building your own fully poseable characters

mcheesey · May 31, 2006, 3:31pm

ive been thinkin about and trying to make me my own fully poseable character like the:
ludwig
cutebear
generi
skinny_guy
man candy
has any one else tried this. if so how did it go? how did u make it?

Mr_R · May 31, 2006, 6:49pm

Although I have not finished my version of mancandy, etc…, after a couple weeks of studying the characters and learning about:

Shape Keys
Curves
Lattices
Hooks/Empties
Soft Bodies
Armatures
(Vertex Groups/Envelopes; IK, FK, Actions)

I am very close to understanding most of blender’s animation capabilities. The process is not finished but I plan for it to take 1 week for the complex rig:

This rig includes:
An armature with IK and FK, Action Constrains, Ipo Driven Shape Keys, and subtle soft body displacement of the mesh.

To answer the question of how did you make it, can you be more specific?
Do you want to know the process? Are you looking for tutorials/information in specific areas?

Aligorith · June 1, 2006, 12:19am

I’ve got a small collection of half/nearly completed characters. All of these have fully functional body rigs, but only have facial controls that are in different states of disrepair. The main thing is holding me back is deciding how best to deform them, there are just so many choices!

Aligorith

infinder · June 1, 2006, 7:19am

Mr. R, yes please!
I would like to have a full tutorial from start to end on animation tools. Till now everything is a litle here and a litle there… I’m not complaining but it would be very useful if you make a start to end animation tutorial.

Stamatis

mcheesey · June 4, 2006, 11:11am

is there any start to end animation tutorials if not why doesnt someone make one ? theres more than 2 people who would use it.

Mr_R · June 4, 2006, 8:05pm

Just like creating a complex armature, a tutorial covering many of blenders animation features takes time. Even though I did not say I would make a tutorial I may do it after I’m finished with Delder’s rig. The rig is going to take me 1-2 weeks depending on how much time my summer classes take me. After that I may do it.

In the meantime here is a list of links that I have used for learning. Some are tutorials, some are tips, and others are various miscelaneous information:

Good Tutorials:
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro
http://mediawiki.blender.org/index.php/Tutorials
http://mediawiki.blender.org/index.php/Tutorials/Links
http://www.blender.org/cms/Releaselogs.34.0.html
http://www.blender.org/cms/How_Armatures_work.634.0.html
http://mediawiki.blender.org/index.php/Manual
http://mediawiki.blender.org/index.php/Manual/PartVIII/Shape_Keys
http://mediawiki.blender.org/index.php/Manual/PartIX/Driven_Shape_Keys
http://otothecleaner.free.fr/tutorials/Flor/flor.html
http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread?t=48327
http://www.blender.org/cms/Ipo_Drivers.680.0.html
http://www.blenderprojects.com/calvin/IPO01.htm
http://blenderprojects.com/calvin/CartoonEyes2/
http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?t=66609
http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?t=66112
http://kokcito.tk/rvk/ipo.html
http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?t=66476
http://www.enricovalenza.com/softb.html

mcheesey · June 4, 2006, 10:07pm

what order should i do this in?

Mr_R · June 4, 2006, 10:56pm

There is no order in the list. It is for reference. You need to be able to learn how to rig and skin, set key frames, and know how use inverse kinematics (ik) and foward kinematics (fk) before you try and do advanced things. There are already good tutorials on these things. After you know these things, I would suggest playing with the shape keys(aka: morph targets), ipo driven shape keys, and action constraints. I think most of the advanced topics are in the list. If you have a firm grasp on most topics listed above then you can study the different rigs and learn a whole lot.