ASSET BREAKDOWN

The Businessman Rig was fun to build with lots of new challenges. It has all the hallmarks of a typical bipedal character rig. Some of which include IK/FK limbs with auto switching, layered hand controls, RFL feet, layered back and hip controls, layered global controls, and a basic facial GUI system. Cartoon stretching makes this rig truly come to life. These systems are applied to the limbs and back. I utilized a custom modular system known as a flexi plane to achieve these results. This system is similar to a ribbon spline. The flexi plane system allows for stretchy IK and FK chains. Locators are utilized for translation data that gets injected into several constraints and math nodes. This forms the foundation for an auto-scaling system to be incorporated. Each layer of control utilizes switches for manual manipulation. There are nine flexi plane systems utilized throughout the character rig. Each arm and leg has two flexi planes with anchors at the shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, knees, and feet. The back only requires a single flexi plane with anchors at the hips and head. The main body of the flexi plane utilizes a NURBS plane instead of a polygonal plane due to NURBS's superior edge curvature smoothing. There are five joints in this version of the system that have even spacing along the plane. However, any number of joints can be used depending on the situation. Each joint has a controller with an additional three primary controls placed at the center and ends of the system. If desired, a fourth primary control can be utilized for volume retention during the animation process. Clusters are used for general weighting with more locators for translation data. Adding a flexi plane system to a limb adds at least five more joints that will need to be accounted for during weight painting.