Glib Rig for Animschool

I rigged this character completely from scratch for the Intro to Rigging course in Animschool. The model was provided by Animschool.

It is my intention to animate a scene with this rig, so I am optimizing it for cartoony animation. For the moment, the expressions are animated with blendshapes controlled by the facial GUI to the left of the head. There is a joint for the jaw, and I plan on adding joints for brows, cheeks, and lips down the line. 

This was my first rig completely from scratch. I've learned a ton in the process and found that rigging is more fun than I ever thought it could be!

Heavy Object Polish

Whew! So when I hit spline, the rotation on the hammer exploded quite extremely. Tried Euler filters, tried reanimating from scratch, and had the same issue. Luckily, my buddy John Fielding is a MASTER of Maya and helped me out. Turns out the rotation order was wrong for how the hammer was spinning. He copied the animation onto a locator and was able to troubleshoot which rotation order was correct. Now I can do that for next time I face an issue like this. I hope to hear critique on this and spruce up the environment and post it to my reel!

Heavy Object Blocking Part 2

Hey! Finished up my blocking pass - instructor said to tone down some of the arm jiggles that happen after he releases the hammer. Even though they are in the reference, its good to clean up the motion for animation - like one would do with motion capture. So now I hit spline and hang on to my butt!

Heavy Object Blocking

Hey! Working on the final assignment for my Animating Characters Class for Animschool.com. The assignment is for a character to interact with a heavy object. Found some footage of soldiers in Afghanistan participating in a Highland strongman competition, which was incredibly all shot on tripod. 

Here is my blocking stage - about a pose every 10 frames. Went back to stepped this time for blocking. I had been doing autotangents for blocking since I was doing cycles. I feel a lot more comfortable in stepped, and I am pretty happy with this pass. I'll post next week with revisions from class and blocking every 2-6 frames. Enjoy!

Running Jump Assignment

The second assignment for my first semester at animschool.com is a running jump. Again, the main goals here are achieving realism with body mechanics. I did push the jump some, since it is a pretty unrealistic distance to jump over. I feel like I have come a long way, even since the first assignment.

From the crit, my instructor said to decrease the length of the jump, as he seems to be being propelled by a rocket a bit in the air. Also, on the landing, the end needs work. He was saying the final step should happen sooner, and there should be another step after that. Finally, he said to slow down the standing up at the end, and overlap more.

Walk to Stop Second Pass Polish

This walk is due tomorrow - I feel like I am mostly there. I want to sleep on it and have fresh eyes in the morning to make any final tweaks. All in all, I know its not perfect, but I need feedback to figure out exactly what is wrong. For me, subtle and highly mechanical animations are the most difficult for me, hence my struggle with this shot. Almost want to start from scratch again now that my method is more solid. 

Cycles are so different from performance pieces, because you are working on everything at once. I think I am pretty happy with it and I am excited to hear what people think of it!

Walk to Stop Progress

Hey guys! Animating a walk to stop now for my first class at AnimSchool. This is my first pass of polish post-blocking. For this walk cycle, I did blocking in autotangents - my first time blocking not stepped and also my first time using autotangents in Maya 2014. Feel free to crit! I am waiting til the final pass of polish before I fix the knee pops - so please try and ignore those!

First Furniture for Sale

I started refurbishing some curb finds and am finding that people throw out furniture that still has great potential. I have been working on a couple tables and several chairs, but here are my first finished pieces. They are solid end tables or nightstands! Got them in very poor condition: covered in faded superhero stickers and paint spills. I sanded off the old finish and all of the stickers, then painted the tops and the insides of the drawers. To make the tops look appealingly weathered, I sanded down the new paint and then sealed it with gloss varnish. I then stained the wood to preserve it and bring out its natural glow. This is the product!

I have sold one already and one is still for sale for $60! Contact me if interested! rory.riggins@gmail.com


http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lac/fuo/3719378511.html

Fetaljuice Animation

For this tweet animation, I tried to play with smears more than last time. What I love so much about 2d is the endless possibility. Things can always be pushed further, so I hope to do that progressively with each animation.

Worked with a voice actor this time and my girlfriend who did the hand lettering. I also added sound effects and music. Overall, I am trying to make these solid, stand-alone ultra-short films.

Banana - Modeling Stage

I am working on a short CG animation mostly from scratch. I will be working with the Morphy rig and also making a couple custom rigs - a banana and a dolphin. I have all but finished up the two models, shown below. Next is the rigging stage for both. This is my first heavy-duty modeling and rigging solo operation since school, so it is a learning process.

Pre-Holiday Update/Animated Tweet

As I continue down the road of unemployment, I have been working on a couple personal projects. I am modeling and rigging a set for a CG short I am going to make. Heading back East for the Holidays in a couple of days so production on that is postponed til January.

I also picked up some work through a friend for http://theimpersonals.com/ - animating tweets! Did this in about a week, from concept to execution.

This was my first time animating hand drawn in quite awhile. It was fun! Also very hard. I struggled with registration throughout the process, but it was cool to apply what I learned in CG to hand drawn. It was also cool to be free of the limits of CG animation.

Merry Christmahaunakwanzaa, etc Happy New Year and Happy New B'ak'tun!

Ram EP

Made an electronic/experimental album. I was principally influenced by Crystal Castles, Fuck Buttons, and Trust. Stream or download for free here:

http://soundcloud.com/roryriggins/sets/ram-ep/

Blocking Pass 2

Hey guys, life's been crazy so it took me awhile to get this done, but I have a new blocking pass! Let me know what you think. I reworked the camera in the first shot and the acting to be more direct. Sorry again for Youtube's slip-sync.

Good Attitude Blocking Pass 2

Animation/Furniture In Progress

Happy Holidays! I'm working on a few things right now: an animation reel piece, a commissioned chess table, and a couch for my new apartment, which has a distinct lack of living room furniture. I have in progress things to show for all of them!

First, and most importantly the animation. I am returning into all-out work mode. I've been able to carve out enough time to finish my first pass of blocking on this piece, and I should have a fair amount of time to work on it over the Christmas break. Link to youtube for that video for that pass:

GoodAttitude_Blocking

Here is the chess table. Definitely a challenge, because my client wants a very clean, modern design, which is outside of my aesthetic, but I think its gonna look pretty great. The top is an Ikea cabinet I bought loose and the circuitry is from and old Mac G5. Lighting is also from Ikea. There is a wheel that controls the color and can either strobe or fade between colors, as well. Shown is just white:

And here is the couch frame so far. I am going to use military tarp for the base, then put cushions on it and a surfboard for the backboard. Supports my weight great and looks a lot better in person haha. Made entirely out of reclaimed wood and driftwood:

Comissioned Furniture Making

A coworker asked me to make a chess table for him, which officially kicked off  my custom furniture business! 

BIG RIG'S CUSTOM FURNITURE

I primarily work with driftwood/reclaimed work, but can work with treated lumber if that is preferred. To give you an idea of the variety of materials I am willing to work with, the chess table I am making involves old circuitry, LED lighting, glass, and treated lumber.

If you would like anything made, feel free to contact me! I am still working on a limited scope (I probably couldn't make you a couch or a bed frame), but am willing to hear any and all proposals! Pricing will vary, based on cost of materials and labor. Southern California clients only please :)

Contact 703.598.7406 or rory.riggins@gmail.com

Here is an end table I made from driftwood. Despite looks, it is actually very stable. This would go for around $60.

RAWArtists Pulse Gallery

Official photo gallery is up from the RAWArtists Pulse event. For everyone who wasn't able to come out, photos are after the jump, which are much better than my cameraphone photos, haha

Full gallery from the event here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rawartists/sets/72157628062258200/

Bunnyman!!

I did some drawings from my brother's rendition of the Bunnyman urban legend from our hometown. You might know the Bunnyman legend from its appearance in Donnie Darko, though that depiction sways pretty far from the legend. In ultra-truncated form: a man in a bunny suit - who is the ghost of an escaped madman - hunts whoever goes under his bridge on Halloween night, armed with an ax. These drawings are my interpretation of the legend.

Cars!

Fiat has a vinyl wrap competition going on, so of course I spent the time to make one, haha. I based it off of an old Multipla that was inspired by boat styling. And yes, there are certainly old-style rims and whitewall tires involved. It is on a dock because it is a boat. Here is the result of that effort:

Also, I am working on a car design that I can model in Maya for my demo reel. It is still in its infant stages, but I'll share what I have so far:

New Gallery // RAWArtists

I will be showcasing work in a gallery put on by RAWArtists October 27th in Santa Monica at VLounge. I will be showing both CG Animation work and my woodworking, which should be a fun juxtaposition. If you click here, or on the link below, you can both see my profile and buy tickets for the event. It is $10 a ticket, and they must be bought in advance. Come out, it should be amazing!

http://www.rawartists.org/view-artists/userprofile/biiigriiig

Sketch Dump // Hands

I am struggling with the 3d modeling of the hands right now on my Cowboy Western character right now. So I basically spent all yesterday drawing hands and watching tutorials. When I finally turned to the model, I was able to completely rework the hand. I'll post that model when its done - but for now here is a sketch dump of some of my hand drawings. Pardon the pen, all I had was a crappy work pen haha