This was a simple rig
setup as a creature quadruped test. The main focus was to see how it
would work in our system which was primarily focused on bipeds at th
time. I wanted to make sure we could get some effects that would add
some realism, and creepyness to the haunches that the animators could
use to express the size and and mass of the character. It was later used
to test the connections between Maya and Motionbuilder in 2012, which
worked amazingly well.
Olafur (animator) wanted
some good secondary controls on the haunches to express the mass that
would primarily be automated, but with layered abilities to handle
secondary jiggle and sliding. This is what I came up with.
The basic walk cycles.
The haunches had layers
of controls. They were automated to simulate sliding across the ribs
without needing animators to do anything specific. There was also a
value from 0-1 to control the amount of sliding, and on top of that,
there was a control to add jiggle or secondary reaction if the animator
choose to use it.
Model by Steven Stahlberg, animation by Olafur Olafson.