The Snazzies: "Tim" Saggy Skinning Complete

Hey Catherine,

Apologies on the delay of this as I told you on the phone there were extra difficulties due to the nature of the rig. This is not a normal set of principles so I felt my way through this one. BE WARNED this post is going to be a bit technical in nature so please wear your crash helmet and protective cup! The good news is I only have to finish the rigging and get some face shapes and your good to go! Please click any of these to enlarge.

The image above shows the original Saggy diagram I knocked up after my initial attempt (which resulted in failure). This surprisingly wasn't far from the mark the main issue was the arms because the belt is a little twisted. There were also unnecessary joints which I removed as I went along. We also added a joint in where the left side arms connect just to give a little extra twist in the rotations of the left hand belt.

The close up animated gifs above show you the functionality of the rig rotations (which essentially create your characters movement). When we get down the line we will probably think about adding FK functionality but for now this should suffice. I created a series of animations to test how the skin weight reacted between their joints. Having an effective rig means having decent skinning so the joints know how to move between each other.

The animated gifs above this show the legs, head top and head bottom joints being rotated. The joints are skin-weighted between each other to create a realistic crease/fold or any surface deformation. One of the other factors for this process taking longer is also because this is higher poly then we had originally planned. Higher poly means there are more points to accurately weight and of course we have to trouble shoot their influence.

The animated gif series above shows the rotations on his left and right forearms, wrist & arms. There is also an arm span test which creates a kind of clapping animation but its to test his arm reach. Last but not least there is a test to show his shoulder rotations from where the belt connects to his base. I think you will agree it is nicely divided. I will also note that these were rendered out "unsmoothed" just to save time on the rendering.

The single animated gif image above is just to show you how the his right belt arm coils (it does this better then the side with the buckle). We believed that it makes more sense that the side with the buckle is more rigid because he actually has a metal hand with a single metallic digit. Originally the belt buckle had multiple joints but I removed them because it was more believable that metal wouldn't bend (the exception being his finger).

Last but not least we have my diagram of the final result through feeling my way through this character rig. Obviously we still have the eye-blink and tongue influence to add but that will be much easier. The core elements were the trickiest as you can see throughout this post. I'm expecting things to go more smooth now then they have been. I just thought id update you just sorry I wasn't able to sooner.

Please let me know when you have had a chance to look!
xXStItChXx

The Snazzies: Current Snazzy Scales

Hey Catherine,

Okay Catherine going by the email you sent your are now happy with how they look its just a scaling issue. I sat down and threw all of the characters so far in one scene (even our draft Slinky). Basically we go by her scale divide her in half and add a centimetre back. I wanted the waist of the Saggy to kind of line up with the Slinky's I also considered eye size and arm span. Again technical considerations.

The image above shows the characters in orthographic view lined up in the same scene. From your emails I ascertained that Stitch is the smallest (in this case 6cm shorter then Tim). This means that Ross will be the tallest (possibly 5-6 cm taller then Tim). The Slinky is obviously the tallest (I'm not sure about the other Slinkys). Anyway they look good together so I think this is probably correct.

Next is a clean perspective shot looking up at the Slinky on the far (tallest) end. I rendered this and lost the black background so you could see Stitch a bit better. If you have any further concerns with the height please let me know how tall you see them being obviously. I think I have emphasized how you shouldn't scale this down after they are rigged so environments etc will have to be scaled for these characters.

Last but not least is the final sizes in Feet (the image is front perspective). Again I am willing to hear your concerns about these but I need to know this before I rig. We don't want to be downsizing/up scaling after the rig is implemented. Anyway I think this is a nice balance of size and it has a nice bit of realism binding it (jeans are 3 foot from the ground - the long boxer shorts add a foot).

Please get back to me once you have had a gander!
xXStItChXx

The Snazzies: "Tim" & "Stitch" Saggy Rig Ready

Hey Catherine,

Okay barring our collaboration on "Rose" the Slinky I thought it was time for you to give us your final sign off on the first two characters (Tim & Stitch). The renders in this post are from clean Maya scenes with a drop in lighting set. The various, textures, nodes, bump maps, etc. are all named and are made part of a hierarchy. The Maya models (and their components) are grouped and complete. I call this "Rig Ready".

The images above give you a final close up of each of their faces. Obviously prior posts have a good view of the front so please check back on those if need be. This post is to also confirm that you like the new hearts texture on the "Stitch" Saggy (taken from your email). I hope that this is acceptable and that we can move on with the other characters when we meet. Ross is working on the last (Ross) Saggy as we speak.

Last but not least are the two characters from the front in the same camera space. The only thing for me to figure out is the Maya units (height) of each character. As I told you I will work this out from the base Saggy (Tim) but it will probably be easier to do when we have every character in the "Rig Ready" stage. I will do confirmation posts for each character once they are Rig Ready. They require just your final say so.

So yeah just confirm these now and 4 characters remain.
xXStItChXx

The Snazzies: Slinky Texture Turnaround Mk2

Hey Catherine,

Okay apologies for the silence but we have been working hard getting things together. You will have all of the characters by the 24/25 deadline (bar the rigging of course). We are hoping to have a quick week so were looking to get everything confirmed as soon as you possibly can. Please send this to whoever you have to and obviously let us know what you think. We are happy with how she looks and would like confirmation before doing the colour alternates.

The animated gif above shows the slinky "Rose" in her textured state. Dress seams have been added and I think you will agree it flows a lot better. The rose has been resized and based on the revised mesh detail it should be more or less what you were looking for. As always please let us know if there is anything you do not like but be aware that we may have to charge you if changes become more drastic.

I just added these images in as per your request. Apologies again for the hastiness within these turnarounds I forget that they can be a little jarring for someone looking to examine them. I have done a front, side and back render (at three quarter perspective angles for a little dynamism). Again send this around if you want hopefully we can tackle her together when we meet soon.

Please let us know what you think!
xXStItChXx

The Snazzies: Stitch Saggy Texture Turnaround

Hey Catherine,

Ross asked that I also post up some turnarounds for you to have a gander at so that is what this post is about. I went a bit to town on turnarounds just because I thought you'd want to see more intimate details. Not just the surface texture but how things look "under the hood" so to speak. My mandate with you was not just to create the characters but make you aware of the process for future ventures.

The image above shows the Stitch Saggy at its base level with no detail. Everything else we added to it after this point was all smoke and mirrors as you well know. The core geometry is quite simple but the shape is different to the original Saggy (which we have affectionately named "Bee" for its bumble bee coloured boxers shorts lol). I thought this post should only be about turnarounds so please continue.

The next image shows the Saggy with its core normals and of course the wire of the model itself. This is there to show that the detail/high details are in fact a texture map. The wire is also there to show the continuity of the model that it is entirely quad and is for the most part has a good flow. I will say once again for the record that these are Ross's adaptations from the original (Bee).

Last but not least is the textured turnaround (and the entire point of the post). This is in addition to the normal maps underneath and in a nicely lit scene. Ross is happy with how he looks and I have to say I concur here. The boxers are probably his favourite part (are you guys trying to say I have a heart? lol). We hope you like how he looks obviously theres only one more to go and the Slinky is coming along nicely.

Please let Ross know what you think as soon as you can.
xXStItChXx

The Snazzies: Stitch Saggy Texture Renders

Hey Catherine,

Okay this is a post on the behalf of Ross (as you know he's not one for typing on a blog haha). I would just like to point out though that while this is me typing and organising his post online the work within this post is his in its entirety. With that said there will also be a bit of referring to the original Saggy design so you can see a direct comparison without jumping between posts (click to enlarge).

The images above show my original Saggy with Ross's jean rendition of me (thanks btw lol). The jean texture is entirely different to mine and the shape of the model is vastly different. The gloves are only in one eye and they are brown. The belt is also a significant change to my original. I could go into how much the model is different but mostly it comes down to the textures as you well know.

Our textures differentiate as we wear completely different jeans. Ross's have a more rich blue and very little fade like mine. The only part we seem to harmonize on is the buttons (we used the same online image). Its a fly in the ointment though you can hardly tell that the buttons are identical. Our belts are also significantly different Ross made his life harder with one which had lots of holes but it looks good!

The texture maps themselves are also quite sleek. The image above shows another comparison between the original and the new "Stitch". Ross went to town on the normal maps to make the character as different in form as diffuse texture. We have even played putting them in a scene together its quite a thing to see. We will post you up some more stuff as we proceed but the main Slinky and Saggy remain priority.

Last but not least are the two characters rendered in full (the original vs. the new "stitch"). They are rendered in slightly different perspective so don't let that trick you. They are quite similar in size (with the exception of a few inches - Ross's intention). The texturing is still super tight and as you can see they both look amazing together. Ross hopes that this is acceptable for a texture job!

Let us know if there is any problems!
xXStItChXx

The Snazzies: Slinky Shape Revision

Hey Catherine,

Okay sorry for the delay on this I had a bit of additional work last week so I was jumping between a few bits (finished the lawn finally too lol). Anyway I managed to sit down for a few hours this weekend and adjust the shape of your Slinky. The next step is to go and do the UV mapping again and then the texturing. I'm thinking these will be pretty quick the second time round. Anyway lets get on with it.

The image above shows a few choice stills which show the adjusted model I thought you'd want to see it still in addition to another turnaround. I corrected the ear (side head hole) and added a back hole as your side turnaround showed as much. I tried to make the sides actually look like ears (in shape), I hope that's okay. The body is also adjusted I flattened the front and widened out the behind the dress also drags more natural to the floor.

The next image is the head close up just so you could get a better look without having to zoom into the first image. Again I tried to compensate the curve flow of the body just because it looked weird when I didn't. I had to adjust the model polys so its going to be possibly a complete remap of the entire body. I also made her eyes bigger and angled them a little higher. This meant I also had to realign the lashes and eyes.

Last but not least is my usual 99 frame AO/Wire turnaround just so you can see everything (albeit briefly). Again I am going to need you to confirm that you are happy with this shape before proceeding. We need to get this wrapped up so I can start UV mapping and retexture the model. I will take reference from the images you sent when considering the normal maps as well as the colour. I hope you like the adjustments but all the same let me know.

I hope you had a lovely weekend!
xXStItChXx