Adding Control Points to the Character
Once the rigging was complete I then moved onto adding in the control points for the character. This was quite a lengthy process but I went through the model adding in the different types of controls throughout. While following the guide my control points had to be size-ably different to the ones in the guide due to the fact that my model was a lot bigger, but they still do the same function.
I started by adding in all of the control points that used a circle, which were most of them going up the spine and then also the elbows. This meant that they can be rotated easily and quickly and also wrap around the body well.
I then moved onto adding in the eye control points, which were snapped to the end of the eye geometry and then moved out slightly so that they could be controlled easier. I made one for each eye and then one in the middle of the two, which was slightly smaller, that would control both of them at the same time.
I then duplicated another circle and moved it down to the bottom of the model and circled around the feet, but this time changing the shape slightly to match the foot, mine being quite a chunky looking shape, before doing the same for the other foot.
I then used the CV Curve tool so that I could create my master control, in which I made a 4 headed arrow shape so that it could sit under my model.
I then also used the CV Curve tool to create the control points for the hands, which used the cubic curve in order to make it curve instead of just being a straight linear. This then wrapped around the edge of the hand and was duplicated across onto the right one as well.
I then did the eyebrow controls in which I simple duplicated the eyes and moved them up and then changed them so that they were more eyebrow shaped, just so I could distinguish which one was which as on my model they were fairly close together.
I then made two arrow shaped CV Curves which would be snapped to the should joints and pushed backwards behind the model to control the clavicles.
I then added another curve in the middle of the two and made it slightly bigger for the spine 3 control point. I also added a bend deformer into this one, again so I could easily tell the difference between them, and made it curve towards the model slightly.
I then used two locators and placed these in the knees, or the around about area of the knee on the model and then pulled it away from the geometry so it sat in front. This is going to act as the control point for the knee joint and will move it up and down.
I then added in the shoulder control point, in which I created my own shape again, which was just a half circle and put it over the shoulder, duplicating it and doing the same on the other side.
I then created the control point for the jaw, using the geometry on the face as a guide line. This was actually pretty difficult on my model as it had to go all the way round the face in order for the mouth to open, but in the end it worked and looks okay.
Lastly I went through and added in the extra control points for my model in order for the stomach to move, in which I added in a locator and then for the tail to move, if we wanted it too, in which i just added in circles.
I then did a quick bit of tidying up and ensuring that all of the control points were rotating from the right place before moving on.
Once all of the control points were on, I set about colouring them accordingly. I wanted everything on the left hand side to be coloured blue, everything on the right coloured red and then everything in the middle coloured yellow, with the exception of the master control being coloured white. This is just another way of distinguishing all of the control points.
After all of the control points were in the correct place I started to constrain them. This meant that I could attach the control points to the skeleton in order to it to move it into the position that I wanted. This was a fairly simple process using the constrain menu to be able to attach the controls and I simply had to ensure that I picked the right option to go with that joint, in this case, firstly I did all of the controls that needed the orient constraint.
Then quickly at this point I also parented all of the control points up so that everything in the end was being controlled primarily by the root control/joint.
I then continued constraining the joints, this time doing the facial controls, but using the aim constraint this time instead as the eyes would be moving in all directions and not just rotating.
Finally I constrained the legs, which used a different type of constraint, which is a reverse IK handle. This is because it isn't the root of the model that controls the legs, the feet do and the root reacts to it, it's the only part of the body that does this as the rest is driven by the root primarily. I also parented the IK handles to the correct foot controller so that when there all selected they all move upwards. I then also constrained the two knee locators to the IK handle via a pole vector constraint so that it could operate the twist.
No comments:
Post a Comment