Rigging a CAT rig

As I will be using 3Ds Max for animating the character, I went to Youtube, then to the 3D Studio channel. They have a whole heap of tutorials in their library. I will be using THIS video to help me with my Rigging.
One change I will be making is by adding an extra "bone" to the forearm. This was a suggestion by my animation tutor. It stops the entire forearm from twisting when you rotate the wrist. Try rotating your wrist. See how very little of the forearm near the elbow twists? You could even argue that it is simply a muscle bulge making that area move. It's because by twisting your wrist, your Ulna and Radius are moving in your arm, along with the Carpus (wrist).

This image, from Doctor Bruce McFarlane's BLOG, ITTCS, shows how the Ulna (shown in RED) and the Radius bones move when the wrist rotates.

I will update this post with my CAT rigging attempt from following the 3D Studio tutorial, with the adjustment I mentioned.

UPDATE:
I have rigged and partially skinned a model. I have not altered the Envelopes, so there is a lot of strange action going on, like stretching and the thighs morph rather bizarrely.

I have also documented my process with a series of Screenshots.

Firstly I opened the Mesh file up. Spiderman is stood in a Tpose

Selecting the Mesh, I pressed Alt + X to enable X-ray mode. I froze the mesh at this point for ease of rigging.

I created a Base Human CAT rig from the Helpers Section

In side view, aligned the rig with the meshes waist.

CATUnits Ratio alters the height of the rig. I renamed the rig Spiderman_ so all of the components would be names, for example, Spiderman_LeftFoot

I resized the waist to fill out the mesh and help aligning the legs. I also rotated it slightly. Using the Copy and Paste Mirror buttons, I placed the Legs. I also added an extra Bone to the feet. As the model is wearing boots, I don't need to make all five toes.

I align the spine and neck to follow shape of the mesh. Moving the ribcage resizes the spine bones automatically, as does the head with the neck bones.

I resize the ribcage to better fill out the mesh. This will help when it comes to setting the enveloping areas of skinning.

Aligning the arms, I moved the collarbone slightly, then began setting the arms. I added the five digits to the hand and resized them using my own hand for reference, lining up the knuckles. I added an extra section on the forearm to represent the Ulna and Radius bones.

Copy and Paste Mirror to set the other arm.

This is how the mesh and model look when combined. I select the mesh, then apply a Skin Modifier.

I use the Spiderman_Pelvis selection as my bones, then Ctrl+C to select all of the Children files within. This contains all of the bones I need, leaving out the Footpads and the main selector (the triangle with the arrow).
As the mesh is separated for the neck, head and the eyes, I do the same with them. Without this, those sections will not be animated.

As noted above, there are lots of things to be corrected. I have just uploaded this to show my working so far. My next steps will be to adjust the enveloping sections to correct the stretching.

I used the Motion section to animate Spiderman with a Sneaking animation. I have hidden the rig contained within.

Level 5 Computer Animation and Special Effects - 3D Modelling cont.

FINAL RENDERS

A view to the rear of the room.

Underneath the side counter.

 The sink with a couple of dishes waiting to be cleaned.

 The toaster and kettle plugged in.

 The door to the Outhouse with the net curtain.

 The Oven (note, the oven was left to be dirty for this project. Once the photos were taken, the oven was cleaned).  The cat's bed with scratching posts.

 Sugar pot on the side counter.

 A view from the back of the room.

 The outside of the room with the images for behind the doors and windows. I added a beaded look to a couple of the images to give the patterned glass look that the doors in my kitchen have.

 Another view of the outer shell.

A rotation look at the taps

 A rotation look at the dirty oven

 A rotation look at the cat's bed.

List of assets from the project:

Cat Bed

Cat bowls

Sugar pot

Toaster

Kettle

Mugs

Plates

Taps/Sink

Oven

Side Counter (the unusual counter the toaster is on)

Level 5 Computer Animation and Special Effects - 3D Modelling cont.

I used a lot of textures in this project. I would like to show them all on here, but it would be a MASSIVE post. Instead, I have uploaded them to Mega for easy viewing:
https://mega.co.nz/#fm/MVoTDJoA

The files are a mixture of textures, and Bump maps created from the images. I also created a couple Specular maps which are in there.

I hit a snag when texturing, however. I used a few Multi-Sub Objects, which saved a little space in the Material Library, but when I had run out of space, I started to worry. Surely there was a way to get more materials?!

A Google Search asking the question led me to http://www.cadtutor.net/forum/showthread.php?41413-Add-more-materials-into-my-Material-Editor

This post was EXACTLY what I needed. It came in handy for a few of the last assets I made.

Level 5 Computer Animation and Special Effects - 3D Modelling

During a Lecture, notes were taken on techniques to keep in mind when modelling. This page was invaluable to me in this project.

The project began with a photograph of my cat eating his dinner.

I began measuring aspects of the room so I could make the room as accurately as possible.

Week Six Pitch Presentation items:

 Before using the Raytrace and Phong settings, the sugar pot looked like this.

Side Counter

Mugs. The feedback from these was that the edges were too sharp and wouldn't be drinkable. I took that feedback and created a much better mug (see later)

 All the items together

 Plates

 Reference for the sugar pot.

This was the first render image of my room. It was just the sink counter, this side bench, the window opening and the pots (which later became just one).

I began to texture the room. Following a tutorial sheet supplied by university for a weekly challenge, I began working on this. I used a wooden texture as a WIP before I took photographs of my kitchen.

As I began making more models and getting more comfortable with texturing, I was using UVW Unwrap constraints for more pieces. The benches, cupboards and the Oven were done with this tool, enabling me to use photographs as textures. (I will show the maps I created in a later post).

 The last counter I UVW mapped was this one, adding cupboards. There is also a bump map used to emphasise the gap between doors.

I made a few more models to populate my scene. 

 The bin and toaster were made, The bin is made from  a Sphere and a pair of cylinders with some scale tool editing. The toaster was a bit more involved. Using the Free Form Surfacing methods provided by the FFD constraint. I was able to bulge the sides out and curve the top sides. The handle was made from Box Modelling. I used a UVW Unwrap constraint to texture the toaster. The UVW map that I rendered from it was placed into Photoshop and had a Brushed Steel texture (I kept this texture from last year, which I used when modelling a Hoverboard. Brushed Steel never comes out of use!) placed onto the map. I drew in the handle's channel, the bread slice area and the buttons in Photoshop. I added my CMANIM logo to the side. The main reason for this is because I lost a mug that I made with the logo on it when my external Hard Drive broke whilst backing up files. When I remade the mugs, I couldn't get the UVW Map to align correctly (it was curved out and I couldn't get the CMANIM to line up right)

This was the map that rendered out.

Placing the logo like this would bend and warp the image out and looked horrible. Breaking the image up and placing it at angles just made it look terrible. I opted out of using this design, but I have a render of the original mug. 

The Lost mug...

I placed the bin and the toaster into the scene. Underneath the counter you can see the cat's bowls.

Making the bowls:- I started with a Line Tool, drawing out the cross section and applying the Lathe constraint, making a small pot.

Next I used the Melt constraint, giving it a setting of Ice, then melting it until it resembled a pet bowl.

The second bowl was made in the same way, but without a Melt constraint.

The idea for these came from a weekly challenge from Level 4 and our introduction to modelling in 3Ds Max.

We had been tasked with making a vase/pot

Then using the XYZ alignment to change the look of the line/lathe I found mine looked like a pet dish. 

Alt Look.

 I made a Towel rack and towel. The rack was made with box modelling, raising the ends into sort of bulbs. The towel was made with the Cloth Constraint. A big thanks to Phil Baggott of http://philb15anim.wordpress.com/ for helping me with the Cloth constraint.

You can also see the window frame I made. When I left High school, I worked in a Window and Door frame factory. The things I learned there finally came into use when making this. The Mullion (the cross bar between the solid window and the Sash - the bit that opens) is in line with the main frame, then the Sash window is offset.

The taps on the sink were made and placed.

To make the taps, I watched a Tutorial by a Youtuber called Esperantful. I changed the design slightly, as the model he was making was more of a Bathroom tap.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2dg1Q-poCs - Tutorial by Esperantful

 A better shot of the taps with the sink.

I also added the curtains (again, big thanks to Phil Baggott) which was made in the same way as the towel. The texture was from http://www.cgtextures.com/ - A fantastic source for free textures. 

 This was used on the main curtain and the cloth sheathe that holds the curtain to the sides.

 I used this to create a Net curtain on the outhouse door. I added a transparency setting and it gave a nice effect.

 This was the final WIP render I did. I remade the mug (without the CMANIM logo) and placed it in scene (I changed the colours on them for variety). I wasn't sure about the colour of the orange mug, so I asked the opinion of a L6 design student who suggested toning the harsh colour down, making it more pastel. That is applied in the final renders. I added a kettle and textured it with a Multi-Sub object, colouring the lid and handle black. The body is Brushed Steel.

In the back, under a counter is the Cat bed. I wanted to make the cat bed as it is an interesting shape. A box, couple of cylinders and a thinner box for a platform. The hammock is a Tube with a cloth constraint and is held up by a rope (same texture as the scratching posts).The box has a section removed by Boolean.

The cupboard counter has a cutting board which has a reflection and secularity setting and a marble texture (from http://www.cgtextures.com/)

I made Skirting boards and door frames with the Sweep constraint. 

I watched a tutorial for how to make skirting boards, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpXVsc-x3_Y

This technique didn't work for me, as the floor isn't shaped as the room. I built the room on a large Plane. But I modified the idea they used for my own situation. I drew out sections I needed with the Line Tool and applied the Sweep constraint. I had to invert the V and set the alignment to bottom left. It created the perfect skirting boards. I used the same technique for the door frames, but with a box shape. 

The Tiles were made and placed around the room. They reflect the scene slightly.

I added Plug sockets, light switches and an immersion heater switch.

I placed the textures for them onto boxes. I couldn't find them on CG Textures, so I Google Searched them.

For the final renders, I created Plugs and cords. The plugs were box modelled and the cord was made with the Sweep constraint.