Fighter Kites - Progress Check No. 17

This week was spent rigging the face and body of the character. My approach was to practice with the low-poly version of the character and then do a better job the second time. What I couldn't predict was some facial rigging issues with the higher-poly version. The eyelashes deteriorated on the eyeblink, but after troubleshooting, I realized the issue was manually placing the upper and lower eye. All I needed to do was let Maya decide the upper and lower and it ended up working great. One of my favorite things is "munging" or adjusting the facial blendshapes - so that part was easy.

With the body and face rigged, all I need to worry about now are the clothes and braid. Brett helped out today with both, so I know what to attack early next week. My goal is to have a completed character rig (weight-painted and everything) by Tuesday. Using Advanced Skeleton's skin cage, the clothing should go smoothly.

In terms of group work, we're on great track for the next Production Pass. Caleb is ready to start blocking our shots next Wednesday once the character is done, Jay is re-referencing shots and camera work for the updated animatic, Aelma is working on the bird and shading, and Krislyn is figuring out Houdini grass. I am really happy with where everyone is at, and once I'm done rigging, also excited to model, shade, and animate assets for set dressing (trees, rocks, grasses, etc.).