Congratulations to the team at DreamWorks Animation for their work on B.O.B. from “Monsters Vs. Aliens”.  A special tip o’ the hat to Terran Boylan who led up the blob rigging.  Nice work!

Read the article over at CGSociety for all the details.

This video highlights Digital Domain’s great work on “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”. Very much worth a look:

A couple of good thoughts on the “uncanny valley” from a few years ago when “Beowulf” was released:

NY Times: “Digital Actors in Beowulf are Just Uncanny”

Veteran animator Gene Deitch weighs in with his article “Yes, But is It Animation?”

CGSociety has a great article on rigging on Disney’s “Bolt”:

http://features.cgsociety.org/story_custom.php?story_id=4801

In particular good details on the hamster in the ball character callled “Rhino”.

Image Metrics provides services for high-end facial animation. They are on a quest to overcome the Uncanny Valley and The Emily project is a big step in that direction.
 

Read more about it here, and at the links below.
 

The Emily Project
Image Metrics
 

Maybe this can be seen as a conflict of interest because I am affiliated with Kickstand (I am a founding partner) but I believe in the tools and we are building them to support the next generation of digital character development.

StretchMesh is a new paradigm for surface deformation. By using a fast algorithm for relational vertex knowledge, smooth character deformations can be created quickly and with superior results over existing techniques. StretchMesh is implemented as a standard Maya deformer to work seamlessly with and enhance existing work flows.

To put it simply StretchMesh is responsive skin for your characters. Plain and simple. The results are fast and amazing and if you would like to try it there is a free, fully functional, two week demo version.

StretchMesh
Kickstand

After years of work, my book “Digital Character Development: Theory and Practice” is about to launch. This is a software agnostic look at the art of character rigging. This site will act as an update and companion to the content presented. The book will be released in the US on Monday November 10, 2008. Here is an abbreviate chapter listing to give you a sense of what’s covered:

PART 1 AN INTRODUCTION TO DIGITAL CHARACTERS
CHAPTER 1 Overview
1.1 Overview of this Book
1.2 Defining Digital Characters
1.3 Roles in the Creation of Digital Characters
 

CHAPTER 2 Contemporary Issues Related to Digital Characters
2.1 Viewer Perception and the “Uncanny Valley”
2.2 How Do Style and Intended Platform Dictate Character Setup?
2.3 Case Studies in the Psychology of Digital Characters
 

CHAPTER 3 History of Digital Characters
3.1 Introduction
3.2 The Evolution of Digital Characters
3.3 History of Digital Characters in Film
3.4 Overview of Digital Characters in Interactive Media
 

CHAPTER 4 Character Technology and Code
4.1 Commonalities Between Software
4.2 Programming and Scripting
4.3 Algorithm Presentation in This Book
 

PART 2 CHARACTER TECHNOLOGY
CHAPTER 5 Introduction to Character Technology
5.1 Nomenclature
5.2 The Pipeline for Digital Character Creation and Maintenance
5.3 Geometry Mesh Surface Types
5.4 Modeling Concerns for Animation
5.5 Modeling Concerns for Video Games and Real-Time Engines
 

CHAPTER 6 Motion Systems
6.1 Character Motion Systems and Anatomy
6.2 Anatomical Direction
6.3 Anatomical Terms of Motion
6.4 Joint Mechanics
6.5 Comparative Anatomy
6.6 Matrices and Joints
6.7 Joint Rotations
6.8 Rotation Order
6.9 Euler Versus Quaternions
6.10 Joint Naming and Placement
6.11 Joint Hierarchies
6.12 Anatomy Driven Hierarchies
6.13 Constraints and High-Level Control
6.14 Forward and Inverse Kinematics
6.15 Dynamics and Simulation
6.16 User Interface and Visualizing the Motion System
6.17 Real-Time Engine Concerns
 

CHAPTER 7 Deformation Systems
7.1 Physiology of Muscles
7.2 The Polygonal Model as Skin
7.3 Deformation
7.4 Skinning and Enveloping
7.5 The Deformation Rig and Pipeline
7.6 Deformers
7.7 Layered Deformation Methods
7.8 Shape Interpolation
7.9 Dynamics and Simulation
7.10 Spring Mesh Deformation Methods
7.11 Deformation Order
7.12 Real-Time Engine Concerns
 

CHAPTER 8 Face Setup
8.1 Introduction
8.2 Anatomy
8.3 Psychology Behind Facial Expressions
8.4 Face Shape Library
8.5 Emotions Through Face Shapes
8.6 Visemes and Lip Syncing
8.7 Eyes
8.8 Interfaces for Facial Animation
8.9 Dynamics and Simulation
 

CHAPTER 9 Rig Synthesis
9.1 Introduction
9.2 The Rig in a Scene
9.3 Motion System Inventory
9.4 Deformation System Inventory
9.5 Face System Inventory
9.6 Documentation
 

PART 3 ANIMATION TECHNOLOGY
CHAPTER 10 Introduction to Animation Technology
10.1 Definitions of Animation
10.2 Integration of Animation Techniques
10.3 Interfaces for Animation
 

CHAPTER 11 Traditional Animation Techniques
11.1 Classic Principles of Animation
11.2 Curves and Interpolation
11.3 Driving Versus Driven Motion
11.4 Clip-Based Animation
11.5 Sound
 

CHAPTER 12 Motion Capture
12.1 Marker-Based Motion Capture
12.2 Motion Capture Data Cleanup
12.3 Skeletal Solvers
12.4 Pipelines for Motion Capture
12.5 Motion Retargeting
12.6 Markerless Motion Capture
 

CHAPTER 13 Procedural Animation
13.1 Functions to Control Movement
13.2 Scripted Animation and Procedural Actors
13.3 Physics to Control Movement
13.4 Behavioral Animation
13.5 Artificial Intelligence
13.6 Crowds and Variation Systems
 

CHAPTER 14 Case Studies in Character Interactivity
14.1 “AlphaWolf” by the Synthetic Characters Group at the MIT Media Lab
14.2 “Tartarus” by Alan Price
14.3 “MovieSandbox” by Friedrich Kirschner
 

PART 4 CONCLUSIONS
CHAPTER 15 The Future of Digital Characters
 

CHAPTER 16 Conclusion
 

Bibliography
Index