Character Design Research

Character Design Research Summarisation

In this essay I will be describing the roles of the Character Modeller, Technical Director and Character Rigger in the Animation production Pipeline.

The role of 3D Character Modeller

In the Animation Production Pipeline, the role of a character modeller is to create 3D character representations using 3D modelling software, such as Maya, Cinema4D, Lightwave or 3DS Max, based on poses and turn arounds drawn by designers in the pre-production stage. Sometimes the Character Modeller will have creative input into the appearance of a character, saying what is and isn't possible, or what would or wouldn't work when it came to making the character move.

The role of Technical Director

In the Animation Production Pipeline a Technical Director's (TD's) responsibilities vary from studio to studio so the job description is not very well defined.

Normally a Technical Director is a mix of an artist and a programmer, responsible for the more technical aspects of film production, such as programming shaders, developing character rigs and animation setups, performing complex simulation tasks and setting up the pipeline; how the data is passed from one stage in the film production to the next. Compared to a programmer, a ‘TD’ would normally not work on large programming projects but rather make heavy use of scripting languages such as Python, MEL, or MAXScript or shell scripting. Another responsibility of a ‘TD’ is to look after any technical problems the regular artists encounter and to develop custom tools to improve the artists' work flow.

The role of Character Rigger

A character rigger designs and creates the skeletal framework of a person, creature or generally moving/deforming object. He or she constructs a computer generated 3D wire frame of a character then positions joints and points of movement, like axis around which a limb can rotate and pivot. These points are manipulated to make the character jump, stretch, smile, or produce any other combination of natural movements like a marionette. This is done using rigging tools such as Maya or Motionbuilder and MEL scripting to simplify repetitive tasks and create fluid pipelines.

The character rigger builds virtual character skeletons and control rigs, sets deformable weighting, applies skins, creates facial shapes, all of which are later used by the animator to bring the character to life. The rigger will also write MEL scripts to streamline art production pipelines and develop new pipeline solutions to adapt to the changing needs of the animation team and keep up with workflow.

These are the individual roles and responsibilities of the: ‘Modeller’, ‘Technical Director’ and ‘Character Rigger’. This is what they contribute to the Animation Production Pipeline. I will now describe how these divisions of the Animation Production Pipeline interact with the other areas involved.

The above departments cannot get started without designs of what they are going to create and rig. So before they can get started the character designers must create the designs and some turn arounds of the characters, which they then give to the character modellers. Occasionally the designs will have to be altered depending on the capability of the character modeller(s) or the software being used on the project so these departments will interact often in the beginning. This is the first interaction between an above-mentioned department and another department within the Animation Production Pipeline.

The above jobs also all lead into one another and interact. Starting with the Character Modeller, as the name suggests they create the characters and other objects involved in the animation. Once created, their work will then move to the Character Riggers who also as the name suggests rig the characters so that they can be animated. This is how these two divisions interact with each other. The two will most likely have regular meetings about the modelled characters because the characters need to be well modelled with good geometry if they are to animate well, the Character Riggers will be the first to know if a character model will animate well because while they are applying the skeleton to the model they will be moving the skeleton around to make sure the skeleton moves and they will see the character move with it and how well it moves. If the character does not move smoothly the riggers can make a note of any issues and report them to character modellers who can then improve the geometry of the character by adding extra polygons to the mesh around the parts of the model that move the most e.g. the joints. This will be done either with an “add divisions” option in the 3D modelling software being used or an “insert edge loop” tool, or even something as basic (and usually difficult to use) cut/knife tool.

When the character modellers are modelling objects or characters that move they have to think carefully about how that model will move and in what way it will move, as there is a big difference between a deforming and non-deforming model. A ‘deforming’ model is a model that bends like a living creature and so requires more polygons/faces especially around the joints so that when the character moves he still looks smooth and not as though he’s made out of flat faces. A ‘non-deforming’ rig is less of a hassle to model, as its joints will not deform when they move like on a robot (which is what this type of model is usually made for).

From the Character Riggers the work will move onto the Animators who will animate the characters. Just like the departments before them these two will interact often when the work is first passed over, as the animators begin test animating the characters they will notice minor issues with the movements or control of the character and need the rig to be improved so that the character can be animated smoothly and realistically even if the movement is exaggerated.

The Technical Director(s) will interact with all of the ‘technical’ departments such as the Modellers, Riggers and Animators, as they are essentially a combination of artist and programmer, as mentioned above, they can work with most departments directing and helping out.