Pose Animation

Posing Rigs in Animation

These are the final renders and in-scene screenshots from the posing challenge. This task focused on the practical application of positioning the anatomy of a rigged character while using a real-world figure in an image as a reference. The research for this task is on my blog about solid drawing, posing, anatomy and life drawing practices. The task is to create six poses with already made rigs. Three action poses and three drama poses, with a variety of possible scenarios and references.

When posing in any art, there are thinks you should keep in mind. Minding your body language, observations of the pose (life drawing helps) and the 12 principles (solid drawing and posing) are all important to give the model character.

Posing key curve shapes:

What Not To Do

Never use straight lines- shallow curves are fine. Never make a ‘twinning’ pose, it is not natural. Avoid stiff spines, postures or focussing on details rather than the overall image.

What To Do To Make Your Character More Dynamic

The line of action is the way the physics of the body are described in motion or stood still. The way the spine bends is important, but the key is the force and direction of an action. As in the image above, it is important when showing force, that you use opposite curves. For example, a forward C for the object doing the hitting, and a backwards C for the object taking the hit.

Line of action examples:

The main areas that the lines of action are made up of is the head, spine and legs. If extended arms are in use, then they influence the line of action as well. The shoulders and pelvis usually work in counter poses, opposites.

Weight and Gravity

The centre of gravity of a pose means how you catch your weight, since every time you take a stride you need to adjust your balance.

The spine must flex in the right direction for the right position of the body, in terms of C curves.

Silhouettes

The better the silhouette, the better you will define the character and be able to receive information from their readabilities.

Hands and Feet

These are small details that help define the types of body movements that the character usually takes. The hands and feet are essentially your props for the character, the weight, pressure, balance and position tell the viewer a lot of information.

The Meaning of Poses -Attitude

Different poses have different attitudes and meanings. There can be a complexity within poses that tell the audience a story just by themselves.

Staging and Storytelling

Breaking Common Sense in Posing

Certain rigs may not be able to achieve a complex pose. Choosing the right rig that can achieve all the poses that you need.

Posing my Rig Steps:

When Starting to Pose Steps:

1. While starting, lock you cam in perspective view.
2. Work out/plan the line of action and centre of gravity.
3. When adding the centre of gravity, focus on where the weight is e.g. a leg- move the pelvis controls horizontally to shift the CofG.
4. Make sure to offset the shoulders and hips. Which is further forward or backwards.
5. Then arch the spine correctly.
6. Align the shoulders.
7. Etc. starting from the centre outwards, bigger picture first, then smaller details.

Posing the Rig Task

Surprisingly, posing a rig takes longer than expected, so in future projects, I will need to ensure that allow sufficient time for this part of the animation process.
The sucessfulness of this pose task relies on my skill to place the rig in an appropriate position to give the aesthetic of the figure’s pose. Additionally, grasping the concept of weight, centre of gravity is also essential. While there are many differences between completing this task in analogue, rather than with 3D, the theoretics are the same. For example, key curve shapes that translate into language of movement, telling the viewer what that figure is doing. For example, when lifting up an object, the 3D rig (or drawing as well) will have a curved back. Depending on the direction of the arch, this will show a different effect or type of movement. I can conducted research on this on my blog post about the posing task. I have found, that workflow of posing start from the core/ centre, then work your way up and out. Considering the parenting system, some controls move others, therefore this workflow is necessary, since if you have to go back and edit the hips, for example, the rest of the body will be affected, in some way.

After my many trials, experimenting with the order of positioning the various limb controls, as shown in my blog post, I finalised the necessary workflow. This workflow prioritised the successful depiction of the character’s natural centre of gravity and weight distribution within the pose.

Pose 1: Leaning on the wall

The concept of this pose was to portray a static, resting pose of a person casually leaning. Considering the left hand is hidden in the reference image, I decided to position it on the wall. Afterwards, I realised that I should have placed it on the left leg, the same as the right. That is, if I wanted to follow the reference exactly. It seems that the left arm is actually in the figure’s pocket. While this may have been more accurate, I prefer this result considering the character’s contextual situation is more clear. Without the character’s mise-en-scene setup, the rig cannot fully describe what he is doing on the wall (in terms of staging), whereas placing a hand on the wall emphasises the walls presence. Issues and complications arose while positioning the upper body and the left arm against the wall, in terms of how much the rig went through the wall to compensate for how the body should look naturally. I had to judge how much the body parts could go through the wall. I realised after the fact that using an IK handle to place the left hand on the wall would be more appropriate.

As the left arm could not be seen in the reference image, I made it up that it was positioned on the wall. However, looking back this doesn’t feel natural unless the person held it there but you may not usually do that. It may feel better if the arm was hanging down loosely. with the hand curved.

While I followed the steps above, the centre of gravity and weight is something that will need to be adjusted, even slightly, later in the pose progression. This may mess up, e.g. the hands, however I believe that it will look better after you see the figure more completed and then do the smaller details/adjustments to finish off after you are happy with the big-picture figure. Not only this, the figure looks/feel different when you render it, so it is a good idea to get the render perspective of the pose along the process rather than only at the end.

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I still feel that the spine and waist feel unnatural. Like the weight leaning on the wall is somehow wrong. Perhaps it feels like the weight is all on the foot and waist. In that case it looks somewhat fine, however I think that the figure in the reference image had more weight on the middle back than the waist. The back should be more arched, and the upper back more curved forward.

Pose 2: Ballet Dance

Positioning point of contact with the surface, and posing the foot, was challenging. By this I mean finding an accurate weight and balance of the body in terms of the centre of gravity and placement of the body in relation to the foot. Realising it now, action poses are much more challenging than static poses. This is such a dynamic pose, where the point of contact, nor can the body, compromise each other. But, work in unison instead. In this case it was particularly challenging. I believe that the pose was positioned quite well, however, the curve of the body could be improved, whereas the torso position and angle is spot on. For future reference, having more point of views from the reference will make posing much easier. For example, front, side and perspective view.

I am no sure if the centre of gravity could have been exaggerated. The curve on the body is not very steep. Also the feet and shoulders are not quite right. I found it quite hard to make the feet pointed and show the weight and pressure of the rest of the body. Whereas when doing the shoulders I focussed on the angle of the arms and elbows. Trying to make that seem like the reference, since their angle and position where important. On the other hand, I believe that the torso posture is more or less spot on. I am happy with it since the angle of the hips and puffed out chest seem life-like.

Pose 3: Sitting on Floor

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The outcome of this pose was suitable for its purpose. It looks natural and alike its reference. Exempt are the arms and head positions. While the pose in the scene I made may look decent and natural, atomically speaking. The arms and head are not able to fit in the exact positions like in the reference. This is since the rig is not proportionate to the reference.

Pose 4: Football Kick

At first glance, the football pose looks appropriately positioned. However, if you compare details and angles of the limbs with the reference image, there are many dissimilarities. Looking at the scene from a different point of view, the rig looks well positioned, and accurately in mid-motion. Here are certain areas that should have been adjusted to be anatomically correct, in terms of the angle of certain limbs. Looking at the screen shot images such as this one makes it easier to see where adjustments are needed. For example, the left foot needs to be moved forward slightly and the right calf up further. The torso seems a little off- I haven’t captured the angle of the diagonally twisted body yet (although I should look at the side view to confirm this). The left foot angle should be adjusted slightly so you can see more of the sole. The hips should be slightly more twisted to the front facing leg in motion (the left).

These two images are after I completed the hand and made the adjustments, as stated above. There is an improvement in the smaller details, however, I am not happy with the torso. Perhaps, it is just this rig that does not allow the type of twisted body that I desire to pose. Nevertheless, the shoulders help give the right impression of this.

Looking at the pose from the last point of view, I think that the centre of gravity is good but the momentum feels a little off. I think this has something to do with the arms and left leg. The left leg mostly, like it should be slightly more forward. Nevertheless, the rest of the body looks really good and natural as though he is mid motion.

Pose 5: Sitting on Stool

I am slowly understanding the rig better as I go. I naturally know to bend the elbow slightly before changing the rotation of the shoulder, to know which way it will bend. With this pose, the arm, shoulder and elbow positions were tricky to complete, but essential to the essence of the pose.

In addition to this, out of habit, I rotate the hips and shoulders slightly horizontally so that they are not perfectly straight. And offset the arms and legs too. This helps me prevent twinning and make the pose look more natural. Of course, I try to align their adjustments according to the reference, but this is just something that I think about that I hope will improve the pose.

Pose 6 and 7: Mid Combat

This was an especially challenging pose to complete the centre of gravity and weight, yet, I believe that I positioned them well. Considering these are action poses between a duo, I needed to think about limb and eye line direction. There are some dissimilarities between the rig position and the reference, however, I believe that I have captured the essence of the poses quite well. Nevertheless, the figure on the right should have been bent lower down, with the feet position adjusted. The left figure has much more complexity. The weight distribution needs more improvement. Perhaps if the figure were slightly higher and the leg extended further.