Overview

This standard is about creating efficient, intuitive and responsive rigs for animated characters, creatures, props, vehicles or environments.  

This is relevant for those involved in rigging.

Performance Criteria

You must be able to:

  1. confirm what you need to do to meet the brief 
  2. create systems and structures to drive, control and deform assets in ways that recreate the desired movement, behaviour and characteristics and meet the brief 
  3. ensure that rigs are intuitive and responsive, will work on screen and will meet production requirements, and can be used for real-time feedback 
  4. find solutions for complex rigging problems when required
  5. create prototype animations as necessary to check the integrity of any movements that will be applied
  6. use scripting to automate rigs when appropriate
  7. ensure rigged assets deform correctly from all required camera positions and angles
  8. create tools to help animators animate more efficiently
  9. share work with others at appropriate time and constructively
  10. use feedback to revise rigs when required
  11. ensure that work is delivered on time and meets required outputs
  12. store and provide work to others in in line with processes and procedures for the job and the organisation in which you are working

Knowledge and understanding

You need to know and understand:

  1. how to interpret the brief, technical requirements and production parameters 
  2. the motion characteristics that rigs need to achieve to meet the brief
  3. real-time feedback and its importance in the use of VP
  4. the importance of acquisition of data sets
  5. where to research information about assets and in particular, movement of creatures or characters with which you are unfamiliar
  6. how humans and animals move including joint articulation, rotation orders and deformation
  7. skinning techniques and painting skin weights
  8. the physics of motion and resistance and how that relates to anatomy and mechanics 
  9. the purpose and use of pivots
  10. the purpose and use of deformers
  11. how animators animate and use rigs
  12. how to work with polygons, nurbs, sub-division surfaces and curves
  13. the purpose of driven keys and how to use them
  14. the hierarchies of objects and nodes
  15. how to connect nodes together to drive their attributes
  16. the effect that vertex placement and the level of detail have on the model and its rig
  17. how the automated creation of rigging by using scripting can make work more efficient
  18. how to use industry-standard software to solve rigging problems
  19. how to research technological developments
  20. efficiency of data usage
  21. file naming conventions and data management for the job or organisation
  22. the value of seeking early feedback