Deer Rig
After being approached by another student at Escape, I was tasked with creating a deer rig with the idea being that it would be animated then taken into Houdini to create a sim using the vertices with the final result being put into a games engine, in this case Unreal Engine.
Features
This rig contains a lot of different features that I had never included in my previous work.
Below is a look at some of my favourite features that this deer rig has.
Auto Ball Roll
The auto ball roll is a switch that allows the ball roll control to move depending on the position of the leg control. Animators may find this useful when wanting to work quickly on a shot but they also have the option to manipulate the ball roll control to dial in movements.
IK spine and neck
Both the spine and the neck have IK controls, these allow for squash and stretch which can be monitored with the stretch factor attribute so animators aren’t breaking the rig when its in use.
Auto Pole Vector
Similar to the auto ball roll feature the auto pole vector automates the movement of the pole vector control. So when animators move the leg controls the pole vector will follow, allowing for a sped up workflow.
Eye world and local spaces
This allows for more control over the eyes, they can be controlled by the eye aim control so it allows for eyes to be aimed at certain areas/objects, useful for interaction shots. This can be turned on and off.