(See any of the King Julien, Boss Baby, or Kung Fu Panda stuff on my DWA reels. I guess it depends on how much and often the character swings from 3qtr to 3qtr view. I have a separate reel for that footage.)įront on should really be used sparing and with good reason, in many situations a character may not even need it. (My Puss-In-Boots rig is a good example of that. Sometimes I'll do the smooth Back to 3Qtr but only when the character is expected to act with his back to the camera. (Check out the Boss Baby footage on my demo reel for examples.)įor the back view rang, I usually only have the three angles: Back3QtrL, Back, BackQtrR, without the smooth turn. In many of my rigs, the character's smooth turning range will be only be from front-to-3qtr view, and depending on how well you animate the character, the 'snap' that occurs from 3qtr to profile can be barely noticeable. This is because it's easier to have a separate rig for the face in this angle, especially when the design requires the mouth to be cut out in the profile (instead of pasted on the side, like you usually see in anime.)
#Make animation like family guy in moho pro 12 full#
For some characters, I've even used a relaxed T-Pose (arms in an 'A' angle) because it worked better for the particular design, but either a traditional T-Pose or arms down the sides of the body ('H' pose?) is normal for most character designs I've worked with.īTW, when I'm asked to create a full rig for a character at work, I usually make a front view that does a smooth 3qtr turn in either direction, and then the rig snaps to a separate 'side view' artwork for the profile. In short, there's no right way or wrong way for every character.
Also, this is more of a thing I do for the legs, and less so for the arms.) Just pick the most common 'pre-bend' direction you anticipate for your character. (Don't worry about committing to a direction in the rig when you're animating the character, you can change the IK's preferred direction by keyframing the bend in the opposite direction. You might want to put a slight 'pre-bend' in the joint of the bones so there is a preferred direction for the IK to bend. This makes is easier to bend the limb in either direction and get the same deformation in either direction.
Tip: Regardless of alignment, it's usually better to draw the artwork for the limbs straightened with no bend in the joint. Naturally, this works for vertical alignment too-that's good for a 'roll' control in the legs but for some character designs, it may work well for the arms too.
Again, it's just easier to manage when you start with a front view, especially if you're using a bi-directional Smart Bone Dial to select the different views.Īs for arm position, I usually do a traditional T-Pose (arms out in T shape.) This is because I often include an 'roll' control for the arms and this is easier to create when the arms are aligned horizontally. But even so, I'd still start with the front view as the primary pose in the Switch layer. It's much harder to set up a turn when the character starts at a 3qtr or side pose.īut if you're not planning to have smooth turns and you're just 'rig-swapping' different angle views (like a Character Wizard rig,) then it doesn't matter. This will give you the same starting point regardless of which direction the character is turning. If your intention is to create a turning character, start with the front pose. I'll assume you want to build a general-purpose rig to re-use for many situations, so I'll focus on that. It depends on how you intend to use the rig in your production.