RIGGING

Rigging is putting the functionality in models to let animators bring them to life. It’s the bones under the skin and the controls to blink. Like a marionette, rigging puts the strings together, but in CG we can take it a step further and get more functionality like facial expressions and squishiness. Many find it boring and complicated, but the joy of rigging is when you create an awesome rig that can animate the story.

 

In Shakti, we had many rigging challenges we had to overcome. Ahani’s face required extra attention to express many emotions. The sari needed a cloth rig that could deform and bend like clothing in real life. And even the background characters needed some love too. So all the rigs might get animated the same, but each of them had its unique problems depending on what the animation demanded. Riggers bring creative problem solving to bring the characters to life.

- Andy Tran / Rigging Lead