Lonato

The character was needed for a mix of very simple to moderate animation, so I took this opportunity to do my first IK/FK blend setup, making it so the animator can chose which method to adopt depending on the shot. This also meant making an FK control chain for the first time ever, as previously I have only ever worked with IK’s. Luckily this time my knowledge of rigging tools and techniques was more than enough to make it a dauntless challenge, although I did spend a bit of extra time working out various ways of doing the switch and making it work. Ultimately I prefer the spinal setup used in Bare Bear and Jed, but it should definitely prove useful knowing the switch technique. This was also the first character I ever succeeded in making fully scalable.

Lonato was Also my second proper attempt at making an animator friendly facial GUI, and modeling blend shapes (I did about half of them). Since the Willie Billiams attempt I've generally become a lot more comfortable with rigging techniques and manipulating curves, so this GUI was considerably better than the first; for starters this one actually resembles a face!