I’m now concentrating on the arm and hand. In Animation:Master, as splines are added and patches are formed, they automatically show the geometry surface, so it’s possible to see the forms taking shape. Of course, some basic knowledge of anatomy is helpful at this stage, as none of the forming of 3D shapes is “automatic”; it’s all done by eye and by rotating the view to make sure the shapes and forms are consistent.
Arm and hand detail
When modeling limbs like this, it’s important to create three spline rings around the section that will bend (e.g., the elbow or knuckle) to allow for a realistic bend in the geometry. The need for this will be clear later at the rigging stage.
In this photo, you can see that there are three rings at the elbow and at the wrist. When I get down to modeling the hand, the same rule will apply to each knuckle.
Here are a screen shot showing how I use the rotoscope sketch as a guide for the modeling splines, and a movie showing how the splines are actually placed in 3D space. Animation:Master’s spline tools are very similar to drawing in Adobe Illustrator, except that you’re working in three dimensions.
This is a face-front view of the very first steps of modeling. The rotoscope sketch is flat, but the splines, the white lines with red dots, are placed in 3D space.
Here’s a video that more clearly shows the splines and how they exist in 3D space. The splines can be placed approximately at first, like a sketch, and in the process, splines can be deleted, moved, copy/pasted, and when the mesh is complete, can be colored and textured.
For some time I’ve wanted to do a complete, start-to-finish modeling tutorial, and finally I’ve decided to do it with the one human character in our story, Colfax, the tough freighter pilot who is one of the few humans who regularly visit Arthropoda.
Front and side view of Colfax
Although most of the human traders have as little to do with the Weevils as possible, Colfax and Skarab have always been on good terms, having struck up their highly unusual friendship from the very beginning.
When hostilities broke out on Arthropoda, Colfax was the only human trader trapped on the planet, and he is in danger of becoming a pawn in the power struggle between Skarab and his arch-rival, Biff, the Exalted Grandragonfly.
This is Arthropoda, the planet of Weevils. This is a rotation test showing a couple of the planet’s moons, although the day/night division may not be accurate as Arthropoda is a three-sun system, and there is rarely full night on the planet. However I did want to test the effect of a “displacement map” on the surface, which is what enables the surface to have an irregular, bumpy surface.
The Shuttlefly is one of the additional Bugbotz I will be modeling. The Shuttlefly is the commercial airliner of Weevil civilization. Most Weevils have access to personal flying machines, with the Jetwasp being far and away the most popular, but flying from city to city is easier in the enclosed comfort and stability of a Shuttlefly.
Weevils design and build a whole range of giant bug-shaped machines to do the work of industry and for personal use. We’ll be seeing more of these in the future.
Here’s the latest finished model, Odyl, head of the Enslaver Ants. Odyl’s the real villain and the power behind the throne.
I had wanted to post progress shots of the modeling and decaling process, but I found that once I was in the zone, modeling, rigging and decaling, I didn’t want to stop to generate too many renders because it was going so smoothly.
In general, the process goes like this: first, sketches to use as templates in the modeling process; then modeling the forms that make up the character. Then rigging, easily the most complex and demanding part, and finally, decaling and texturing.
Previously, with Skarab and Midge, I decaled and then rigged, but this slowed down the latter step because the decaling includes a type of decal called a “displacement map”, which has the effect of actually deforming the mesh so that refinements of the surface don’t have to be modeled manually. This is how the surface of the arms and legs achieve the appearance of “muscle bunches” (for want of a better term).
However, moving forward from that step, viewing the model while working bogs down because the deforming of the mesh has to happen on the fly even for simple viewing while modeling. So from now on, decaling last!
I’ve been working on a short flying sequence for Midge and came across a problem with the beating of her wings. I wanted them to have a blur like insect wings but it appeared there was a limitation in the software that prevented me from doing this in s straightforward manner.
However the terrific users forum over at Hash Animation:Master came up with several potential solutions, and I’m happy to say that a fix is in the works!
Animation:Master will have a booth at the San Diego Comic Con, and they’re soliciting user contributions for a demo reel that will be shown there. The short sequence I’m preparing is for the reel.
Walk cycles are a staple of animation, and should vary from character to character and mood to mood. It’s called a “cycle” because in general you just have to animate one full step, then “loop” it to suit the length of a scene.
Here, Skarab walks across the flag of Arthropoda (it’s motto: “Don’t step on me!”). I try to test walk cycles against a texture or image, because one of the chronic problems of walk cycles is foot slippage: unlike the real world, in computer animation, feet don’t automatically stay rooted to the floor. It’s up to the animator to get the feet to stay put when necessary, and to move when necessary. By placing an image or texture on the floor, it’s easier to detect slippage and remedy it.
Skarab is the main character and hero of the story. Bugbots were invented by Skarab’s grandfather, Grandaddy Longlegs. Skarab was just a grub of five when he witnessed the first Bugbot prototype in his Grandaddy’s lab.
This is a test of his face rig. It’s still in need of some refinement but it’s functional enough for moving forward with building and animating other elements for the trailer. His body rig is also close to being finished.
I’ve been drawing these characters since the early 90’s, but once I started animating them I had to consider a whole set of things that I hadn’t thought about before, such as how a Jetwasp comes in for a landing.
The Jetwasp is the main form of transportation on Arthropoda, powered by a single Waspjet engine, with auxiliary power provided by the wings which generate solar power from the planet’s three suns.
