WANTED: Better, Easier Dynamic RIGGING + WEIGHT SKIN TOOLS
Hello All, I apologise this is a long post but I would like to share my ideas / suggestions here as a Blender 2.8 Animator (still learning), please take few minutes and read this:
While we can Rig manually or use the old Riggify which is possible to most of us I would like to suggest something related to Rigging + Skinning:
Rigging manually in Blender is fun but time consuming just like any other 3D Software, but some softwares have a VERY intuitive built-in or addons / plugins to make things MUCH simple and faster to start with:
Example: in 3DS Max, there is a very impressive tool called "CAT" (character animation toolkit) which is NOT limited to Humanoid skeltons only, but is UNLIMITED in a way you can add legs, arms, fingers, tails, spines, etc.. to make ANY kind of creature in a matter of few clicks.
This thing also made in a way within Lightwave 3D (Modeler) with a tool called "Genoma" which was less user-firendly but still very easy to rig ANYTHING.
In modo there is a plugin called: "Character Box" which is not built in like CAT and GENOMA and I can compare it to the Blender plugin: "Auto-Rig PRO" which seems to work almost the same as the above.
I believe that "Auto-Rig PRO" is not yet ready for Blender 2.8 bugs, stabality, all features etc.. but I believe this will change in the future.
I remember I saw a video a while ago about Riggify to be improved and support the more dynamic way to build ANY rig using limbs / pieces like GENMOA or CAT but still.. the UI of Riggify is the most unfriendly of all with lots of menus all around with no actual organization, but I'm not judging it I'm just saying this is how it looked on that video, I hope it will get a better UI and workflow.
3DS Max "CAT" have something that none of the above had which is Procedural Animation! so you can animate LAYERS for your limbs, if it's a walk cycle, head, Arms, or whatever part you like within CAT to SHAPE not only cycle animations but anything so it is very dynamic consider it's a 2010 feature and still lots of 3DS MAX User use it a lot.
SKINNING: The way we skin weights or group them currently takes so much time of course BUT! the technology these days is getting there and we can already see this in few ways: VOXELS (I'm no expert but it's totally different way and more dynamic from what I've seen) and MUCH SIMPLE and VISUAL is the way I saw on "Character Box" for Modo which uses...... POLYGONS! so it's like we do groups, but VERY visual instead of adding/removing vertices manually.
I'm not here to demand or complain, sorry if it may sound like this because of my bad English, The actual reason I share this is because Blender 2.8 is AMAZING but the BUILT-IN rigging tools are still the same... especially the Skin Weighting Tools.
So if any dev who wants to get into improving this Character Animation tools and improve it to more up to date or user-friendly systems such as:
- Dynamic Rigging (Not Humanoid only + Controllers + Drivers setup to be easier)
- Skin Weight - Not just painting vertices or add/remove them with selections, but POLYGONS (Weight Meshes) or VOXELS or anything else that we may found easier to deal with these days.
These 2 can make Character Animators rig things much faster and not just simple rigs but even complex, I'm saying this because if you'll try CAT you will be AMAZED how easy is to rig ANY MUTANT MONSTER with 7 heads, 5 legs, 3 tails... you got the idea, it is very easy and inspiring!
Skin Weight... I don't know anyone who enjoy doing this part, if this can be improved people will be very greatful!
I'm guessing that there are plugins / addons on the work and I respect every single developer for doing their thing, but the best thing will be a Built-In dedicated tools that keep update and growing with BLENDER 2.8 and above.
Here are few examples for how SIMPLE things can be in Blender for Character Animators and Riggers of course:
Weight Paint with Polygons using Character Box: youtube.com/watch
3DS Max using CAT: youtu.be/Ev4mtnNxpfc
Again, I'm aware of AUTO-RIG PRO... but again, it's not a built-in or currently works good for 2.8 complete for now.
Please consider to vote if you care, Have awesome weekend! :)
12 Comments
Coming from 3dsMax and having used Character Animation Toolkit (C.A.T) it would be AMAZING if something similar could be done for Blender!
I think the rigging is similar to how Blender works (haven't done much yet) but its the semi-automated animation part which is very powerful. Dynamic foot planting on any surface with gait control and in any orientation. (ie you can rotate your character and the walk cycle will adapt) No idea how it works of course so I really hope the Blender coders can figure it out.
I think it is task for "Animation 2020" project (kinda next Code Quest i guess)
* @stepanovoleg.dev * Sounds great! because a NEW built-in rigging tool kit like "CAT" will be so much amazing for animators who don't want to waste lots of time for rigging and still have UNLIMITED power to rig ANY creature and not just humanoid in few clicks! same for a better skinning, after all... it will make things much better. I don't know much about Animation 2020 I hope to hear about it from Pablo in future videos of Blender Today! (I probably missed it)
* @alondan * You can read about it here, under the "animation tools" section blender.org/press/blender-projects-in-2018-to-look-forward-to/
I don't know much about current rigging addons or more than the basics of rigging myself, but, while probably out of scope for 2.8 anyhow, it looks it could be a really cool addition in the somewhat distant future
There's a lot of words here, but there's not much that specific and actionable that a developer could run with. You want dynamic rigging... how would you design such a system to work in Blender? Be specific in describing how you envision it working from the user's perspective. Include images and mock-ups that show what you're thinking. That's a proposal all on its own.
Same goes for skinning and weight painting. "Make it easier" isn't really enough to go on. You need to specifically describe how it could be easier for riggers. What's the workflow you're imagining? What are the steps a user would take? Again, include images. This would be a separate proposal you could post.
* @Jason van Gumster * Sorry about my bad English, it is true that it's harder for me to describe it. If you'll look on the videos I attached:
1 - CAT for 3DS Max which is pretty much Ancient (2010) and still MUCH EASIER workflow to rig ANYTHING you can see what I mean on the video I attached, in Riggify? it's not easy, not user-friendly, messed up buttons all over the UI, in CAT? in few clicks I made a very complex RIG with IK / FK and the UI was easy to follow (and I don't like MAX... I like Blender just to be clear). so this is the HOW. 2 - Skinning - Again, watch the video I attached for Modo's plugin for a different approach instead of the old fashion painting weights which is very slow and tedious, also there are Voxels technology but since I only haired about it I don't know how it works exactly, all I know is that it's more accurate and different than the current weight skinning works (not just in Blender btw).
Again, the videos shows HOW it can be done... but not HOW to make it, Unfortunately I'm not a programmer just an animator who wants to get Blender 2.8 tools to go farther and get better for everyone.
The videos are much better in explain my bad English, I just hope that some awesome devs will watch it and get the direction and vibe of what can be done related to Dynamic Rigging + Skinning. :)
* @alondan * I'm not asking you to say how to make it. I'm saying "make CAT for Blender" is not sufficient as a proposal. You can design the entire workflow of how you think it should work in Blender's interface without being a programmer at all. That's what I'm suggesting that you do. You're asking for a developer to spend a lot of time bringing a feature to life. The least we can do is put as much time into designing it so the developer as a clear plan to act upon.
You should give a look at this blendermarket.com/products/voxel-heat-diffuse-skinning I would say that the Box plugin from modo is ok for simple characters but as soon as you have a more complex one it can be tricky to me. I also have some problems with the current weightpaint workflow in general see my post: blender.community/c/rightclickselect/Kfdbbc/ . I think rigify is not worst than CAT, it's just not well documented.
* @panicq06 * CAT is much simple, user-friendly and easy to use (and very much unlimited) compare to the current Riggify. so even with better documents it's a total mess of buttons instead of a new organized dynamic rig that let us create pretty much any creature in matter of few clicks, Also Riggify don't have procedural animation to the rig you create which is very powerful from what I've tried with CAT, as I mentioned above not just for cycle animations but any nonlinear animation and it's all in one tool, very impressive... I hope to see such power in the future of Blender! :)
* @alondan * you can try Auto Rig Pro. it is not free but it can help you make a rig fast, here is the link blendermarket.com/products/auto-rig-pro
Thanks * @DeadDrag0 * I actually tried it, the setup reminded me of Mixamo in a way but unfortunately it crashed many times and had issues in 2.8, as I mention on my post since it's not a built-in feature in Blender, any plugin may stop develop or have no support from for long... so a built-in for Animation 2020 will be amazing. Also, CAT have it's procedural animation tools that are beyond the rigging and makes things so much dynamic, easy to learn, user-friendly and FUN! for any 3DS Max users this is a thing that is no available in almost ANY other 3D software... so I hope to see something like that in the future of Blende 2.8x :)