1. About how many Character TD's work on a film? And how long will it take that team of people to complete their job of setting up all of the characters?
2. After most setup work is completed, what is the role of the character TD? Do you assist the animators with making their life by creating tools for them, or do you generally move on to the next project? How does the process work?
3. in your opinion, is there a strong need for more and better TD's in the industry? or are there plenty? At the college I attend, there are very few people that are interested in the dicipline and a ton that are interested in animation, lighting ext. I know that you don't need as many character TD's on a show as you need animators, least I don't think, so that might balance it out.
4. I know that good communication with the animator is an essential skill to have, how would I go about demonstrating to a potential employer that I have that quality. Would it show in the work, or more so in the interview?
5. And I heard a term mentioned controlling silhouettes, I know that looking at a silhouette is useful for the animator so that can make sure their pose can be read easily, but what exactly is silhouette control?
Your English is perfectly fine! I understood everthing you asked, don't worry. Besides... your English is WAY better than my Italian!
I am 37 years old. And old timer in this industry!
You would want to know how the character in question moves before rigging. How it is to move. What performance they are expecting from it. These are the golas you will set as a target. This can be done by getting character drawings in addition to see the story reels or storyboards. "Real world" reference can help also.
For faces, the pipeline tends to dictate which deformation method is used. I have worked in places where faces are deformed using blendshapes, joints, clusters and a combination of all three. this last approach I prefer; affords the most flexibility and allows for precise art direction also.
When I first started the rigger would build the blendshapes at the studio I was at. Now modelers will typically do this. But once again it is a matter of resources and pipeline. Also, the modelers here are way better than I am!
Aaron - unfortunately many of your questions vary not only from studio to studio but also from show to show. Each project sits down, looks at who they have, how much work they have and go from there. On a feature animated movie anywhere between 10 and 20 I would guesstimate.
Same for the time it takes to complete a film. Some studios spend many, many years whereas others get lucky and do it far more quickly. Once you are done rigging all the characters... well, it depends on the pipeline, studio and needs of the production. Some riggers will stay on and help write tools or clean up shots. Others will move on to other projects.
Your personality will show through during a face to face interview. Character TDs often need to work closely with modelers and animators and I have noticed that many of my colleagues have pretty mellow personalities.
The people who work as character TDs love it and there are not many of us. But more and more. The need for these people varies on the needs of the productions that are out there.
Hello, I had a question about the new fullbody ik setup in maya 7. I was wondering if you have tried it out. I have been using it lately as my primary rig to get good at animation , it seems to be very user friendly but some what different from the regular rig. Do you have any feedback on this , do you think this could be used in the pipeline eventually? I havent been sure about it so Ive' been learning both rigs.
Thanks a ton for taking some time out of your busy schedule for us!
You mentioned a "freeform deformer" in an earlier post... Could you give a bit more detail about what exactly that is? It sounds like it would be a little more complicated than a simple lattice or something.
Also, along the same lines, could you talk about some of the rigs you've used/created for faces? I get so frustrated with the old bland-shape way of animating and I'd love to be able to grab a face and smoosh it into whatever shape I want. If you have any tips or links to resources on how that can be accomplished (and I know it can, I've seen what you crazy Disney people can do) I'd really appreciate it. We're working on some new characters at work and I'd love to have that sort of control in the rigs.
I have not used the Maya 7 FBIK all that much. Some some minor tests to play around with this feature early on. But for the rigs I have been building, animators want more than anything to isolate motion. They want to be able to pose one part of the body, nail it down then pose another without affecting what they have already done.
So for that reason I cannot see it being used much in the types of characters I have built at the feature animation studios I've worked at.
As for "freeform deformers," I guess what I mean is something like a silhouette offset for the arms or legs. Something an animator can grab and tug into the shape they want. As if the limb was a water hose (i.e. old-school 2D animation). I might have also meant deformers that you can use to "plus" or tweak larger, more defined deformations like blendshapes.
For faces I have used just a few paradigms depending on the studio/pipeline. Joint-based, Blendshapes (I like your term "bland-shapes," even if it was a typo!) and direct deformations (i.e. clusters, etc.). I imagine the best would be a combination of all three, which is perfectly doable!
Did you ever have to use other software than the one you know the best (I assume Maya). If yes how difficult was to translate your proven methods to other packages?
Do you use a lot of procedural rigging in your work? Like a script for building a spine foundation etc.
1. Do you see yourself as a td/rigger 10 years from now? 20 years?
2. Do you play an instrument? if so, which one?
3. Do you have your demo reel that you used to get into Disney, online?
4. Do you think we've reached the peak of rigging in terms of innovation? or is there still more that can be explored rigging wise? If so, what do you see as the next big thing to be seen in rigging? i.e. latest craze is stretchy limbs.
5. If 1 = red, and 2 = white, then what does 3 = ?
thanks again for taking the time to do this Aaron.
Yeah, as an animator, when I heard about Maya's FBIK, I thought "why would I want that?" Once ya start animating the torso by pulling the hand, while also animating it with the hips--you could run into a mess trying to fix curves.
I have to say, there is nothing more freeing than working with a good rig, that deforms the character well, and gives the animator the ability to apply all those principles that can really accentuate the movement, arcs, and poses. And there's nothing more frustrating than animating one that doesn't do those things So great job on Robinsons--I think I speak for a lot of animators when I say that everytime I see a clip, I think "man, I wish I could animate with that rig!"
I was wondering, do you have any free rigs available for download? Also, would you say your tutorials are geared more towards the non-technically minded animator or the Character TD student?
Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience. I've thought of some specific questions I didn't see anyone else ask:
I saw that you mentioned PSDs earlier (I'm assuming pose shape deformers). Are you using in house tools for that, or publicly available tools like Mike Comet's PSD tool?
Also, are you guys using Maya's interfaces for your custom interfaces, Javascript web type interfaces, or interfaces written in the plug in language?
If Javascript or the plug in language, do you as a CTD also write interfaces in those languages?
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Steph Greenberg
"Asking people about their opinions is a very good way of making friends. Telling them about your own opinions can also work, but not always quite as well." Douglas Adams, "The Salmon of Doubt" http://casadiablos.com/steph/
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So great job on Robinsons--I think I speak for a lot of animators when I say that everytime I see a clip, I think "man, I wish I could animate with that rig!"