Importance of Rigging for a Character Artist?
Hello all,
While I am currently learning my foundations, I have found that many character artists leave posing more as an after-thought…
I almost always see posing getting left towards the end of the project but is there a tutorial that covers the importance of creating a skeleton / skinning your block-out model as early as possible? I have seen @pior mention this a couple times this year and realized he is stressing how the character creation process is not as linear as it may seem.
Most tutorials will mention that they use a basemesh to save time. And from what I can infer, the basemesh that they use would probably (ideally) be skinned by the rigging department at a studio. However, posing the character often gets tacked on very briefly (if at all) by the end of the tutorial, leading some people to probably believe that they shouldn’t have to really worry about basic rigging.
I’m honestly not sure how much of a problem saving the rig for last can be as I’m sure it depends on the complexity of the mesh. But I have a strong feeling that proxy rigs are built just as early or around the same time a character begins its creation. Despite all the other important things a character artist should know first and foremost, I feel as if knowing this workflow and how to implement it will become invaluable down the line.
It would be a great insight to see how the proxy rig is affecting the sculpting phase, as well as the early process of the character making its way into the game engine for testing. While that may seem like a long and boring sequence of trial and error to watch, I think it really reminds people that your game character is going to have different animations and not just remain a pretty sculpt / stand idle in a relaxed t-pose all day.
tl;dr: Is there a tutorial for character creation that emphasizes skinning your block-out model as early as possible?
Replies
If you test deformation (even with crude, partial Rigs) before handing meshes over you will quickly make friends with the tech artists
A good rule of thumb (regardless of your chosen discipline) is that you should know how to do what the next person in the pipeline does - you don't have to be an expert but knowing the basics will mean you're less likely to hand them something they will have trouble with.