During my third year of study at the University of Abertay Dundee, I chose two optional modules - Technical Art Applications and Scripting and Dynamics. These modules introduced me to the world of technical art which I quickly grew interested in. A blog on my process throughout these modules can be found at www.1001675sams.blogspot.co.uk
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Technical Art Applications was a one semester optional module. In this module, we were taught about the idea of a technical artist, and the basics behind what their roles would involve in the games and visual effects industries. We were initially taught about character rigging, which I immediately fell in love with. Towards the second half of the module, we were taught how to create tools with Python.
Our coursework brief was to create a character rig or scripting tool. As I had experience with coding before, albeit with C++ rather than Python, I decided to create a character rig. To make it more interesting than a standard skeleton, I decided to rig a "Lizard Man", a basic skeleton with a tail attached. I decided to use another IK spline to create the curve in the tail - which did bring up some issues with joints moving twice as far initially - which was then solved. |
As LizardMan was for use within video games, no blend shapes were used for the facial rig. Instead, joints were added to key areas where some expression may be needed. The only issue with this is that many game engines support low joint counts, the UDK engine that I was loading the rig into supporting 60-75 at the time of creating this rig. After finishing the coursework, I decided to take on some additional rigging tasks to improve my skills. I would rig models I found online in my spare time just to see what I could do and what techniques I could use. I was then approached and asked to help with Judy Vernon's Honours Project. Judy asked me to rig her main character for an animation, which a short clip of can be seen in the Abertay Graduate Showreel 2013 here. This gave me the opportunity to work with blend shapes and a higher available joint count.
Scripting and DynamicsScripting and Dynamics was a second semester optional module which followed on directly from Technical Art Applications. This module mainly taught us scripting techniques using Python for crowd simulation, and how to use Maya's built in dynamic systems such as nHair and nCloth. For this module, I created a simulation of Wet Cloth using Maya's nCloth. I attached particle emitters to separate sections of the cloth, and scripting them to activate at certain times - as seen with the whole cloth emitting on impact, and just the corners emitting when being raised. This custom nCloth material was also added to a skirt to test on a humanoid character.
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