Capstone Progress Report 5: Mechanical Wolf

At this point the wolf rig is now fully finished. I have begun preparing a test animation. Pictures of the finished rig below. Links to the video below that.




Test Run:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8qWeePbO8c

Motor Highlight
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vIi3GMXrrM

Next steps is to refine the run, cleaning it up a bit. After that, I want to extend the animation and show an exploded view, pulling all the panels off.

Capstone Progress Report 4: Mechanical Wolf

The last couple weeks I have been focused on my P2. However, I have made some progress with the wolf. The engine is now driven by both the front and back legs to reflect how far the pistons on the limbs are extended. The outside panels are not attached in such a way that they move with the skeleton, but can also be unparented and removed from the body. Nothing looks different from last week as all progress so far has been math-y. Here is a comparative screenshot showing that everything can now be posed.





Next step is to build the controller objects for the rig.

Capstone Progress Report 3: Mechanical Wolf

The last few weeks I have been concentrating on the legs, to have them finished for my vertical slice. I have the legs working as mechanically accurate as possible, while still maintaining the basic movements that a real animal may have. I have also managed to hook up the pistons in the chest to the ones on the legs.


Unposed


IK Posed


Ankles


Ball of foot


All Toes


Individual Toes


Toe Curl

Capstone Progress Report 2: Mechanical Wolf

Modelling is finally complete and basic (not fantastic) UVs have been applied to the meshes. If this character is textured at all, it will largely be done with procedural tiling metalic textures, so the UVs in place should serve it well enough.



This is the battery and engine block, which will serve as the wolf's heart and lungs. the pistons on the legs will be controlled by the mechanisms of the engine. In regards to other internal parts, I would like to develop some kind of motor system to drive the mouth, as well as some sort of mechanism to control the neck and tail, but I am running out of time for the modelling portion of this assignment and need to get onto actually rigging. setting up constraints, and building the controller. I believe I can incorporate these mechanical parts later down the line through use of parenting and constraints, time permitting.



Here is the wolf with mirrored geometry. I also turned back-face culling off on the plate pieces to avoid issues the Maya viewport was having with displaying them. Ultimately, this has no bearing on its performance, but makes it nicer to look at and easier to read in the viewport with the camera zoomed out.



Finally, I have created a simple IK solution that only allows the legs to be manipulated in 2 dimensions, as that is all the mechanical components in place would allow for. I have attached the skeletal meshes to the bones and the wolf is now able to be manipulated. Next step is to set up the plates to be togglable between constrained to the cage or freely manipulated so the can be removed from the chassis. Please enjoy this skinless robo-dogo.

Capstone Progress Report 1: Mechanical Wolf

The first few weeks I have been focused on getting the mechanical wolf modeled to completion. Most of the modelling has gone without any issues. The only major concern is that I still need to design a piston drive hub that fits inside the wolf's chest cavity.

The only other hiccup is that I have to make changes to the source material so that the rig will be articulate in the ways I want, and so that the parts move without clipping into one another. This hasn't been too much as a problem, as I have created stand ins of the same volume of the finished parts that I can rotate and position in order to check for intersecting geometry when the wolf moves.

Below are some screenshots of my progress:

Street Corer Posts Below

Reflections

When it comes down to this assignment, I am ultimately happy with the finished product. I was able to experiment with some things and settings in Unreal that I have not used too much in the past. Ultimately, I wish I had given myself more time and stayed on top of this more, but when you're in school, there are other assignments and closer looming due dates that tend to take priority. In regards to due dates, I fell that they could have been better communicated and coordinated by the instructors involved, though I fully realize that it is my responsibility to get the work done.

My final thought is that I can't help but feel that I could have been doing more work on rigging - my chosen discipline - and honing that craft. While there was learning happening in creating this scene, it does not lend itself to rigging in the slightest. For me, this assignment will never see a spot on my reel and as such, I can't help but feel my time could have been better spent.