1) Menu Bar
2) Tabs
2a) Picker
2b) Face Controls
2c) Pose Maker
3) FK IK Controls
4) FK IK Match Buttons
5) Face Switcher
6) Eye Switcher
7) Camouflage Method
8) Camouflage Switcher
9) Accesoiries Controls
10) Modules
This Rig and all of its content was created April/May 2005 by M.S.R Kiessling.
It is free to use for anyone for non-commercial purposes.
Just send me a link so I can see some animations you created with this Rig.
Feel free to analyze the script (or steel the lines, I don't care....)
As the name indicates, this character is intended as an enemy combatant for
video games. The model is designed to create many variations by implementing
various textures, faces, accessories and utilize vertex coloring. The mesh,
including all items, for each soldier counts 3948 triangles and 31 joints
were used for the skeleton (compiled of 25 skin joints and 6 non-skin joints).
The model contains the following textures:
Four 512x512 textures for the uniforms
(One for each camoflage pattern, only one is actually used at any given time
per character)
One 256x256 texture for shoes, hands, and belt
(This texture stays the same for each character variation)
Five 256x256 textures for the faces
(One for each face pattern, only one is actually used at any given time per
character)
Five 256x256 textures for the helmet
(One for each camouflage pattern, only one is actually used at any given time
per character)
One 256x256 texture for the M-4
One 128x128 texture for the M-9 handgun
Three 128x128 textures for the grenades
(One per greande)
Although I used to include a quick explanation of the controls in previous
rigs, I'm taking this feature out.
I feel that the controls are pretty straight forward by either their placement
or their name, so this section is just a waste of my time (that I could use
to start the next rig).
As a rule of thumb, if it's next to the foot, it probably drives the foot
and so forth.
This rig includes some new feature this time around and allows
for some neat customization.
Since the UI is pretty big, the tabs are collapsed by default.
1) Menu Bar
The menu bar contains two option menus.
File contains the command to close the UI.
? contains the link to this help.
2) Tabs
The tabs let you switch between the PICKER(2a), the FACECAM(2b) and
the POSE MAKER(2c).
2a) Picker
The Picker is a quick way to select any of the controls. The short
names should be self-explanatory.
It also includes a shortcut tio show or hide all the controls.
If you feel comfortable using the picker, this is a great way to animate without
clustering the viewport with all the control objects.
2b) Face Controls
Includes all of the attributes to pose and animate the face.
Use the button below to select the face control if you don't see the channels.
Since the rig has a pretty low joint count, there are only a few
things to animate in the face.
possible are jaw movements as well as some basic blinking. The control object
of the face also allows to switch between the faces.
the buttons below the viewport allow to reset the face cam and create clips
and poses.
2c) Pose Maker
This window contains a viewport of the full body, buttons to select
the character sets and buttons to create clips and poses.
3) FK IK Controls
This control contains sliders for switching between IK and FK on
the arms and for manipulating the shoulders. These are the same controls found
on the FK/IK control object.
4) FK IK Match Buttons
The six buttons below the FK/IK attribute sliders let you match
the FK to the IK arm skeleton (and likewise) of the respective arm as well
as reset the FK control to default.
5) Face Switcher
Part of the customize tab, these five buttons are used to apply differnt
faces to the character.
6) Eye Switcher
These five buttons are used to switch the eye colors.
This feature uses vertex color only. Choose from four of the presets, or create
your own eyecolor.
7) Camouflage Method
This option menu lets you specify how the uniform changes colors.
8) Camouflage Switcher
The five buttons are used to aplly changes to the uniform and helmet. Depending
on your selection in (7), either a different texture is aplied, or the mesh
is manipulated using vertex color.
Note that the effects of vertex color might be less than desirable.
The custom button only works for vertex color.
9) Accesoiries Controls
This section combines attributes of all the accessories.
You can choose to show/hide them, constrain them to various positions, and
select or key them.
Play around, you figure it out.
10) Modules
These four buttons provide an easy way to open the graph editor,
the trax editor, the visor and the dope sheet.
This sections includes some bullet points to be aware off in order to avoid
any problems.
* Never animate the Move_All_CTRL.
* Always select a character set before creating a pose or a clip in the Pose
Maker window
* Never animate anything else than the control objects and the attributes
included therein.
* Never rename anything in the scene. The rig won't work if you do.
* The first time you use the Rig, you should select the whole character set
( SELECT ALL in the Pose Maker Window) and create a pose so you can always
revert back to the default stance.
* Although some attributes are limited, many are not. Some flipping can occur.
To prevent this, either lock
the flipping joints manually or use a less extreme pose. The rig should work
fine for most situations. The decision not to limit every single attribute
was made because it is easier to lock and limit certain things manually depending
on the need than to manually navigate through the channel box and unlock/unlimit
them.
e.g. the shoulders are not locked, but work fine to an upward rotation of
80 degrees. Anything above should be compensated with the clavicle controls
(on the FK/IK switcher).
* To get a more visual reference for all the poses, render a frame of the
pose with a resolution of 64 x 64, from the render view select View>Grab
swatch to Hypershade , and , with the visor open, MMB drag the swatch onto
the newly created pose/clip. I would have included that, but then I thought...Yeah,
whatever.
* This Rig was created using a resolution of 1600 x 1200. If your resolution
doesn't show the UI completely, use the collapse buttons on top of each frame
to shrink the UI.
The UI is merely intended to ease some of the aspects of animating, but it
is not required to use the UI.
Almost everything can be done using only the control objects.
Only exceptions are the FK to IK/IK to FK match buttons, the create Pose/Clip
buttons (although those are accessible under Animate>Create Clip/Pose ).
* As mentioned above, the character is intended as a game character, therefore
it doesn't contain any blendshapes or other fixes (like influence objects)
to improve the look of certain problem areas (shoulders, hips, ..)
* I'm more a modeler than a programmer, so I'm sure there are a lot of lines
of code that are totally unnecessary and too much and whatever, but it works.
* Don't ever try to pass this rig on as your own (I'll find you).
Please feel free to contact me with any suggestions, critiques, questions, problems or jobs at
Jeff Bernstein for getting me hooked on MEL
Tom Meade for an awesome rigging class
Folgers for great coffee
And big thanks to whoever invented Poppy Seeds bagels
Very VERY special thanks to me, without whom
this all wouldn't be possible.
(c) 2005 M.S.R. Kiessling www.mk3d.com