Inspired 3D Character Setup: Basic Building Blocks of Effective Character Creation

Michael Ford and Alan Lehman take us through the step-by-step process of planning the setup of a 3D character. While these steps may sound time consuming the authors assure us it will pay off in the end! The second of several excerpts from the book, Inspired 3D Character Setup.

By Mike Ford and Mike Ford | Friday, July 25, 2003 at 12:00 am

Posted In | Magazines: VFXWorld

If you look at the Docs in the “MEL Command Reference” and click on the “xform,” it shows the composition of the transformations using a 4 x 4 matrix to calculate each component of the overall transformation. The matrix is defined by:

scale pivot matrix * scale matrix * shear matrix * scale pivot inverse matrix * scale translate matrix * rotate pivot matrix * axis rotation matrix * rotate order * rotate pivot inverse matrix * rotate translate matrix * translation matrix.

It’s a good idea to have at least a basic understanding of the transformation matrices that are being performed in Maya. One thing to take into consideration is the order in which Maya evaluates these matrices. This is good information to keep in the back of your mind as you are trying to solve tough problems that may arise when creating a character. A specific area of interest is the rotation order of an object. As we learned earlier in this chapter, Maya allows you to re-order this section of the transformation matrix in order to facilitate improved control of your rotations. This change in rotation order affects the order in which rotations are calculated in your transformation matrix.

Summary
Although you may never need to learn all of the mathematical functions that make your 3D software tick, you will benefit from knowing just what happens when you set a move, a pivot, or a rotate in gimbal space. 3D software is complex and can be overwhelming, so look at the basic parts of it to figure it all out. Remember that the most basic functions of 3D graphics are universal. Discover, learn, and apply these basic fundamentals and you will be well on your way to expanding your knowledge of your 3D software package. In the next chapter we’ll be discussing attributes, channels and constraints — all-important elements of the 3D machine.

To learn more about Smooth Skinning deformers, the process of analyzing storyboards and other topics of interest to animators, check out Inspired 3D Character Setup by Michael Ford and Alan Lehman, series edited by Kyle Clark and Michael Ford. Boston, MA: Premier Press, 2002. 268 pages with illustrations. ISBN: 1-931841-51-9 ($59.99). Read more about all four titles in the Inspired series and check back to VFXWorld frequently to read new excerpts.


Alan Lehman (left), Mike Ford (center) and Kyle Clark (right).

Author Alan Lehman, an alumnus of the Architecture School at Pratt Institute, is currently a technical animator at Sony Pictures Imageworks, as well as a directed studies advisor in the Animation Studies Program at USC's School of Cinema-Television.

Series editor and author Michael Ford is a senior technical animator at Sony Pictures Imageworks and co-founder of Animation Foundation. A graduate of UCLA’s School of Design, he has since worked on numerous feature and commercial projects at ILM, Centropolis FX and Digital Magic. He has lectured at the UCLA School of Design, USC, DeAnza College and San Francisco Academy of Art College.

Series editor Kyle Clark is a lead animator at Microsoft's Digital Anvil Studios and co-founder of Animation Foundation. He majored in Film, Video and Computer Animation at USC and has since worked on a number of feature, commercial and game projects. He has also taught at various schools including San Francisco Academy of Art College, San Francisco State University, UCLA School of Design and Texas A&M University.