REEL BREAKDOWN

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• DRAGON RIG: This is a custom rig I built for the Ninki Nanka - a mythical dragon-like creature in my thesis film. This rig was challenging as I had to troubleshoot various aspects of the rig to ensure that it could move in all the ways that we needed. A few of the attributes that I added in the rig are muscle physics to ensure that the dragon looks grounded in reality with flesh that reacts to its movements and sine-wave deformers on its whiskers, neck, tail and fins to enable animators to achieve the snake-like movements without having to hand animate an FK chain.

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• AUTO LIMB TOOL: Developed a tool using Python to create a limb setup for quadrupeds and bipeds. Incorporated an IK-FK switch, stretchy and bendy limbs using ribbons and muscle dynamics. This tool was instrumental to efficiently rig the complex dragon on our film and was also reusable for other types of limbs such as the wings of birds. I used Claude AI to debug and vibe code the UI and extra features of this tool.

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• POSE LIBRARY TOOL: This is a Pose Library tool I developed using Python and PyQt that allows animators to save, reuse, and blend between poses stored as JSON files. The tool supports transferring poses across different files and projects, and includes a mirroring feature that quickly applies poses to the opposite side of a rig. It also features automatic thumbnail generation and an organized library system for multiple rigs. I use this tool regularly in my animation workflow, and it has significantly improved both speed and consistency, especially when collaborating with other animators on shared assets. Used Claude AI for AI assisted development.

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• NINKI NANKA FACE RIG TEST: Animated a short face rig test for the Ninki Nanka to ensure that the rig was flexible and expressive. Went back and forth between weight painting and rig tests to fine tune the facial deformation.

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• NINKI NANKA MUSCLE DYNAMICS: Added muscle dynamics to dragon rig using ribbons and muscle deformers. This helped ground the dragon in reality and added an extra level of believability. Utilized deformers instead of a muscle system to meet project constraints, ensuring performance efficiency.​​​​

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• RIBBON TOOL: Created a tool to make ribbons from an edge selection. Added a UI to make it user friendly for other artists. This tool significantly improved the workflow efficiency and saved a considerable amount of time on the project.

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