The Middle of Nowhere

Body Rig • Buck Rigging Tools

This was an Airbnb project I worked on while working at Buck. It was my first time rigging animals, so I learned a lot about different animal anatomy from birds, to sea mammals, and quadrupeds.

Final Result

Breakdown

Puffin neck and pelvis controls
Wings flapping
Feet are able to open and close

Puffin

This was my first time rigging a bird, so I looked up video references about how they move, the way their wings flap, and how their legs bend. At first I was a little confused about how the legs bend, but thye are similar to other animals including humans. Puffins are such fascinating creature and I had fun rigging the body!

Bird and human leg anatomy comparison
Narwhal head moving with IK controls
Narwhal tail flailing around

Narwhal

The narwhal was another strange creature, but I still throughly enjoyed rigging it! The animator only asked for simple movement, so I just added a rig set up with both FK and IK functionality for the body.

The sheep bends to eat some grass
Foreleg controls for the sheep
A few of the controls for the body fur

Sheep

The sheep was one of the first quadrupeds that I had rigged with forelegs and hindlegs. There were a lot of fur controls that the animators asked me to add, so it took quite a bit of time, but I think it came out pretty well.

Gallery

Credits