Continuing Education and Workshops for Professionals

Axel Stanley-Grossman of Sony Computer Entertainment America Gives Artists a Look into the Character Workflow Behind Many Chart-Topping Games

(Los Angeles) In the ever-evolving world of animation, successful projects require a certain set of important elements, not the least of which is the quality character rig. In the latest release from The Gnomon Workshop -- Character Rigging: Production Practices and Techniques -- respected technical director (TD) Axel Stanley-Grossman demonstrates why a quality character rig is important, while also providing a comprehensive set of practices and techniques needed to create character riggings for triple-A video game titles.

Covering a broad range of topics including model inspection, joint orientation and space switching, Stanley-Grossman offers viewers a production-like set of scripted tools to work with while demonstrating the benefits of a multi-pose approach to skeleton setup. Separation of deformation and control hierarchies are also covered, stressing the flexibility allowed when used in conjunction with the pose system. Further items highlighted in the tutorial include: joint chains, rotations, character control rigs for various body parts, and generating workflow-friendly curve controls.

"Axel is one of the best riggers I've had the pleasure to work with. The work he has done at Insomniac to automate technical art tasks is inspiring and demonstrates a mastery of his craft," said Reddy Sambavaram, Senior Engine Programmer at Insomniac Games.
  
Formerly a Senior Character TD at Insomniac Games, where he worked on Insomniac's first multi-platform title Overstrike, Stanley-Grossman has contributed to the success of multiple PlayStation®3 titles, including: Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction, Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time, Resistance 2 and Resistance 3. Stanley-Grossman is an alumnus of the Gnomon School of Visual Effects and received his B.F.A. from Northern Arizona University. Stanley-Grossman now works as a Senior Technical Artist at Sony Computer Entertainment America in Santa Monica.

Resources:

www.thegnomonworkshop.com
www.thegnomonworkshop.com/store/product/967

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