collisionOffsetSkin from TianShaopeng on Vimeo.
This looks promising! Collision Offset Skin tool by Tian Shaopeng. Beta version download here.
Cool Stuffs
Paul Hong Demo Reel
Demoreel_2018 from Paul Hong on Vimeo.
Impressive cartoon rigs by Paul Hong!
Mush3D
Mush3d – www.mush3d.com from Luiz Elias on Vimeo.
Mush3d by Luiz Elias is really cool tool-set which allows user to sculpt 3d animation in post. This 3d sculpting application is aimed to fix and add extra level of details to animations. Get it here.
The Food Thief RIGG – Technical breakdown & Rig Analysis
Truly a mind-bending rig by Mindbender Animation Studio! Love the 2D super cartoony look and feel of the setup and it’s modularity!! Character setup by Richard Kazo and his team at Kippcase Rigging Studio. Watch trailer below.
The Food Thief – Teaser Shot from Mindbender on Vimeo.
Below is my crude rig analysis for this cool setup 🙂
It is a very clever setup! The setup is mimicking a stop motion feel and style of cartoon design and deformation, just like how we can mold clay into any form. If we think of it simply (simplicity can be complicated :), the rig seems to be based on a lot of blendshapes (PSD), modular setup with clever deformation dependency graph (there are some benefits of modeling history in this kind of rig build where we can utilize construction history to rig advantage) and animation gimmicks setup and of-course the ShrinkWrap! The placement of the arm, leg, etc all seems to be different geometry with respective setup. The body transformation (specially the mouth) is a very cleverly art directed morph! You can see how there is a thin lining geometry for covering. Then there seems to be a final render mesh on top, with fur and all rendering goodness riding on top of the modular rig underneath! And then there are new tools like Shot Sculpt which allows you to refine shapes post animation!!
For reference take a closer look at Ren And Stimpy! 😀
Shot Sculpt
Shot Sculpt from Luiz Elias on Vimeo.
Shot Sculpt tool-set by Luiz Elias looks very promising. Fantastic!
You can download trial version here: http://luizelias.com/ssculpt
Vital Skin by Vital Mechanics
This looks promising! Check out Vital Skin FX used in simulating realistic skin deformation.
The Art of VR – Sotheby’s Exhibit by MacInnes Scott
Real-time facial motion capture and rendering technology interpolating visitor’s facial expression to animate photo-real digital avatars of President Obama and Trump.
ZIVA VFX
ZIVA VFX – Chris and Jernej Discuss Visual FX Results from Ziva Dynamics on Vimeo.
Here is a really cool product that you can test ZIVA VFX. I have just tried it out and the tissue system and simulation is very cool, pretty fast too. I would love to integrate it into realistic character rig, great for muscle, tissue and fat sim. If you have checked out Puppeteer Lounge recent webinar here, you will notice that the simulation was done using nCloth. You can apply the Ziva tissue system with similar rig to get even better results. The Ziva’s built in simulation is faster compared to nCloth in Maya and more tuned for fleshy simulation. Try it out for yourself!
Direct Selection of Character Controls in Maya from Stephen Candell
Direct Selection of Character Controls in Maya from Stephen Candell on Vimeo.
Check out this video overview by Stephen Candell on setting up direct selection controls inside Maya which replicate a similar workflow we see with Pixar, Dreamworks and similar big studios. The idea can be well integrated into any rig system thus creating a clean and intuitive setup for the animators. Give it a try!
Sony Pictures Imageworks Face Rigging Demo Reel
Sony Pictures Imageworks Face Rigging Demo Reel from Stephen Candell on Vimeo.
Sony Pictures Imageworks face rigging show-reel by Stephen Candell.