OJI
FACIAL RIG
2019
Project Summary
For my Technical Arts class, we were tasked with creating a rigged model with control points. Although not too complex, I had never created a rig in Maya before, meaning there was a lot to learn. On top of this, I decided to push myself out of my comfort zone. Having made character body rigs before, I wanted to learn something new as well as useful. Based on this, I focused on creating a facial rig.
Since the graded area of this task was the model and rig, I used artwork of an original character (Oji) by Kelsey Dawidowski as a starting point. By using artwork that has already been created, my theory was I could save time on design and get straight to the main aspects of the project.
While rigging the face, I also learned about blend shapes and how to effectively apply them. As well as this, I looked into how to create constraints for my control points and how to make them more intuitive for animators. My main goals in this project were not only to learn about creating a facial rig but how to create a rig that was animator friendly. In my mind, this meant creating a rig with plenty of control of several aspects of a model while being easy to manipulate.
As far as rigs go, I was very pleased with the outcome of this piece. I intend to go further with this character/rig once I have the time to do so. I hope to add rigged hair as well as a fully rigged body. With the skills I already had mixed with the new skills I obtained during this project, I feel this is very achievable.