New character rig: Biped Dude (Now with ARMS!)

Artwork Finished Projects
#1

Hi all!

I’ve been studying rigging lately through various tutorials, and I got hooked. This is my first “biped” rig, which took me about a day and a half.

There are quite a few rigs appearing out there, but none of them had exactly what I expected. So I just created my own! And I figured I could share with you guys :smiley:

It’s pretty simple… My next rig though, will be a fully deformable eyes and mouth character with arms :yes:

(link below)

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd33/skatingecko/Biped_3.jpg
Biped_3.jpg1024×576

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd33/skatingecko/Biped_4.png
Biped_4.png1024×576 155 KB

Download: (attached)

EDIT: I fixed a knee control problem; updated version is attached.

EDIT Jul 04: ARMS!!!

Sample Walk Cycle: (Vimeo): http://vimeo.com/5402590

Now with arms!: http://www.vimeo.com/5455775

Download (Mediafire)
Mirror: http://loklomedia.com/blender/noob_Biped.blend

#2

hey man,

thats a great double bounce, leaning way back like that i kinda cool. very different i can tell you are out to invent some walks with this rig…this one turned out great…:slight_smile:

hey are you gonna add arms?, so you can start doing more funky stuff…breaking the joints and all that good foundation stuff?

P.S.- by the way, i have always felt that doing a camera rotation while presenting a walk cycle really takes away from what your trying to present…which is the mecanics of the walk…just my opinion (and we all know that doesn"t count)

#3

Wow, a comment! :stuck_out_tongue:

and wow, someone actually identified it as a double bounce.

There is a lot of great modeling and texturing…bla bla on this forum, but the the aspect (my personal opinion) that lacks on this forum is good animation. And I really want to bring some good animation. I’m currently following Richard Williams’ The Animator’s Survival Kit, and this looked fun to animate.

My next rig will feature arms, eyes, mouth, everything needed for good acting.

And thanks for that camera tip, I knew it felt funny. I won’t do it next time.

I found a really funky knee rotation problem though, and I’m currently fixing it. I will post the updated version and delete the old one when I’m done.

#4

hey if your following richards williams animator’s survival kit then maybe you heard the little peice of advice he gave about the eyes or the face drawing attention away from the purpose. which brings us back to the walk mechanics, THATS the point, the showcase, i would (and have) made different rigs and different characters. make one very basic with human proportions like your bi-ped rig (which is great by the way) use it for walks, runs, jumps, skips, whatever really. and make an entirily new model with the head porportions way bigger then the rest of the body, to show case the facial animations…:slight_smile:

#5

Well I actually haven’t reached that part, im currently on page 125 (still in walk mechanics). And the rig I’m gonna make for acting will be completely different, and fully deforming and stretchy, unlike this one which just has vertex groups parented to bones.

I’m reading the “breaking the joints” section, and I’m animating a walk cycle for it right now…

#6

well sorry for the spoiler, that book is great, i had to buy it for school like six years ago, and I’ve read it maybe a dozen times or more, hey if you didn’t know R Williams has this book now animated in a 16 dvd set, I’m bought that set because he his one of the last people that knows all that information the old fellows figured out decades ago it cost like $1300.00 canadian dollars, the stuff he teaches is fundemental but esseintal, for the last couple of years I’ve foucesed on traditional animation working on my drawing an flow, so i’m not encouraging stealing this mans work at all, but im sure you could find a torrent out there somewhere

for me getting back into 3d and blender was alittle bit of a step, had to get used to animating with a rig and bones and stuff…

#7

Yeah, I saw the DVD set…lol around $1000 USD. The book is great, I won’t need the set. I figured if he’s still alive by the time I (hopefully) become a pro animator, I can try to attend one of his master classes.

#8

dont count on that, i think he’s stopped putting those off, whole point of the DvDs

#9

oh, well poo. Well then, I might just get those later on. But my next buy (after I’ve thoroughly picked through r william’s book) is the illusion of life.

#10

thats a great book as well, actually I’m reading that now for the first time, I’ll warn you though its not so full of animation techniques as i thought it would be, theres defenitley some in there, but its mostly about how walt diseney shaped a studio and how they invented certian processes and tecniques to acheive the staple Diseney look and feel, it more really about the story of diseney studio’s evoloution, …you should still read it though, read every thing you can… :slight_smile:

#11

Oh, 1 more thing, I never gave you a proper thanks, newisle, for your tips and comments.

Well, thanks!

#12

Looks like a fun rig. There is a thread on rigging techniques going on in the animation support forum section (If memory serves me). You may want to mention it there or have a look at it for more tutorials. You may already have and I am just being naive, if so I apologize.

#13

Yes, I am aware of that thread, but haven’t considered posting there. Thanks! I will do it now.

#14

Looks like a cool rig, think I’m gonna play around with it tomorrow :slight_smile: too tired now though.
Thanks for sharing!

#15

And thank you for the comment!

Just for everyone that finds this remotely interesting:

I’m planning to add arms to this sucker, so I can carry on with my animation exercises. So be on your toes!

#16

breaking the joints

Tried it…I guess it looks better in 2D animation with Goofy. Or maybe it’s because I messed it up :stuck_out_tongue:

http://www.vimeo.com/5416074

#17

Added Arms! (See first post)

#18

love it… I’ve got my copy, and I’m ready (someday soon hopefully) to start learning it. Uploaded a mirror on my server at http://loklomedia.com/blender/noob_Biped.blend

#19

Hey, thanks! I’ll put that in the first post.

#20

Good rig, but how do you switch from ik to fk on arms?