Nathan Vegdahl's - Humane Rigging - DVD Review

Another month and it's time to do another Blender Foundation Open Movie Workshop training DVD release review.

The Blender Foundation Open Movie Workshop training DVD are high quality training DVD's covering all aspects of production and training in relation to Blender 3D. They are the nearest thing to official/gold standard training that the Blender Community currently has access to, as they tend to be created by the people that created Blender. Each DVD is released under Creative Commons Licensing.  The sale of the training DVD helps support the Blender Foundation and helps in improving Blender.

This time the DVD released is "Humane Rigging" created by Nathan Vegdahl, the irrepressible guy who has worked on many of the Blender Foundation's Open Movie Projects and has produced many different training products.

For those who don't already know Nathan is an extremely talented Blender user who specializes in all things rigging. Which means that he is the ideal person to be producing this training DVD, as it covers rigging in Blender.

Product Specifications:

• Name: Training DVD 8: Humane Rigging - Rigging For Human Beings
• Author: Nathan Vegdahl
• Price: €27.50 (as of 10th July 2012)
• Type: Video Training DVD
• Runtime: 6 Hours (approximately)

The first thing to say about this DVD is that it only covers certain concepts related to rigging in Blender.  It will not cover how to animate the rigs you create with this DVD, nor will it cover deformations in any great detail and weight painting is only briefly demonstrated.  This is to be expected as rigging is a vast and sometimes complex topic, and trying to cover both rigging, weight painting and animation at the same time would make this DVD much longer than it already is.

What is covered are the major rigging structures and controls that are needed to make flexible rigs which can stand up to a real world production requirements of a professional animator, giving the animator the flexibility they need to get their job done.

The approach Nathan takes to do this is simple and effective, he goes over the topics he wants to teach by introducing and creating 3 character rig types.  Each different rig type explaining an important rigging concept in Blender.

The 3 different rig types are loosely ordered from simple to complex, using a process of continued refinement to the rigs to make them more flexible as new topics are introduced to the watcher.  This helps greatly when trying to get to grips with some of the more complex theoretical concepts that Nathan explains throughout the DVD.  It is important to note that Nathan does introduce a lot of theory as well as practical instruction when creating his rigs.  I found this very useful and educational.

The DVD is very well narrated and Nathan on the whole is very clear when it comes to explaining the topics of rigging.  Though rigging is a complex topic and by necessity you will have to be paying complete attention to what he is saying if you want to understand the rigs he makes.  Rigging at the best of times can be confusing but Nathan does his best to keep it understandable.

Over the course of the 6 chapters, Nathan shows you how to rig some of the major parts of a character (fingers, eyes, hands, palms, feet, legs, etc.).  He also covers using various modifiers and constraints to make the job of rigging more efficient and his rigs more powerful.

By the end of this DVD you will have good knowledge of what Rigs, Bone Constraints and Drivers can be used for.  The Bone and Driver Constraints are used extensively in Nathan's rig and his descriptions of how to use these features if very good.  Another highlight of the DVD was Nathans discussion of Intermediate Parenting and it uses.  I found this very useful once I was able to wrap my head around it.  Also the use of drivers to prevent alterations to specific rig values was very clever.

I personally think that if you are a beginner/intermediate Blender user starting out in the rigging side of things that you will learn a lot from this DVD.  Be warned though that you will be required to be paying attention and probably have to rewatch parts of the DVD repeatedly to get your head around a lot of the topics Nathan goes over.

All in all an excellent DVD, well worth adding to your collection especially if you have an interest in wanting to rig more effectively in Blender.

Review Score 85%

Lee Salvemini - Ninja Character Creation Volume 2 - Rigging - Tutorial Video Review

CGMasters.net recently contacted me and asked if I would do a review of their Ninja Character Creation Rigging tutorial video. This is the second tutorial in their planned to be four part series on aspects of the character creation process using Blender . Given that I was so impressed with their previous Character Creation videos, I decided I would, so off I went to download the video from the download link they sent me.

Product Specifications:

• Name: Ninja Character Creation Volume 2 - Rigging
• Author: Lee Salvemini
• Price: $60 (3 Sept 2011)
• Type: Downloadable Tutorial Video
• Length: 9 Hours 40 Min Roughly

Chapter Sections:

• Bonus Chapter 1 - Welcome to Blender 2.5 - (Runtime 14Min 55Sec)
• Bonus Chapter 2 - Blender's Armatures - A Crash Course - (Runtime 15Min 11Sec)

• Chapter 1 - Creating The Skeleton - (Runtime 8Min 36Sec)
• Chapter 2 - Creating The Proxy Mesh - (Runtime 31Min 56Sec)
• Chapter 3 - Rig Overview - (Runtime 15Min 52Sec)
• Chapter 4 - Head Rig - (Runtime 14Min 49Sec)
• Chapter 5 - Arm Rig - (Runtime 29Min 49Sec)
• Chapter 6 - Hand Rig - (Runtime 23Min 39Sec)
• Chapter 7 - Leg Rig - (Runtime 19Min 32Sec)
• Chapter 8 - Foot Rig - (Runtime 22Min 22Sec)
• Chapter 9 (Part 1) - Spine Rig Standard Version 1 - (Runtime 8Min 57Sec)
• Chapter 9 (Part 2) - Spine Rig Advanced Version 2 - (Runtime 27Min 18Sec)
• Chapter 10 - Accessories Rig - (Runtime 56Min 42Sec)
• Chapter 11 (Part 1) - Eye Rig - (Runtime 35Min 7Sec)
• Chapter 11 (Part 2) - Blend Shape - (Runtime 39Min 55Sec)
• Chapter 12 - Custom Properties - (Runtime 57Min 5Sec)
• Chapter 13 - Vertex Groups And Weight Painting - (Runtime 129Min 48Sec)
• Chapter 14 - Rigging With Cloth Simulation - (Runtime 15Min 7Sec)
• Chapter 15 - Rigify - Auto-Rigging System - (Runtime 13Min 54Sec)

The first thing to note is that the downloadable version of these tutorial videos is very large, so you will need a reasonably good internet connection to download it. I found the download rate very quick and the reliability of the download very good. There were no dropped connections and all the files downloaded correctly. If you do not have a good enough connection to the internet then you can also order a DVD version of the content which is identical to the downloadable version.

After having downloaded the files and extracted their content, I opened the index page in my web browswer and was presented with a very neat and tidy interface listing all the topics covered in each of the video tutorials. Each of the 17 chapters (15 Main chapters and 2 bonus chapters) videos are viewable either from inside the web browser, or as independent videos which can be played in your video player of choice. The VLC media player is provided for Windows and Mac people so you do not have to download it if you do not have it on your machines. Also provided in the download files are all the blend files of the different stages of rigging of the ninja character, the python script, the version of Blender used to create the rigging and even the original concept art created by David Revoy (which looks amazing).

I found the web interface very easy to navigate and the video displayed very well in the browser and were very well encoded. If the video is too small for you in the web browser the flash player that is used has a full screen option which displays the video in full high quality.

Having explored the interface I moved on to actually watching all the videos from start to finish. This took me longer than I expected because I had to go back and watch different chapters multiple times to wrap my head around what I was being told.

Rigging is one of Blender's more advanced topics and it takes some mental gymnastics to understand some of the fundamental concepts that are involved when using Blender to do rigging. I should say that I am no rigging expert and found Mr Salvemnin's instructions easy to follow and very clear, though I did have to pay complete attention to everything he said. He takes the time to not only tell you what you need to do but also why. To me it is this combination of clear instruction and the explanation of why he does things the way he does that really makes the videos invaluable as a learning tool.

On the main cgmasters website for the rigging video they mention that the videos are appropriate for any level of Blender user. I would agree with this. I think if you have never done any rigging before you should be able to follow everything, though you will need to be paying very close attention to what is done and go back and watch the videos more than once. That said if you do take the time to properly watch and re-watch the videos you will be rewarded, no matter what your level of Blender rigging experience, even battle hardened riggers will pick up tips and tricks.

I have seen and read a lot of videos and books, and I can say that I have never seen a video tutorial that is as complete and extensive as this is on the topics of rigging. As far as I can tell (remember I am no rigging expert) it doesn't miss any information or steps required to make a professional, industrial grade, fully rigged character which you could probably use on professional productions such as Sintel. There are topics covered that I have never seen covered anywhere else (Proxy Meshes, Custom Controls, etc), which really set these videos above any other at least as far as Blender is concerned. If you manage to learn all the techniques used in these videos you will be able to do almost anything Blender rigging wise.

There are topics that are covered which by rights Mr Salvemini did not need to cover but which in being covered really helped make the video sets even better (Chaptars 14 and 15 for example).

I really can't say enough good things about these videos, they are amazing, I could not find a single thing to complain about.

If you are interested in Blender and want to get expert in rigging with Blender this is the video tutorial to get.

Review Score 100%

Nathan Vegdahls Blender Massive Mammoth Masterclass Rigging Videos 1 and 2 - Training Video Review

A while back cmivfx.com released a new Blender video training tutorial on the rigging of a mammoth model previously created by Sebastian König. Those that saw the previous tutorials from Sebastian will know that they were of excellent quality and really well produced. Now the mammoth has moved on to the next stage in the production work flow, that of Rigging.

Rigging is the process of taking a model mesh and adding mechanisms which enable it to be animated and deformed more easily by an animator, so that a mesh does not have to be manipulated directly.

Product Specifications:

• Name: Blender Massive Mammoth Masterclass: Rigging Videos 1 & 2
• Author: Nathan Vegdahl
• Price: $59.95 (23 June 2011)
• Type: Training Videos (Streaming)
• Length: 3 Hours 29 Mins and 2 Hours 48 Mins

This time however the Rigging stage is carried out by Nathan Vegdahl, an excellent Blender user and rigger. He has worked on many of the Blender open movies, so his qualifications are excellent.

I purchased both of the available training videos in a bundle from the cmivfx site. You can purchase the videos separately if you wish to.

These training videos are for intermediate to advanced Blender users. You will be expected to have a good grasp of Blender and how to navigate your way around it and its features. Nathan does take time to explain all the concepts that he uses in the 2 videos as far as rigging goes, but even so given the level of Blender user these videos are aimed at he does move along at a very fast pace. So if you're rusty with rigging and weighting you may need to go back and re-watch certain parts of the videos to make sense of them.

I found that I had to go through certain parts of the videos multiple times before they started to click for me. Though I think if I could understand it, it should not be difficult for your average Blender user to get to grips with.

The first training video covers setting up Blender's armature system. Covering such things as deform bones, control bones, constraints, drivers and modifiers and various other things. In short the first video covers the setup and design of the mammoth skeleton system.

This first skeleton design techniques were very clever and resulted in an extremely flexible and efficient bone setup. The coverage of how to use control bones, ik/fk drivers was very informative to me. I felt I learned a lot even if it did take some effort to keep up with Nathan.

Once the skeleton of the mammoth has been created, video 2 takes over, this time covering the topics of weighting the mesh of the mammoth to the bones of the skeleton created previously in the 1st video.

Nathan takes a slightly different approach to weight painting the mammoth mesh to the bones by using a technique he terms "Segment Weighting", which I have never seen used in Blender before but it definitely seems very effective to me, so was well worth learning about.

After the weighting of the bones to the mesh has been carried out, Nathan move on to creation of test poses of the mammoth which are used throughout the video to test for problems with deformations. Nathan uses a very good technique to spot deformation problems with a mesh by using something he calls Cross Sectional weighting. Using this technique he directly alters vertex group weighting rather than using Blender Weight Painting tools. While this may seem strange and slightly complicated it turns out to be very useful for the more complex deformations in a model such as the mammoth.

After the major deformations had been weighted Nathan then shows how to do the smaller but just as important deformation tidy-ups using Shape Keys and Corrective Shape Keys. Which take the deformations from good quality to excellent quality and really make the difference. Nathan also shows how to use Shape Keys to control face deformations in a very clear and easy to understand way.

This was a short review given the amount of information and techniques packed into these videos. As far as I can tell everything you could need to know to produce top quality rigged results are in these videos. It is all well narrated and broken up into manageable sections and the videos are very well encoded and very clear.

Excellent videos, using unique techniques which to me at least seemed very effective.

Well worth getting, it will be interesting to see if Nathan does other tutorial videos.

Review Score 93%