Duties performed: Character Rigging, R&D, QA (Shot check) 2020 ~ 2023

This was the biggest project I’ve had the opportunity to participate in so far and I learned a lot during the process.
Released on Netflix in the second half of 2023.

Homepage: gamera-rebirth.com/

My main duty was rigging of human characters.

Our Technical Director at the time introduced us to mGear framework and the concept of data centric development, which was essential for the tasks as we had a lot of characters, constant updates and few riggers at the beginning.

Layout rig

Layout rig, basic controls and simple geometry for initial positioning in scenes.

Learning to work with mGear made it possible to standardize the rigs as much as possible and build a workflow where the iterations of each asset were directed and reversible. My colleague, also a rigger, introduced us to Github and we started to have all the assets with a history of changes, variants and versions, making it easier to share and review the data. 

Reverse foot

mGear components provide the most common features used in rigs.

The facial rig was also a separate challenge. We had a joint-driven setup on a sub-mesh of the face (actually a sub-mesh for each region of the face) and the deformation of this sub-mesh was fed into the main mesh by a blendshape. Although complex, this setup offered the flexibility to modify facial expressions at specific points while allowing the addition of corrective or expression blendshapes.

Facial controls

1 item(s)

Collaboration with the modelers was also essential, the topology of the characters followed the same base and the mesh updates were almost always uncomplicated because we could transfer the skin weights to the new model. We were able to use ngSkinTools and work on the deformation map in layers, making revisions and corrections even easier.

Deformation adjustments

Most of the adjustments were made to correct inconsistent deformations and mesh interference.

For animators, in addition to supporting and reviewing rigs, we suggest using the Studio Library to help with the process of transferring animations between scenes, facial expressions and base animations.

Everything was only possible thanks to everyone’s collaboration in standardizing names, automating processes and many (many) meetings and attempts. In addition to the character rigs, we also had the opportunity to develop props and numerous optimization, performance and workflow studies, etc.

Prop - Bloodstrains

This was one of the fun prototypes to make, even if it wasn't used in production. The idea was to have a blood asset that could be added to the character and animated on top of existing animations.

It was challenging because as the project progressed we had more and more animators using the rigs internally and externally but few riggers to support, update and continue the production of new assets.

R&D - Blackbox

Another prototype I really enjoyed researching and developing was the encapsulation of the rigs. Generally, the amount of information exposed to animators in the Outliner is enormous, and encapsulation aims to leave only the controls and elements that can be used exposed.

In the end, seeing the result of the series on show, I was happy with everything we learned during the process.