[kumar]

Ok think i am venting some of my frustration here... So sorry guys. But i think there is a serious lack of video or DVD material on a serious production ready rig..let alone something like the siggraph maya masterclass modelling... Not sure how many watchs materials from other software..!!! or am i alone...

Ok i am talking after purchasing DVDs and watching for other software.. Namely... CGtoolkit.com Making of Leon... Simply Great Stuff...

Then there is the CGAcademy's Intermidiate Rigging series... watched the first DVD... and man thats enought to last me some time... before i reach to a point i want to buy the rest.

What i want is say IK/FK switching... some expressions.. the works.... Seems to be lacking of material on this...

I know Desktop Images has a character series... And yes i have seen it....!!!! Not really quite there yet...

I also have seen the material here in Simplylightwave.. Very Nice for a start... Not sure if it will be ever expaned on... But great stuff..

Oh ya how many of you actually tried the expression for the IK/FK switch there is out there...???

Wonder if newtek things IKBoost tool will solve everything....???? Hehe...

And all the followers and other stuff are they really fast in a production???? So many question and with the competition heating up... I wonder...???

Sorry for a little frustration...
Kumar
Wonder if anyone else feels the same way!!!

[Mark]

It's often been a criticism levelled at LW that its character animation toolset is seriously lacking.

I know that with 8.0 there were some inroads made to improve the toolset (and the speed of the existing tools), but you're right - it still has a long way to go to beat some of the other tools out there.

One popular workflow is to model in LW, then export your models to poser for actual rigging and keyframing. You can then export everything back into LW later for final texturing and rendering.

And of course, there's always Messiah...


... and of course - LW 9.0 :p

[ranhell]

Most of my experience has come from watching the making of the special affects that movies come with. I've noticed they break down shots like for example animation, facial expressions, joints muscles, hair and clothing are all different department. Granted we as independent animators don’t have that luxury. We can get an idea of how to structure some of are animations by breaking it down like they do.

[Mark]

Exactly - breaking down the task into manageable parts is what its all about.

However, the capabilities of the toolset also have a large part to play. That's not to say the tools aren't up to the job since given enough time you can still accomplish anything using Lightwave.

However, traditionally it's character based toolset has been one of its weaker points and it's, well, often just plain easier to use another package rather than persevering with just the one tool.

If you look at any major studio, you'll find that they rarely use a single package for performing all their CG tasks.

Many will model in one package, rig in another, set scene in yet another then use another package for rendering.

Whatever works...

[kumar]

Ahh,,,, at least i know i am right to feel frustrated...

Yes i do agree its good to breakdown the shot and then attack it that way. I am just starting to do commercial stuff.. And what i do is use LW for modeling and then Max for rendering.

As far as Poser and and Messiah... guess i have no acess to it....

But a whole package is really starting to appeal to me. Although i kind of dont like max... I am forced to work the simple stuff with it...

Hmm,,, guess once i have some acess or can persuade someone to buy me a copy... a whole package like Maya... does seem to be a better solution.

Meanwhile i will makedo with what i have.. Max 7.

[hoopti]

Have you tried Splinegod's series on Character Animation including the bone tools videos? I found them very good and quite helpful. He also has one to cover the use of IK Boost.

www.splinegod.com


Hoop

[LaMereHic]

you can also try this, for the animation and all the stuff it is quite good

http://www.wordware.com/cartoon

[kumar]

@ hoopti... thanks,,, as far as SplineGod is concerned.... i do have his... tour cds... that previews sections of his character series... and it was an excellent one... but what i want is production ready riggs.. like the ones with FK/IK switching and the works... not the base stuff... So far someone is yet to create a DVD on that...

@LaMereHic thanks... i still have not seen the book on the store yet,,, so i will keep a lookout for it. i will look see and tell if its worth the buy..

[Noratio]

Ordered books, both Timothy Albee and Jonny Gorden. It was more than 3 weeks ago, not here yet. Grrr . Can't say much about that, but I have high hopes. Poser is not the sollution IMO. I won Poser 5 over 1 year ago, but haven't paid much intention to it. Fast humans , and easy to make them walk around, but rather polygonheavy characters. Rendering, forget it. What I've done with it is few bvh exports. XSI and messiah has both pretty fast rigging procedures, piped guides and autorig. Playing with those would probably give soon the way how to make custom rig for our own needs.

Starting with LW rigging from scratch is hard cause there is so many pitfalls to fall. RPR messes skinning if targets or expressions are used, maybe otherwise too and Record Rest Position did quit to work with it in some point. Weights don't behave allways as they should. Endless playing with bone stiffness. Proxys blow sometimes to mirrored side or to where ever. IK Boost tool needs probably good IK rig first, I've had no luck with that tool yet, I've got IK booster DVD but I'd like IK/FK switching instead too. Broken bonetools.p in 8.2... I mean if it is animation you are doing you should animate and make your rig better as skills and demands grow. Fighting with tools takes the pleasure out of this. Sure there are workarounds and other software have their limitations and bugs and I've used LW only 9 months, learned how to preapare to animation while modeling, texturing... I know.

If anyone knows a link to good ready rigs, please link. I feel I should have started with some of the provided characters rigs in contents folder and customized that to my characters, but unfortunately did not do that.

Oh yes, I feel the same.

[fish]

You might wanna check out ACS4, Thomas4D Rigging Tools or simular autoriggers ( check Flay ). You get a very usable and stable rig in no time for plain vanilla characters. I used to rig my characters myself, but lately I use ACS4 and maybe customize the rig a little. It's much faster and works very well.

All you have to do is tweak some template skelegons to match your character in modeler, convert that into a complete rig in Layout and you're ready to go.

Not much fun if you want to learn how to rig though :-)

Fish

http://www.toonafish.nl

Originally posted by Noratio If anyone knows a link to good ready rigs, please link. I feel I should have started with some of the provided characters rigs in contents folder and customized that to my characters, but unfortunately did not do that. Oh yes, I feel the same.

[kumar]

@Noratio Hmm,, interesting,,, but its not that i am new to Lightwave's Rigging... Just that the competion has so much tools packed into it that LW's toolset need improve and soon... To avoid loss. I have looked at the competition's material for the soul purpose of learning the technique. And i am impressed and awed. There is so much i can say if i was to start... but i wont.

@fish Hehe,, i am for sure not looking for a plugin.... I am looking for how to do it effectively in Lightwave.


@All,,, Hmm,,, an advanced Character Rigging Series DVD is a dream i have... Full with LScripts,,, IK/FK.... LowRes HighRes Switching.. Motion Mixer... Maybe a mussle structre creation in LW... How does one go about it.... So far i see no DVD on this topic yet,,, Hopefully when Lightwave matures then we will see something.

[Mark]

Kumar,

You might want to check out this thread:

http://forum.simplylightwave.com/sho...0107#post30107

Seems like an interesting rigging plug...

[kumar]

Interesting... Hmm,,, i like the idea of the controller... Any ideas on how to script such a control...???? Ok ok,,, guess i should let in on why i am researching and buying Dvds... and overall concerntrating on this.....

Well i intend to do a short of my own and in the process show some serious skill,,, which i need to practice too.. Well i dont intend to give out much, just this Mark. I am sure all have watched goofy's instructional video, Well i intend to recreate something like that... one character,, maybe max 2... But i want to ridicule... all the methodology in the world of 3D... Say for example the walkcycle...!!!

So what do you think Mark? Is the idea a sound one.. Interesting? Hmm,,, guess i have some thoughts running around, but will be concepting some of them soon. But the actual work.. hmm need to wait till i travel over before starting.

[Mark]

Unfortunately I've no idea how you'd script a control such as that. I suspect that writing it in script as opposed to a native plugin would cause it to run far too slowly anyhow as for any sort of realistic movement you would want to be carrying out spline based transformations of the mesh as opposed to a straight linear interpolation (we've got endomorphs for that)...

The short sounds interesting. With two characters you could certainly get a decent comedy interplay going as well ... just remember that with any animation - the actual final print is only a part of it - you still need to have a damn good script otherwise it will just fall on its arse (after all, look at FF:Spirits Within - superb animation yet crap story - Square nearly went bankrupt)...

Still, whatever you decide on for the final short - just remember one thing - always strive for excellence...

[kumar]

Thanks, buddy. Not too concerned with the script as i will be focusing on the animation... So that it will do me good as a demo reel. But i do agree that a good story can make or break an animation.


Thanks for everything,,, hmm,, so script will function slowly... Hmm,,, guess i should get my hands dirty to see whats what.