Right Side View - Part 6: Skeleton

Having completed the left side view of my character I am now trying to complete the other sides as quickly as I can. This will enable me more time for animating and rendering. I have re-created the joints for the right side of my model. I have given all the joints names and hopefully placed them correctly. I think I am ready to move onto skinning now.

I am hoping to of retained most my knowledge from the rigging and skinning of the left side model. This might make the process a little easier and faster for me when completing the other sides.

Skeleton in Perspective View

Skeleton in Front View

Part 10: Squash & Stretch (Left Side View)

Final outcome

Grouping in the Outliner

Editing the attributes - adjusting the minimum and maximum movements

Node Editor - making the scale right

Scale now updates live 

Scaling to original size

Coloring the controls

Part 9: Body Rigging (Left Side View)

With help from my tutor Alan, I have managed to correctly rig my character and create some controls too. When animating the Mountain King these controls will make it easier to select the right joints to move.

My progress so far:

Controls

Body Rigged

Corrective Blend Shapes (side view)

I have now completed the rest of the blend shapes for each joint that needed it:

Corrective Blend Shapes: Hands, Wrists, Elbows, Hips and Football Joints

Corrective Blend Shapes: Side View (Ankle Joint)

I have started to use Blend shapes to correct any geometry that looks out of place when I move my characters joints. I create and edit the poses in the 'Pose Editor' found in the Deform Menu.  The right ankle joint is now complete and I feel that I am ready to move onto the other joints such as the Elbows, Wrists, Hip and Middle hand joints. I wont need to do the knees in this case, as they don't seem to deform in any way when I move them.

Part 1 - Ankle Joint

Part 2 - Ankle Joint

Part 3 - Ankle Joint

Part 4 - Ankle Joint

Part 5 - Ankle Joint

Part 6 - Ankle Joint

Part 7 - Ankle Joint

Part 8 - Ankle Joint

Part 9 - Ankle Joint

Part 10 - Ankle Joint

Correcting Rigging and Head Geometry (Right Side Only)

Since speaking with Alan, I have corrected the joints for the beard, hat, head and neck. This will help me to skin my character more effectively.

More Geometry for the Head

Beard, Hat, Head and Neck Joints 

Skinning the Arm: Right Side View

Before I move onto corrective blend shapes, I am trying to carefully skin my character each body part at a time. I do tend to struggle with understanding skinning. However, I think I'm beginning to get the hang of it.

Flooding the whole arm

Flooding the Elbow

Flooding the wrist

Flooding the middle joint of the hand

Flooding the hand

Getting ready to smooth, add and paint

Making the outline look as smooth as possible

Outcome

The  wrist was difficult and may need fixing

Smoothing out harsh edges

Checking the hand 

Smoothing and adding to skinning 

@Alan - Starting to Skin The Right Side View

I have started to skin the right leg. I wanted to make sure this was correct before I started painting weights. I have attached the gown to the leg joints, however the top half detaches itself. This may be something that is solved later on?

Here is what I've done:

Knee Joint
 



Leg Joint

Still

Ankle Joint

Football Joint
 

Ideas of how to create my 2D shapes in Maya

My Idea:
I wondered if I could create my shapes in a similar way to my character for certain scenes. Like when the Mountain King is surrounded by shapes:

The shapes could be made as planes with a texture projection, meaning that the background of the planes will be transparent so you can just see the shapes. However, this wont be the case for all scenes as the Mountain King will need to land and walk on some shapes.

Texture Projection like this:

The Mountain King - Part 6: Skeleton (Right Side View) Improvements

Part 6: Skeleton (Right Side View) Improvements:
Since speaking with Alan I have made some adjustments and additions to my character's skeleton. I have added more joints to the neck and another joint in the middle of the hands. Doing this will create more bending movements. I have also added a rig to the hat and beard, this will hopefully give these features some nice and subtle movements.

Up until around Christmas I will be working on only one side of my character. Once I've completed one side, the other sides should be easier to work out and understand.

Here is my new improvements:

Image 1 - Right Side

Image 2 - Right Side

Image 3 - Right Side

Image 4 - Right Side

Image 5 - Right Side

Image 6 - Right Side

Image 7 - Right Side