Hi guys, this is my first in this forum so please tell me if there’s something I miss and I’ll do all I can to rectify it.
So, the project. I’ve been working on modelling a character named G.I.R from a show called Invader Zim (It played on nickelodeon some time ago). The model is basically complete. I have some small details to add and then it’s finished. Now I’m doing a short animation. The set will be very bare. I’m looking for a plain white surrounding in which he will do some things, then change temperament and then go violent (happens on a few occations).
This is my star
And i’ve also created the armature he’ll be using.
Next I’m assigning the vertex groups and then start to put the scene together. Coming up in a short while I think.
The armature was created with great help and inspiration from nozzy’s skinny guy blend file which he so graciously (thank you, thank you) has shared on this forum.
So that’s what I’ve got so far. Any tips will be gratefully accepted.
I’m surprised no one else said it yet. You should probably either wait until the next version of Blender is released, or go download a cvs version, before doing this. The animation system is being rewritten currently and you are just looking for pain hardship and disappointment by rigging now. The new system is supposed to be mostly compatible with the old but its not perfect. The way IK, parenting, envelops/vert-groups, NLA, and vertex keys work have all been improved/changed.
I think Nozzy’s rig is still a good starting point, but I also think some parts are going to be cumbersome or redundant in the new system. For instance check out Bassam’s rigging video from the Blender conference:
There IS another bone on one side of the 2D image, but in perspective it’s actually in front of the guy, roughly at neck height.
That’s right. That bone determines where his face should be looking. Extremely helpful little bone that one. Ok been finishing the scene. Remember I want it sterile and simple, partly because it saves rendertimes but mostly because I pictured it like that when I scetched it out in my head.
The lighting needs work. I can’t quite get an uniform light yet. Thinking on moving to suns or something.
The armature is now ready and I’ve rendered a pic with him a little more relaxed.
The last thing I think I need to do is create some facial expressions for him. I’m going to be working with his eyes and mouth and I’m planning on using NVK’s. I’ve no experience att all at animating before this so it’s very much trial and error att this point…
Lol kitsu, you posted at the same time as me so I didn’t see you. I have no idea what a cvs is so I’m afraid I can’t comment much there. The thing is that I never animated before and though I guess the animation tools will improve I don’t think any work I put down on this system should be to my disadvantage in the future versions. And I have a saved unrigged GIR so I can pick him up with the new system and make a better animation with later. Thanx tho, and please, any info on what a cvs (probably should know this ) is I’d like to know.
CVS - is storage for the ‘source code’ the stuff that programmers/developers work on. Using a CVS version is using a blender build that is built from CVS, ie it is more recent build than the last release.
You can use the ‘2.40alpha2’ release (comes out today or tommorrow), which is based on CVS. It will have all of the features (almost all, some python stuff still isn’t in…).
You can read about the new features here in the preliminary version of the release notes (warning very unorganized right now, I’m working on cleaning them up today)
I’ve been thinking about it and I don’t suppose you’d have to do much to start using the cvs features. Mainly you’ll just be fiddling around trying to figure out how to do things. The new system is mostly uncharted territory so you’d have to develop the rig as you go. Like I said the best place to see the advantages of the new system are in bassam’s video.
I’m still modelling the character I intend to learn the new system on, so I probably won’t be very helpful in any specific way for a while.
Ok, then I think I’ll go with the old system for this project since there atleast are tutorials I can use as reference and so on…I’ll update to the never version after the projects done. Thanx for the info
) is I’d like to know.