Mathieson Facer – Rigging Technical Director
Sticky Lips: How To & Sample File
It was requested that I release my sticky lips setup so people could try to take the solution further. I haven’t spent much time on it since posting about it way back, so I figured I might as well. Only thing I ask of anybody that does further develop this is please provide a link back to my website and keep me up to date on any improvements you have made :)
Click here to download the sample file (Made in 3ds Max 2010, and is of a Sackboy-looking teapot since I do not want to be distributing the model seen below, which is not mine, around the internets)
A video of the effect in action. Special thanks to Craig Hobbs for use of the model:
For now I am just going to do a general write-up of some things I am doing in the file and why I am doing them. It might sound like a tutorial at parts, but I’m more just explaining the general process and thoughts behind the setup. This is not intended to actually be a tutorial, and you may still have to figure some things out on your own.
Read MoreThe Concise Book Of Muscles
The Concise Book Of Muscles is another recent purchase I made. This is a reference book rather than a good read. There is a small section at the front of the book covering some basic anatomy stuff, but nothing that you won’t find anywhere else.
Read MoreThe Body In Motion
I just recently purchased and finished reading The Body In Motion, by Theodore Dimon. I thought it would be a good read when it comes to additional learning about anatomy, and it definitely is. I thought the book was great. I highly recommend it for any aspiring riggers out there. It discusses the evolution of the human body, as well as why and how our bodies move the way they do. The author does a great job of explaining things without getting overly complicated; he is very easy to understand. Note that this is a book you actually read rather than just hold onto for reference purposes. You will have a much better understanding of how the body works after finishing this book.
Read MoreDinosaurs!!!
It has been quite some time since I finished up work on Tree Of Life. I have heard rumors of the dinosaurs I worked on may end up not being in the movie. I am still very excited to see the finished film regardless. Whether or not they are in the movie, I honestly have no idea. All I know is what has been getting said around the internet.
Anyways, I emailed my dad yesterday to let him know that a new poster had been released for the movie. I heard back from him pretty quickly, saying he saw dinosaurs in the poster! I hadn’t examined the poster closely enough (there are 70 images shown from the movie), and so I was pretty shocked and excited to read this. He told me to look images under the word LIFE, and low and behold: a frame from one of our shots is on the poster!
Read MoreReturn to Prime Focus
I am pleased to announce that I have returned to Prime Focus in Vancouver as their new Rigging Technical Director. I am now a permanent employee and have moved my life out to the west coast. It has been an incredibly busy couple of months moving out here, but the storm is finally calming and I’m able to relax a bit.
Returning to 3ds Max has been nice. It took a bit of getting used to after working in Maya for the past 6 months. Although it has been nice, I am looking forward to switching back to Maya again in the future. I was only using Maya 8.5 in production, but even then it had some important tools I am constantly missing (skin weight holding!!!).
Read MoreTree Of Life Trailer
The official trailer for The Tree Of Life has now, finally, come out. This is the movie I was working on in Vancouver last year from March-July.
It has been a long wait to see anything at all from the movie, but the trailer looks great. Very proud to have worked on this, and can’t wait to see the final movie. It is currently scheduled to hit the theatres on May 27, 2011.
Read MoreNew Job at Guru Studio
I’ve started a new studio job recently. I am working as the character rigger on a television show being done at Guru Studio in Toronto. I started at the beginning of September, and it has been going great.
This is my first Maya production. I’ve really taken to Maya and am enjoying the rigging workflow very much. Scripting in MEL has also been going well. I’ve found it very easy to pick up and create tools, but I really don’t like the language. I feel limited using it, and also feel it is kind of awkward in how it works. I am already starting to learn Python so I can start writing more generalized functions, using nested arrays again, all that good stuff.
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