3D Character Rigging-Why I've Been Busy

3D Character Rigging

In case ya'll didn't know I go to school at the Art Institute of California Hollywood. My major is Game Art and Design. I'm pretty much taking classes to land a job in the game industry and help to create video games. A lot of things go into making a game. Creating the story, characters, levels, assets, etc. A lot of things from many art fields are dragged in writing, cinematography, fashion design, interior design, and the list goes on and on. 

But one of the fields of game design for which i've been busy mainly is 3D Character Rigging. Essentially drawing a skeleton for the character you've designed giving you the ability to move and animate the character's mesh.

I took a couple of screenshots showing some of it. Hopefully it gives some people an insight into what these things are.

Here We Go

So this is the character that was provided in class (since its not a character design class, we're mainly focused on rigging) Anyway the gray clay like thing is the mesh we're going to animate, the character. The blue chain of lines are the bones we've drawn in there. the shapes around the character are the curves we've set in place to drive the bones since we don't want to animate bones directly we put these curves in place.

Here is the chain of bones selected so you can get a better view of it

Since we haven't skinned this to the mesh yet when we animate the bones they move individually from the character.

Here we are moving the spine around a bit without the mesh skinned

So now we skin it (assuming we're done rigging the entire character) Select the mesh and the entire skeleton then click on the skin drop down menu and select smooth bind.

Here's the smooth bind opened. We change a few settings and hit apply.

Notice the bones changed colors

Now with the character binded we can do stuff like this!

And this!

And doing walk cycles...!?

Well this isnt the only class I have but its one of the harder ones. Wait character riggers get paid more?! Sign me up Mister Jackson!

Moms Tamales Tamale Challenge

Very Recently I took on the restaurant Moms Tamales eating challenge. The owner of the restaurant who is a good friend of mine is trying to get an eating challenge started. I asked him if I could take on it for him to see how it tested out.

The rules: eat a dozen tamales (of your choice) a half pound of rice, a half pound of beans, and a 32 oz drink of your choice. All within an hour.

How I did: At the start of the challenge I came out full throttle. Eating  6 Tamales and the rice and beans all in about 25 minutes. Right when the clock hit around the 27 minute mark I hit the dreaded WALL. I began to slow down my stomach was feeling extremely full and I felt really tired.

Once the clock hit around 45 minutes I managed to eat 3 more tamales, leaving only 3 and about half of the drink on the table. I began to work my way through 10th tamale, but immediately I was grossed out. I kept chewing and it took me 3 minutes to take just 2 bites from the tamale. I knew I had lost major time and began questioning myself on whether I would finish the challenge or not. I took a 2 minute break leaving me only 10 minutes to eat 3 tamales.

I sat back down and took a bite, my mouth felt gross. After eating so many tamales the inside of my mouth began to line with grease and oil it was hard to swallow without feeling the urge to throw up. I knew it was over. I had just about 6 minutes left but I threw in the towel.

This challenge is not for the weary or small of appetite. The tamales at this place are ridiculously delicious. So much so that they have been featured on the show Diners Drive Ins And Dives with host Guy Fiery. Here's the youtube video of their segment on the show.

Dove Chocolate is Depressing

My mom and I went to the store and bought some chocolate. She pulled out some coupons and had one for Dove Chocolate. Sure whatever, chocolate is chocolate regardless of whichever one you get.
So
Most people eat chocolate because its a comfort food. So Dove had a fantastic idea to add an inspirational quote inside each wrapper that encases every chocolate. Not a bad idea right? Except it kind of is.

Now its a very well known fact that women LOVE CHOCOLATE. And hey i love it too. So its no mystery why most of these "Inspirational Quotes" say what they say. It really let me see how much loving women aren't getting.

My mom and I worked our way through a handful of squares. About 10-15 or so. I gotta tell ya, the number one hit we got on these wrappers was "You are exactly where you are supposed to be"

The list includes the following as well:

You worked hard promise yourself a reward
You are allowed to do nothing
Be free. Be happy. Be you.
You have a great laugh!
Chocolate loves unconditionally
Enjoy the childhood joys of winter
Catch snowflakes on your tongue
Be playful with your love
Don't be afraid to love fully

These wrappers were a new insight into women. What I pretty much got from these wrappers were that women need a bit of lovin', but its kinda unfair that a chocolate wrapper has to give it to them. I guess what I take away from these is that women (just like anybody) appreciate a random compliment or positive comment. These wrappers didn't serve as much of an inspiration to me, they were mainly just funny as heck.

Signed

Luis C Mendez