Kiel Figgins  -  Character Animator

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Write Ups

Learning MEL by Rigging an IK Arm
Learn MEL, line by line, by building a simple IK arm rig from scratch

Arnold Rendering for Animators
How to setup character shaders in Arnold from scratch

Creating Anim Proxies for Rigs
Steps and tools to help speed up rigs

Transferring Anim from Rig to Rig
How to get the anim from an UnRef character onto a referenced one

Adding a credit to IMDB
How to add a credit to your IMDB page

nCloth for Animators
How to setup, sim, bake ncloth motion onto rigs from an Animator's point of view

Corrective Joint Setups
Various setups for creating helper joints and the pros/cons in doing so

Restoring Lost UVs
Fixing Lost UVs / Lost Shaders / White Meshes

Resolving Frequent Crashes
Steps to reduce the number of scene crashes in an animation scene

Prepping a Mesh to Rig
Steps I take when recieving a model to process it before starting a rig

Mapping mocap to a Rig
Animator's guide to mapping mocap to a rig without scripts or other programs

Blocking Action Shots
Showing the steps and stages I take when starting an action shot

How to get Work in Animation
Various tips and approaches for landing a gig

Painting Weights and Skinning
A straighforward approach to a tedious facet of 3d character rigging

Forearm Twist: An Animation Solution
Forearm twists that can be automated by a setup artists and tweaked by an animator

Attaching a High Res Beard to a High Res Face
A layered approach to having a high res beard mesh ride on a high res face

Calculating Wheel Rotation
How to calculate wheel rotation and a script to do it for you

Maya File Referencing in an Animation Pipeline
File Referencing is invaluable for any animation pipeline, get more out of it

Daily Links to Visit
Keep up with 3d news, latest projects, jobs and portfolios



Tutorials

Viewport Missile Trails
(Maya) Creating missile trails to show trajectory in playblasts

Attach a cycle to a Path
(Maya) Attach a looping walk cycle to a motion path

Rigging a basic fish
(Maya) Rigging a basic fish

Animating a Bird Flying
(Maya) Introduction to animation ideas, processes and tools to new Maya users

IK/FK Blending using Nodes and Channels
(Maya) Creating this common setup for arms, legs and other limbs

Adding a Timecode in After Effects
Adding a timecode to get better feedback

Red Eye Removal
By far the most commonly requested photo alteration is the removal of red eye

Favicon for Websites
Creating those small icons by web address