This week my primary focus was rigging. It was a week of testing new solutions and combing old solutions.

• Summary: For this solution I used a ribbon rig.The rig has built in squash and stretch with volume preservation. In addition it has twist built in.  I began with trying to use this solution in the spine and the neck.
• Positive Stuff: I really love the ribbon rig and it has a lot of potential to add cartoon motion into the characters.
• Problems / issues: Sadly this solution was a no go. After showing the animators they pointed out that the spine was set up in a way that it would have to be counter keyed. Before trying to fix this solution I tried something else.

• Summary:  In this solution I used an ik spline with an advanced twist. It has squash and stretch built in with volume preservation . It also has fk and ik controls. I used this solution in the neck as well. The rig is built using proxy geometry.
• Positive Stuff: The animators love the solution.
• Problems / issues: The volume preservation was not as good as the ribbon rig. I could potentially fix that with using a lattice deformer. I am not sure but I tried to add volume preservation into the neck but the solution I used in the spine was not working in the neck. The biggest problem is yet to come, trying to combine this solution with the ribbon rig in the arms and legs.

LIST OF UPCOMING TASKS:

1 . Rigging

Hours: 11-12