Read This Book?p. 8
Chapter Overviewp. 8
Companion Websitep. 9
Qualities of a Good Rigp. 9
Qualities of a Great Creature TDp. 10
The Best Piece of Advice Everp. 11
Chapter 2 Foundationsp. 13
Art and Sciencep. 15
Principlesp. 16
Tools and Workflowsp. 24
Viewports and UI Setupp. 24
Modify Panel and Modifiersp. 26
Hierarchy Panelp. 28
Motion Panelp. 29
Display Panelp. 30
Utilities Panelp. 31
Time Slider and Animation Toolsp. 32
Bone System and Bone Toolsp. 33
Skinning Toolsp. 34
Constraintsp. 34
Wire Parametersp. 35
Reaction Managerp. 36
Schematic Viewp. 37
Layersp. 37
MAXScript Windowsp. 38
Joints and Bonesp. 39
Transformationsp. 40
Scalep. 40
Positionp. 41
Rotationp. 41
Models and Modelingp. 45
Referencep. 45
Default Posep. 45
Edge Loopsp. 46
Uniformly Spaced Geometryp. 47
Topologyp. 47
Hierarchical Structuresp. 48
Broken Hierarchiesp. 49
Icons and Controllersp. 50
Colorsp. 51
Kinematicsp. 51
Skinningp. 53
Blends and Morphsp. 54
Layered Riggingp. 54
Naming Conventionsp. 56
Chapter 3 Research and Developmentp. 61
A Quick Disclaimerp. 62
Creature Overviewp. 63
Creature Brief/Informationp. 66
Anatomical Researchp. 67
General Creature Attributesp. 68
Head and Facep. 68
Upper Torsop. 69
Central Torsop. 70
Lower Torsop. 70
Tailp. 70
Biomechanical Inputp. 71
Head and Facep. 71
Upper Torsop. 71
Central Torsop. 72
Lower Torsop. 72
Tailp. 72
Planning and Preparationp. 72
Print Screenp. 72
Thumbnail Sketchingp. 73
Joint Placement Diagramsp. 73
Controller Diagramsp. 75
Topology and Looping Checksp. 75
Model and Scene Cleanp. 77
The Final Savep. 87
Chapter 4 Base Rigp. 89
The ROOT Nodep. 90
Custom Attributesp. 91
Joint and Bone Placementp. 93
Location Information Data Nodep. 105
Test Skinningp. 106
Save Skinningp. 118
Bone Shapingp. 120
Range of Motion (ROM) Filesp. 122
Motion Set List (MSL) Filesp. 127
Shot Specific Rigsp. 129
Control Creationp. 130
Exporting and Saving the Base Rigp. 131
Chapters: Animation Rigp. 135
The Connectionp. 136
The Setupp. 137
Skeletal Duplicationp. 139
Hipp. 139
Chestp. 141
Spinep. 141
Neck and Headp. 152
Tailp. 153
Limbsp. 154
Upper Armsp. 159
Upper Arm Handsp. 173
Claviclep. 178
Lower Armsp. 185
Legsp. 186
Feetp. 196
Making Sure It All Works Togetherp. 199
Making the Connectionp. 200
Animation Testp. 201
Chapter 6 Face Rigp. 205
The Aims of Any Face Rigp. 206
Style Thoughtsp. 206
Face Rig Systemsp. 208
Meet Quoobep. 209
Face Rig Controlsp. 212
Joint/Bone-Driven Facial Rig Systemp. 217
Morph Target/Blendshape-Driven Facial Rig Systemp. 223
Hybrid Joint/Bone and Morph Target/Blendshape-Driven Facial Rig Systemp. 233
Additional Deformers and Systemsp. 234
Expression Creationp. 235
Facial Action Coding System (FACS)p. 237
Anatomy and Biomechanicsp. 246
Creature Adaptationp. 247
The Setupp. 255
Animation Inputp. 262
Rig Attachp. 268
Additional Facial Rig Systemsp. 268
Chapter 7 Deformation Rigp. 269
Advanced Skinningp. 270
Corrective Shapesp. 272
Muscle Systemsp. 278
Muscle System Skin Deformationsp. 286
Pose Space Deformation (PSD)p. 288
A Skeleton with No Controlp. 291
Chapter 8 Finalingp. 295
Finaling for Real-Time Engines or Crowd Simulationp. 296
Geometry Cachep. 297
Cleaning and Correctingp. 303
Cloth, Hair, and Furp. 303
Dynamics and Particlesp. 312
Lighting and Renderingp. 317
Chapter 9 Streamlining and Automationp. 323
How Can We Streamline Our Rigging Approach?p. 324
What Is MAXScript?p. 325
Programming and Scripting... The Same Thing?p. 325
My Thoughts on Scriptingp. 326
Scripting Basicsp. 327
Pseudo Codep. 335
An Introduction to MAXScript Toolsp. 335
How Can We Streamline the Production for Others?p. 339
Let Us Make Something!p. 339
Visual MAXScriptp. 347
Practical Scriptingp. 348
A Creature GUI Pickerp. 350
Adding Custom Attributesp. 369
Expanding Individual Scripts into a Toolsetp. 374
MAXScript Quick Reference Guidep. 383
Chapter 10 Outrop. 387
Additional Workflow Enhancementsp. 388
Chris Rocksp. 390
Modeling and Surfacing Workflow-Chris Rocksp. 391
The Endp. 408
Indexp. 409