Skeleton to CAT Rig

Something to bear in mind about the CAT rig is the amount of vertebrae  in the spinal column. This CAT rig is set with only about 7 sections. This is alter the smoothness in some movement, ie; bending over and back.
If I match the amount of bones on the CAT rig to around that of it's human counterpart, I should be able to recreate a very smooth arch in the back.
The picture I have attached here is a composite of the CAT and a skeleton. The RIG is slightly off, as I didn't make this RIG for the skeleton. It is the one I used in the Spiderman test. Something to note with Superheroes design is that they are often made much taller that "regular" humans. Their limbs are often slightly elongated, or in some circumstances, reduced.

Back to University

Monday is the start of Semester 2, Year 2.
I've been working through some Performance Capture stuff to prepare for it.
Things like using Ragdoll solvers and retargeting animation, plus refreshing myself with Motionbuilder. Now that I know what was going wrong with Semester 1's work, I'm in a better standing, with a much better understanding of the program.
I know where I messed up last time, so I know what to change. I'm going to try and stay ahead this time. My results from S1's projects were not what I was happy with, but they were passes at least. This time, work harder and focus. Don't plan over elaborate sequences, which I did for both the animation and the VFX pieces. Know what I want to make within the first couple weeks, ideally right away, something which I slipped up on with the 3D modelling project.

This year I will have a lot more time to focus on my work, something which was messing me up last time. I left work at the end of the first semester. It's just as well I did, or I wouldn't have had enough time to finish my projects. The last couple weeks were balls-to-the-wall, constant work, all nighters. I'd like to avoid this this time as much as I can.

When it comes to uploading work, it's getting done from University and well ahead of time.
I will be keeping a better blog, too. Showing more development work, which I was lacking last time.

Really, first semester was a travesty for me. The only positive is that I have learned a lot from it.

I also want to do a little bit of personal project, too. This will mainly be if my Uni projects are going well, but I'd like to think that I can do a little bit of work, even if it's just some drawings for it, just to keep it fresh, you know?

Wish me luck!

Michel Gagne is awesome.

http://www.gagneint.com/Final%20site/Animation/irongiant/Iron_Giant_main.htm

Some behind the scenes stuff of his work on The Iron Giant (1999) - which is one of my favourite 2D animated films.
This link shows work of the "Dome Of Doom" - where the giant launches a ball of plasma(?) energy out over the sea when he is attacked by the (evil) humans! BOO! HISS!