Rig it Right: Edgelooping for a parallel workflow (pt 1)

Rig it Right 3rd edition cover by Tina O’Hailey. Model by Alston Jones. Background by Danny O’Hailey.

Rig it Right third edition is scheduled to release in March 2024. [YIPEE!!]

I expanded upon the edgeloop paragraphs of the 2nd edition and made that into its own chapter. Rule #1 of Rig it Right: Good Edgeloops.

Many sculpting workflows may create great edgeloops but sacrifice parallel workflow. A parallel workflow can be used to create the final sculpt and the animation rig at the same time. Very efficient.

This Maya > Zbrush > Maya workflow allows for proper edgeloops first and parallel rigging :

Reference and design sketches. We need a solid idea ahead of time of what the character needs to look like, and have plenty of reference to use as modeling/sculpting guidance.Rough sketch of character with under developed arms and hands. Lowres basemesh from library of basemeshes with proper edgeloops taken into Zbrush and adjusted.Model the BaseMesh WITH proper Base Edgeloop and UVs Having a poly (heck, NURBS) modeling background I usually start with Maya first for the basemesh. Note, poly modeling can be done in anything. Following Tarek’s edgelooping methods for blocking [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBi-CBYZF5k&t=506s] I have always made proper loops in Maya then brought that basemesh (less than 10,000 polygons) into Zbrush to refine. This becomes the low resolution base mesh for use in the rig and animation. (Save as a .fbx file)Another method I explored is to bring a basemesh from your library of basemeshes* with good edgeloops into Zbrush. Using the move tools, etc. and working on the lowest resolution – adjust the basemesh to be the desired silhouette to match or improve upon the character (If you had under developed designs and you are finding the sculpt/character in Zbrush.) But the focus is – keeping those edgeloops. The sculpt details come later. Save out the FBX, lowest resolution basemesh. (If doing this method, I’m usually under 50,000 polygons)I may not need the UVs before sculpting but will need them before handing the basemesh model to the rigger. UV in your favorite place. Basemesh with edgeloops adjusted to match design but not fully developed just yet.*Library of basemeshes:
This summer, as part of my sabbatical study of edgeloops, I interviewed many individuals about edgeloops, pipelines, and doing draw-overs. One common thing found in the more established animation studios is the library of items for reuse. One being a library of base meshes with edgeloops intact. Once developed, the process is sped up as characters can be modified (as mentioned above) in shape and layout to match a new character while retaining the base edgeloops. Or, the edgeloops can be projected onto the sculpted model. (More on that workflow later in another article.)Send Basemesh with base edgeloops and uvs to rigging departmentThe basemesh (.fbx) goes off to to the rigging department so they can get a base rig created. Here’s what’s important for that to work:This basemesh needs those base edgeloops to be in place for the joints of the character (fingers, hips, knees, elbows, etc.) Maybe, not the face detail so much. This is so that the rigging artist can place the joints in the correct spot for the apex of each joint bend. The first version of the rig is for blocking and may not have a face.Model and Rig are kept in separate files. The model is referenced into the rig file, so that it can be updated later. (Specifically talking Maya workflow here.) If the basemesh is to be skinned, it must be UVed first before skinning. Any deformation will be done with shaders (displacement, normal maps, bump) and created in the model file which is referenced into the rig file. Basemesh with proper edgeloops has been further shaped to its final design by concepting in Zbrush. This basemesh with proper edgeloops can go on to be rigged while the sculptors continue. Export the lowest resolution mesh as FBX from Zbrush using the FBX exporter under ZTools.Rig base controls for blocking in animation**Character set-up artist can cut the mesh up and use parent contraints (or parent offset matrix, oooh fancy) to get the rig created without using skinning. (If they are expecting more modeling updates) This creates a fast rig. Character set-up artist can skin this version of the mesh directly as it is the basemesh and any further refinement will be done via displacement, normal, textures, etc.The rig itself, if putting into production for blocking animation can not have the hierarchy of the controls change. They can get more children controllers as you would if refining a rig.Send BaseMesh to sculptors for the sculpt and texturing.They can do their magic in zbrush even while your animators block in their animation.They will send back a high res sculpted version of their model. In class we stay under 8 million polygons, normal maps, bump maps, displacement maps. Everything needed to make your basemesh look high res and beautiful. Send base Rig to animators for blocking in animation.For this to work the model file is referenced into the rig file. The rig file is referenced into the animation file. To make things clean in the Maya scene file, make sure to use relative paths and not absolute paths. Here’s a video on that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2DMmDbpznEAnimators animate away, blocking in the character. Finalize RigCharacter setup artists finish the rig with the following:Update rig’s reference to the basemesh to any new basemesh that may have come back from the sculptors. Usually the facial details and clothing etc. has been modified. Still should be under 100,000 polygons (for a student film.)Updated texture, displacement, normal, bump, etc. maps.Updated clothing, hair, etc. (I’m not discussing simulations at all – that’s different)Send finalized rig out into the teamAnimation updates rig and continues refining animationAnimators update their file’s rig reference to point to the new version of the rig (which points to the new model) and continue on with their animation.Render Rig updated at finaling stage, after animation is complete.In some pipelines a further refined model may be brought in after animation and applied to the rig, which is updated in the animation file and then rendered. This would be if the model was too heavy for the rig when animating and slowed down the animation process.Note: higher production value animation shows (think Pixar, Blue Sky in the day, Dreamworks) would not have this render rig after the animation is done. The focus there would be the most beautiful silhouette created by the final model/rig when keyframing. They have extra time to develop that rig and make it as responsive as possible. (See the other new chapter in Rig it Right third edition on Rig it Right – then Rig it Fast.)Note: if rendering on a render farm, references files will need to be imported (Reference Editor window > File > Import References) before rendering.

This is a new process for me. Taking the base edgeloop mesh into Zbrush and pushing its base design there vs locking it down in Maya. Quite fun, and still lets me have those edgeloops I want for rigging and the sculpting the other side of my brain wants to do.

Now I will sculpt as normal and try a different workflow of creating the edgeloops at the end of the pipeline after sculpting. There’s some fun in those methods too while this method is the most efficient.

**Rig base controls for blocking in animation & refining rig:

For step by step on the rigging and referencing process, see Rig it Right. https://www.amazon.com/dp/113830316X