Jacob Brockway

Collaborate effectively and include more people in the conversation, without turning your video on. Avatars for Microsoft Teams brings a new layer of choice to your meetings. Learn more at https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-teams-blog/avatars-for-microsoft-teams-in-public-preview/ba-p/3774421 #Microsoft #MicrosoftTeams

This is a auto-rig for bipedal characters that I've developed. It uses locators to determine the placement of joints and curves; then creates a fully functional skeleton for the mesh with extra joints created for the IK/FK limbs. All of the joints are correctly oriented, parented, constrained, and come with controllers attached to them. The code has been put into Maya's basic UI, so when used you don't have to jump back and forth between Maya and it's script editor. The UI also comes with directions in case anyone needs to follow the steps themselves. Along with creating a basic head, the code can also be used to make a rig with a blendshape head. Both asymmetrical and symmetrical heads can be made using this code, the user just needs to place the locators on the right side after they've placed the ones on the left. The code then automatically takes the selected mesh and duplicates it for a ribbon brow and ribbon mouth head, a eye head, and a misc. head (which includes features like chin, cheek, etc.). Then it attaches the body portion of the rig to the blendshape head and packages it in the outliner.

A short animation of a Rig I created for a Lizard Fighter Model I'd received from a Character Modeler Emma Green (You can find her portfolio here:https://emma-green.artstation.com/). I used my auto-rigging script on this character and it saved me a bunch of time creating the skeleton, as well as showing me features that I want to add to it in the future. This particular rig has all the normal IK/FK switches and detailed controls; but I went a little further with the ribbons and aside from the spine, added them in the elbow to wrist area of the arm in order to counteract the "candy-wrapper" problem. So now when the wrist is rotated, even though the rig is skinned with a classic linear method, it wont fold into itself.

I took a quick break from my auto-rigging script to develop a rig for a Halo Reach Turret model my friend, Todd Alberda, had provided me. The legs have FK/IK switches and controls that allow the animator to manipulate the length of the piston attached to the leg; all while another joint controls the orientation of the linkage so it's constantly attached to the foot. All three separate cables/belts, attached to the top of the gun, each have ribbons inside of them to make the movement look more dynamic. Each piece of the main body is rotatable to allow for more interesting movement as well.

A range of motion video of a blendshape head that I modeled. The rig includes two main controllers that allow the user to hide and reveal all the smaller control sections for the brow/eye area, jaw/mouth, and nose/cheeks; all of these controls are attached to other blendshapeheads above the main model. It also has two corner mouth controllers which also use blendshapes to pinch and curl the mouth.

A range of motion video of the Atlas mesh from Titanfall. He comes with the basic FK/IK controls and switch on both his arms and legs, basic and detailed controls on his body, arms, and legs, automatic piston adjustment for when he moves his limbs, and a switch for autobalance so you don't have to worry about the body being between the legs when animating.