{"id":68783,"date":"2025-02-05T01:37:36","date_gmt":"2025-02-05T01:37:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/animation\/rig-anything-with-your-imagination\/"},"modified":"2025-02-05T01:37:36","modified_gmt":"2025-02-05T01:37:36","slug":"rig-anything-with-your-imagination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=68783","title":{"rendered":"Rig Anything with Your Imagination!"},"content":{"rendered":"


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As a kid I was always fascinated with dancing candlesticks, waltzing silverware and other objects brought to life with animation. This was back in the old cell shading days when studios like Disney would animate just about anything to add motion to their cartoons. It was always a little magical to see those objects move with anthropomorphic ease like they were actually alive.<\/p>\n

It is a memory that has stuck with me over the years. \u00a0There have been many times in the past that I wished there was an easy way to rig non-human or character-based objects using the library of human based, bipedal iClone motions for those newly rigged items.<\/p>\n

Character Creator 4 steps up with its ability to easily rig just about anything using bone masking to keep the motions from creating too much distortion. \u00a0In the case of animating a candle and holder we can utilize our bipedal motion library with masking to produce great results with little skill on our part.<\/p>\n

What Can We Rig?<\/h2>\n

A recent article<\/a> I wrote brought this question to the forefront about how I animated certain objects like wooden toy soldiers and Christmas trees to dance. You can also throw in Christmas cookies like gingerbread people and watch them dance to seasonal Christmas tunes.<\/p>\n

I also wrote an earlier article<\/a> back in July about rigging any model with AccuRIG but it did not go into detail about skinning non-bipedal objects. That article mainly delt with bipedal objects and then there is the article<\/a> I wrote on skinning versus rigging for things like statues that may not have fully defined arms and legs.<\/p>\n

The truth is we can do so much more than those articles covered. In fact, we are limited only by our imagination as rigged non-bipedal objects have a lot to add to a scene in the right circumstances.<\/p>\n

In the Christmas article<\/a>, I briefly explained how objects were rigged along with a picture showing masked bones which brought more questions about the process so let\u2019s dig into it a bit deeper with the candle example. Keep in mind that just because it doesn\u2019t have arms and legs doesn\u2019t mean you can rig it with a human skeleton for human (iClone) motions.<\/p>\n

Our imagination helped us get here so let\u2019s not shut off the creative tap. A big part of animation is realizing what CAN be animated with your current skillset and tools.<\/p>\n

Rigging a Simple Candle<\/h2>\n

Below I give an example of simple rigging with the option to use or not use the arms and legs via masking. This simple, fast process can turn a static object into an animatable object that works particularly well in cartoons and children\u2019s stories. And don\u2019t forget genres like science fiction where we can easily add a little motion to some props.<\/p>\n

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