POIAitrasxercn.s1ocsror.com IVAN THE BIR) TECHNICAL PAPER ON MECHANICAL BIRD'S RIG BY JOLANTA JASIULIONYTE PROJECTS MOST CHALLENGING TECHNICAL PART WAS PREPARING A RIG SUITED TO UNIQUE FUNCTIONING OF THE MECHANICAL BIRD. IDENTIFYING THE SPECI 1c DIFFERENCES: THE USUAL CARTOON HUMAN CHARACTER RIG WOULDN'T WORK IN THIS CASE FOR FEW SPECIFIC REASONS: 1) BIRD'S LEGS DON'T HAVE THE EXTRA JOINT FOR A KNEE, AND INSTEAD OF BENDING THEY ARE CONTRACTING MUCH LIKE A TELESCOPE: 2) SECOND NUANCE WAS BIRD'S EYES: THEY WERE DIFFERENT FROM HUMAN CHARACTER RIGS EYES WHICH ARE IN A SHAPE OF A SPHERE AND HAVE A PIVOT POINT IN THE CENTER. IVAN'S EYES WERE DESIGNED TO. BE “FLAT” AND FUNCTION IN 2 AXIS. 3) HIS BODY PARTS WITH EXCEPTION OF LANTERN DONT DEFORM WHEN MOVING, NOT LIKE THE SKIN. 4) INSTEAD OF A REGULAR ARM JOINT AND RIG SYSTEM MECHANICAL BIRD NEEDED A SOLUTION FOR THE STRUCTURE OF WINGS WITH FEATHERS, FOR EXAMPLE HOW FEATHERS SPREAD TO SUSTAIN FULL COVERAGE OF THE AREA AS JOINTS ROTATE. JOLANTASKETCH.BLOCSPOT-COM, Toate ucaIVAN THE BIRD) HAVING IDENTIFIED THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ORGANIC HUMAN CHARACTER AND MECHANICAL CREATURE FUNCTIONING, DECISIONS FOR RIGGING WERE MADE TECHNICAL DECISIONS: 1. LEG FUNCTIONING: ESSENTIALLY FOR THE LEGS, TWO RIGS WERE COMBINED: STANDARD LEG RIG AND PISTON’S LEG RIG. INITIALLY AN IK LEG RIG WAS CREATED FOLLOWING STANDARD PROCEDURES, WHICH INCLUDE JOINT PLACEMENT, BUILDING IN IKS, CREATING GROUPS AND PIVOT POINTS FOR FOOT ROLL, PIROUETTES, HEEL LIFT ECT., THEN CONNECTING GROUPS TO FEET CONTROLS AND CONSTRAINING THE CONTROLS. NOTE: THE EXTRA JOINT WHICH DIDN'T HAVE THE CORRESPONDING GEOMETRY (THE KNEE) IS SIMPLY LEFT ‘TO "HANG THERE’ AS IT DOESN'T AFFECT THE FUNCTIONING OF THE MODEL THE SECOND PART OF RIGGING INVOLVED CREATING A PISTON LEG'S RIG ON TOP OF THE EXISTING RIG. ESSENTIALLY PISTON. RIG HAS TWO JOINTS FACING EACH OTHER AND IK’ CONNECTED IN SUCH A WAY TO ALLOW THE TELESCOPE-LIKE CONTRACTION/EXPANSION IN LEGS. (IN DETAIL EXPLANATION OF THE PROCEDURE WON'T BE GIVEN HERE AS THE PURPOSE OF THIS PAPER IS TO UNCOVER THE APPROACHES AND METHODS.) 2. EYE APPARATUS. SIMPLY ENOUGH, FOR THE FLAT EYES TO BE EXPRESSIVE AND EASILY CONTROLLABLE ONLY FEW BLEND SHAPES WERE USED INSTEAD OF A COMMON APPROACH OF CREATING AIM CONSTRAINT RIG ON EYES SPHERES, EACH EYELID HAD ONE EXTRA BLEND SHAPE FOR BLINK; EYE-WHITENESS HAD 4 BLEND SHAPES FOR UP, DOWN. AND SIDE DIRECTIONS.BLEND SHAPES ARE CONNECTED TO HEAD CONTROL WITH CORRESPONDING UP, DOWN. _ RIGHT AND LEFT EYE-LOOKS CHANNELS VIA ‘SET DRIVEN KEY, 2 IVAN THE BIRDIVAN THE BIRD) 3. GEOMETRYS CONNECTION TO JOINTS FOR A MECHANICAL, NON DEFORMING CHARACTER TO FUNCTION ALONG WITH JOINTS AND RIG IT WAS ENOUGH TO PARENT GEOMETRY TO THE CORRESPONDING JOINTS INSTEAD OF SKINNING THEM. (ONLY SKY-LANTERN HAD TO BE SKINNED AS IT IS MIMICKING PAPER DEFORMATIONS) THE ADVANTAGE OF SUCH APPROACH IS THE ABILITY TO CHANGE EACH PART'S POSITION (FOR INSTANCE ADJUSTED TO SUIT SPECIFIC SCENES/CAMERA'S VIEW IN ANIMATION). HOWEVER, AS TUTORS INDICATED AS WELL AS THE EXPERIENCE SHOWED, PARENTING GEOMETRY INSTEAD OF SKINNING IT TENDS TO CAUSE MORE PROBLEMS IN LATER STAGES OF PIPELINE. 4, RIGGING WINGS: THE APPROACH FOR WINGS STAYED PRETTY CLOSE TO RIGGING ARMS. WHERE JOINTS WOULD BE CREATED FOR EACH CORRESPONDING HAND/WING PART. FINGERS IN ARM RIG WOULD HAVE THE JOINT ROTATION CONNECTED TO CORRESPONDING ADDED ATTRIBUTES UNDER THE CONTROL (SUCH AS PINKY ONE, PINKY TWO ECT.) SIMILARLY JOINTS WERE CREATED FOR EACH FEATHER AND THEN CONNECTED TO CREATED CHANNELS IN THE CONTROLS. ALTHOUGH THIS WAS OFFERING A RATHER COMPLICATED USE OF FEATHERS. THEREFORE AN IDEA WAS TO CREATE A MAIN JOINT FOR A GROUP OF 3-4 FEATHERS THROUGHOUT THE WING. THE GROUPS IN THIS CASE ARE MAIN SHOULDER FEATHER® INTERSECTION 2 FEATHERS MAIN ELBOW FEATHER™ INTERSECTION 1 FEATHERS MAIN WRIST FEATHER * FINGER 4 FINGER 2 Ne “THESE SECTIONS OF FEATHERS THEN HAVE A SET ANIMATION TO HAVE ‘A PREPARED ANIMATION, OF FEATHER FALL OFF, (THAT Is AUTOMATIC FEATHER ROTATION WHEN. EVER A JOINTS ROTATE) 50 THAT FEATHER FULLY COVER THE AREA THEYRE AT THROUGHOUT THE MOVEMENT 3 IVAN THEHUMAN CHARACTER RIG MECHANINACL BIRD-LANTERN RIG: THE POINTS DISCUSSED ABOVE WERE THE MAIN DIFFERENCES AND SOLUTIONS IN MECHANICAL BIRD'S RIG. AS LATER PRACTICE SHOWED, THESE DECISIONS WERE FULLY SUFFICIENT TO HAVE OPTIMAL CONTROL OVER THE CHARACTER IN ANIMATION STAGE 4 IVAN THE BIRD