Update: The video replay of this live event is now avalible in the Broadcast Archive.

If you missed out on seeing Jason Parks present his Python GDC class like we did, you will not want to miss this. He will be taking questions and has updated some content just for us (so even if you did see the GDC class, it will be something new).

Join us Tuesday April 12th, 2011 @ 9:00 PM CST-
as Rigging Dojo presents: Power Python for Maya (Plus) by Jason Parks

Watch it live on our Rigging Dojo Live page.

Python is the language of choice for nearly all Digital Content Creation apps today. With the additions that PyMEL now add to Maya, Autodesk has revolutionized the Tech-Artist’s ability to quickly write tools to speed up and optimize all production workflows. Come learn some of the key features that Python and PyMEL have to offer as well as how some professional Integrated Development Environments can change the way you write tools and increase the production speed of all your art pipelines.

See you there!
Josh, Brad, Chad

About Jason Parks:

Jason is currently a Senior Technical Artist at Sony Online Entertainment where he works on character rigging, tool creation, scripting, pipeline definition and maintenance.

“I remember seeing Jason on a videotape talking about MotionBuilder and its use at Sony and thought, I would love to get to talk with him as he seems to have all the answers. I got my wish a few years later when I met Jason in person in Montreal to talk about the then-unannounced MotionBuilder project at Kaydara and proceeded to geek out about tech art and rigging until we were forced to stop when we had to switch flights for home.  I have the greatest respect for Jason and I am glad that we  can still find ways to work together even if it is not at the same studio.”  Brad Clark-Rigging Dojo.

“I first met Jason on my interview at SCEA in April of 2001.  They were looking for someone with a blend of keyframe aesthetics and strong technical know how.  Jason was a good boss and a great collaborator.  For almost seven years we worked together designing and building pipelines.  He was instrumental to the success of the San Diego motion capture and cinematics department.  He could see industry trends developing before anyone else and there were many times where I said ‘holy @*&#, how’d you do that’.  It was a pleasure working with him.” Chad Moore-Rigging Dojo/Turbine

For more about Jason check out his interview on Tech-Artists.org

And see what he has to say from GDC 2011

Lastly if you are looking to dig in to Python in MotionBuilder then his Autodesk Masterclass : Python Scripting for MotionBuilder Artists is a great asset to have.

We are working on setting up some training for artists affected by the SOE layoffs. We are offering free “skill refresh” training with Maya and MotionBuilder  and a few other things for you. We are also talking with the AAUGA(Austin user group) to setup a networking and training event here in Austin.   We will update this post with more details soon.

For now  contact us and we will be in touch shortly.  There are some good job leads showing up on twitter and we are re-tweeting them as we see them on our Twitter page.

Thank you and we can hope that you all find work quickly.
Josh, Brad, and Chad

We get this type of question often enough that we should just share an answer.

QUESTION:  “I am continuing in learning Rigging by myself. Now I’m really struggling with one question, what to learn first, second and so on…. I’m going back and forth at the moment I really would like to have a bit of a clue which learning path to follow“

ANSWER:

Start with what excites you most. If you are learning something on your own the best way to learn it is to have a clear goal and work on something that is exciting or interesting to you.

Most of you have done or own many of the existing rigging books and DVDs that are out there and are great reference to have.

Any of these resources will work to learn from if you use them correctly. How do you do that you say? Well first before you spend time blindly charging step-by-step through a tutorial learn the tools that the tutorial  covers by reading the manual! Max and Maya have detailed documents describing the tool and how it works. If you don’t know what the tool is and what the options are for it, then you won’t have an understanding of why it is being used by the tutorial author.

So the start to any learning path should be the software docs, RTFM, they work hard to write them, if your learning something new you should read them. Learning to search and find answers is going to be your best skill during production.

Start with Scripting or Rigging? If you do not know how to rig, you will not know how to script a rig. Learning to script and program is important and if your very excited to code then learn how to program.  Learn python and proper programing skills before trying to hack away at a MEL/PYTHON/MAXSRIPT code in the application.   This will loop back to reading the manual because in order to script and program tools, it helps to know what is in the software, know your tools, speak the language and then you can extend and code for it.  Listen to ROB make the case better than anyone (He and I argue the details of his point but he is mostly right:) but don’t tell him I told you that.

Now that you have read the manual and are ready to go through your chosen resource (DVD, book, web tutorial ) just do it! If you want to make rigs, do the rigging section or if you want to learn deformations and skinning first, learn to make a skeleton and then work on weight paints and test joint positions.   Rigging and Skinning and Scripting can all be learned non-linearly but work on one at a time to start.

None of this is fast, it takes practice and research and more practice.  Once you get through and are comfortable with the tutorial then check out the same information in a few other places. Compare them and try adjusting or working on editing your first rig to try out any new techniques in the new tutorial.  Examples might be changing your ik stretch from scale to translate on the joints or change a reverse foot from skeleton joints to group nodes or replace expressions with math nodes.

Editing your first rig will help you learn very quickly because you all ready know it and tearing out bits and putting in new bits will give you great production troubleshooting practice.

Hope this helps some of you out.
Brad

You can now sign up for our Rigging Dojo Newsletter!
We’ll be sending the first one out soon, so sign up now. We plan to fill it with useful info on the future sessions, future *free* live sessions, interviews, and more!

*We don’t like spam email either so we won’t share your email with anyone else or send you anything but delicious newsletter treats.

We are very happy and excited to have Morgan Loomis (currently at Weta) mentoring for us! He did an outstanding job on the Danger Room training for our alumni and also has a great blog with tips and tools for everyone.
What we really love is that he is also a great animator, not just a TD, and it shows in his approach to creating solid character rigs. He is exactly what we look for in a great teacher. We want to say a big thank you and welcome to Morgan!

About Morgan:

Some of his work

Morgan Loomis Reel, January 2009 from Morgan Loomis on Vimeo.

We’re excited to announce our upcoming dates for 2011!

• Session 01: January 31st to March 11th
• Session 02: April 18 to May 27
• Session 03: July 5 to Sat, August 13
• Session 04: September 6 to October 15

Space is limited so pre register to hold your spot.
p.s. Happy Holidays,  our latest Rigging Dojo Live video : Modular Character System (MCS) under the hood with Jan Berger is now up and ready for watching or download.

Update:

We have gotten a great list of prizes to give away this year including Eat3d training DVDs for Max and Maya and a tablet from Wacom.
Rigging Dojo will also be donating a prize or to and we have lots more fun surprises lined up for the event.

We also have updated the details for the Saturday workshops, space is still available for this unique learning experience being offered in Austin for the first time this year!

…..

It is that time of year again, time for 3December!

The Austin event once again is being put together by our own Brad Clark.
This marks the 7th year that Austin has celebrated 3December with Autodesk, starting with Keith Langos animation lecture back in 2004.
This year we have a wide range of speakers and using a mix of software from Autodesk and crossing games, film and short form animation.

This year for the first time, there are three master workshops being held the next day, Saturday  December 4th.

Morning Workshop

9:00 to 11:00 am Rigging Dojo: Rigging Basics Boot Camp  (all skill ranges).

Brad and Josh from Rigging Dojo will will cover the big beginning rigging mistakes and how to avoid them. This workshop will help anyone that has to work with a character TD or is wanting to be a character TD. For Modelers that want to understand how to build rig ready meshes to Animators that feel like the rig controls them, we are here to help.

Get Tickets for Rigging Basics Boot Camp workshop tickets

Luncheon Workshop

11:30 to 1:30 Radioactive Labs: Demo reel secrets standing out and landing a job.

The folks at Radioactive Labs will help people rework their demo reels, portfolios, and resumes. Our friends in the industry see a lot of people we know are good but their demo reels don’t seem to show it. Let’s make sure that your work really represents the skills we know you possess! Let’s also work on our networking, job searching, and resume/written materials. Since you also need to be able to speak to potential employers, let’s make sure you have good interviewing skills as well.

Get Tickets for DemoReel (getting a job) secrets tickets!

Afternoon Workshop

2:00 to 4:00 pm The Dynamic Animator: Essential techniques for Animation Acting and animation critiques

Get Tickets for Animation Acting and animation critiques

For complete details on Austin Autodesk 3December 2011 and to Register click here ->Austin 3December

See you there!

Happy Thanksgiving! well, not quite but we can’t think of a better way to celebrate than with a feast for your brain.
We also can give thanks for Jan Berger of  Suntoucher labs for being our featured host for our live event.

Join us Wednesday November 17th, 2010 @ 8:00 CST
as Rigging Dojo presents: Modular Character System (MCS) under the hood
Come get a peek under the hood of this much anticipated rigging system for Autodesk Maya and learn what makes it such a super cool rigging solution.

Watch it live on our Rigging Dojo Live page or RSVP on VOKLE.

The Modular Character System is an advanced animation and rigging solution for Autodesk Maya.
In this live event, Jan from Suntoucher labs will give us a look under the hood at the techniques that were used in making the MCS.

We will find out how it differs from other rigging solutions, how to rig and animate using the Modular Character System
and some non-conventional uses for it.

See you there!
Josh, Brad, Chad

About Jan Berger:

Jan Berger studied Graphic Design in Berlin and then moved on to study animation at the Academy for Film and Television “Konrad Wolf” in Potsdam Germany, where he would become a teacher later. Ever since he has dealt with creating digital characters and content for various computer games, film and television companies. Last year he has joined the Disney Animation Studios to work as Character Technical Director and Technical Animator on Tangled and other projects.

Being interested in searching for more flexible rigging and animation solutions, Jan spent a couple of years on and off designing and developing a unique system to describe kinematic hierarchies which allows to build more flexible and easy to use digital characters. This is intended to be the foundation for further research and development to advance the art and science of character rigging for animation.

Jan just recently returned to Berlin and will continue to work as an academic assistant at the Academy for Film and Television teaching rigging and modeling and doing artistic research with motion capture.

(Replay)Rigging Dojo presents: Anatomy for rigging and modeling with Jeff Hesser

If you missed our live event where Jeff covered an amazing amount of information on anatomy and its effect on motion we now have it live on our archive page.
Artists of all kinds wanting to Improve your work and understanding of joint movement in the Human Body, it is a must watch.

Anatomy is the foundation of art and animation. To improve our understanding of anatomy in motion, Jeff goes  beyond the books and showcase the articulation of the human skeleton as a 3d form.

To quote the great Chuck Jones, “Show me the skeleton of an animal, and I will tell you how it must move.”

Josh, Brad, Chad

P.S. Come back next week for part two of Jeffs video, Happy Rig-or-Treat week!

About Jeff Hesser:

Jeff Hesser is a digital artist and an expert in anatomy, traditional sculpture and drawing. His experience with game art includes working on the character modeling team at Harmonix and as an anatomy consultant at Turbine.

Jeff is an award winning faculty member at the Rhode Island School of Design. He also taught graduate students of figurative art at the New York Academy of Art for years. He has taught well-received workshops in sculpture, anatomy and drawing at Turbine and Fisher-Price.

In 2006, he was honored with RISD’s award for excellence in teaching.

Jeffhesser.com

I posted this for our new students on our Online Learning Center and I figured it would be good to share here as well.

I have talked about it a bit before but I wanted to give you a few tips to get the most out of your time here.

1. Ask Questions! related to your learning topics-there is no training with out this.
   
2. This is not “the other guys” training- so your course builds slowly and speeds up as we go. Trust your mentor to guide you and we trust that you will work hard with us.
3. If you feel your work is [to easy,to hard,you need more time, you hate the word "moose" etc.] Talk with your mentor about it and offer an idea, we are flexible with in reason.
4. SAMPLES-SAMPLES-SAMPLES- While you wait for your course to start prepare an example of work for us to critique or help you with.  These are private courses so you can upload files for us that will remain private (as long as you set access levels correctly) between you and your mentor.
   

Simple really, work with us like you would a co-worker or lead artist and we will, based on your learning requests, work with you to achieve those goals.

Many, if not all of the students here have done all the other types of training (books, dvd,workshops) and came here because all those methods lack interaction with a live working TD.

Everyone, students and mentors, have diffrent work experience and backgrounds and we are all here to make each other better.

Brad