Group Meeting + Rigging

Today we had a group meeting at Toby’s house. During this meeting we planned out our final group project. To help keep us organised, Jam setup a shared Google Drive folder which we will be using to share concepts, files and schedules. Our main goal for the meeting was to complete all the preliminary planning; to finalise our scope, tasks, schedule and roles. After sitting down and working these out we are confident that we will be able to finish this project within scope.

We have separated the project into four phases. At the end of each of these phases we will have a version of the final product: phase four is where the final version will be developed. This process will allow us to develop the product iteratively and will lower the chance of a failed or incomplete project. If things go horribly wrong we should at least have one of the earlier versions to show.

Below is the outline of the four phases. This screenshot is from our shared Google Doc which we will all be changing to update our progress.

Rigging

In addition to this, Ben taught us what CAT rigs are and the basics of using them. This was really helpful as we are likely to all have a hand in the rigging and animating of our characters.

We learnt how to adjust to pre-set CAT rigs – including adding bones, IK targets and joint controls – add animation layers, transition between layers and how to animate the rig. In order to learn all of this, Ben created a simple rock climbing wall. He walked as through how to set up the rig and showed us how use the IK targets. Below is a quick demo video of the rock climb.

Today was an extremely productive day, as we learnt a lot and created a thorough plan for our assignment.