A Sticky Situation

Fall 2022. Junior Vertical Studio at Texas A&M University Visualization

A Sticky Situation is my junior animated short film for Texas A&M Visualization Vertical Studio, created with a team of seven others over the course of one semester. My main role was to create the rig for the main chameleon character. This project was my first experience with rigging, and I dove in head first to learn the entire rigging process and create a successful bipedal character rig. His final rig included a joint system, IK / FK control system, proper skinning and weight painting, a wrap deformer for his belt, as well as blend shapes and set driven keys for his expressions. His rig capabilities included a wide range of motion for his arms, legs, mouth, tongue, and tail which allowed him a dynamic range of movement in the animated short. A blinking eyelid system was put in place, but ultimately scrapped to push the character's eye stylization. Additionally, I surfaced secondary assets and was responsible for the graphic design elements in the short.

Roles: Character rigging (Lead), prop asset look development/surfacing, graphic design and credits

Software Used: Autodesk Maya, Pixar Renderman, ngSkinTools plug-in for Maya, Adobe Substance Painter, Adobe Photoshop, Procreate

Rig Demo

As character rigging lead, I was responsible for rigging our bipedal chameleon character, "Leon". I built his joint system, control system, weight painted, added deformers, and created blend shapes for expressions. This was my first experience with rigging. Software: Autodesk Maya for rig creation, ngSkinTools plug-in for additional weight painting tools.

Body: Leon's legs and tail have an IK system. His arms and fingers are FK.
Tongue: His tongue has a primary set-driven key for the extension/retraction, and a secondary key for a "splat" blend shape at the end of it. His tongue could be put into the extended position with or without the "splat" blend shape active.
Eyes: A blinking blend shape and aim constraint were added. His eyes are able to be controlled either independently, or together. This aspect was ultimately scrapped to push the character's stylization.
Fanny Pack: A wrap constraint was added for his fanny pack, allowing his body to bend/deform with the belt still hugging him. Fanny pack zipper rig courtesy of Ethan Umanos; I was only responsible for the belt wrap deformer.