Another Free Rig

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patas_rig.jpgEarlier this year, in the midst of the free rigs that were being released to the Blender community, we got this clever little gem submitted to us by Ruben Lopez. It’s a very simple lower-body rig, but the controls for it are quite nice and it’s an excellent resource, especially for Spanish-speaking Blender users.

Ruben says:

I’ve just ended the third version of my rigged legged sphere. It’s a very simple model, inspired by the AnimationMentor one, that could be usefull for people learning animation with blender (like me). It’s free with a Creative Commons By-SA 3.0 license. I’ve this setup hosted in a low-speed server, here: http://pinguino.dyndns.org/hospedados/bola_patas3.blend.zip

And the website explaining the steps for doing this setup and other things about learning animation, which is written in spanish, is this one: http://squash-stretch.blogspot.com

As I learn animation with the invaluable help of an animator professional, I keep posting in this blog all my achievements and even the theory that my “professor” gives to me. I write it in spanish with the hope of bringing together blender animation and the spanish community. Unfortunatelly there aren’t too much resources in spanish on this topic.

Ruben’s blog is completely in Spanish, but it’s pretty easy to read if you translate it through Babelfish or Google. You can find the specific article about this rig in this post.

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    • http://www.mbproductions.biz Mike

      Nice little Rig! Love the controls.

    • Tikomik

      Thanks for sharing! Nice rig, I dream of being able to create the same lifelike movements as at animationmentor. This will definitely help.

    • http://blendernewbies.blogspot.com Kernon

      Very nice! Can we get an official name for the “character”, for referencing?

    • Jos

      Just a couple of things I learned from the blog on the link: There’s a new version of the rig here:

      http://pinguino.dyndns.org/hospedados/bola_patas4.blend

      It allows for the rig to rotate the feet to be able to change direction when walking. You can check the post here (spanish):

      http://squash-stretch.blogspot.com/2007/08/cambio-de-direccin.html

      And the second thing I wanted to point out is that the name of the character is “Bola con patas” (which is Spanish for ball with legs… sound’s better in Spanish :p )

    • http://www.bchynds.com BrianH

      I would like to point out that Animation Mentor is very very anal about any attempts to produce and distribute models that replicate their own. There was a rig made in the Blender community that Animation Mentor contacted the designer and had him stop distributing it. Read this Blenderartists thread for more details:

      http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?t=78809

    • http://squash-stretch.blogspot.com/ Ruben

      Hi,

      I am the original author of this rig. It is not meant to be a copy of the animation mentor rig. Only the shape of the character is “inspired”, as I have never seen the bones or controls of the animation mentor rig. There are not many ways of modelling a ball with legs using primitives…

      I didn’t named it, just call it “legged ball” or “bola con patas” :)

      Thanks.

    • http://www.dave3d.mad-host.net/index.php ddwagnz

      WHOOO Free Rig! watch out ddwagnz is coming! and that means messing around with it! soiling its good name! :P :P
      Cant wait till i can get round to downloading it =D

    • http://www.bchynds.com BrianH

      Ruben,

      I didn’t mean that what you were doing is wrong in any way, I was only forewarning you that you might receive an e-mail from them regarding their “trademark”. I think the rig is great and it’s a shame that some companies have to be so anal about such things.

    • Meneer de Peer

      @Ruben, partly right, but the model (features) and the colors are very much based on the AM version, as far as I can see.

      Make it green and give it bunny-feet and no-one will complain anymore :P

      In addition, bunny-feet are way cooler!

    • rpgsimmaster

      oh dear, ddwagnz. Not again.

      Hold up… I’ll go grab the restraints :P

      @Ruben: Legged Ball. I like it – it’s catchy :D

    • pKrime

      What? Animation Mentor holds rights over whatever legged ball? I would glad to buy those rights if true, but luckily geometry is not property of anyone! :D

    • http://blendernewbies.blogspot.com Kernon

      If nothing else, definitely change the color because it gives an initial impression of being the Animation Mentor character. The reason that AM is very concerned about their character’s design being exactly copied is that, being an animation school, the quality of the animation represents their ability to properly train animators. If there are exact replicas of their characters being poorly animated then that reflects badly on them.

      There needs to be a VISIBLE difference between this character and AM’s character or, there will be problems, and rightfully so. Just change the color and I think that should be enough. You could also maybe add a simple belt to replace the ridge at the equator.

    • http://www.mbproductions.biz Mike

      Yeah I’ll change up the colours and mesh a little.
      But seriously it’s such a basic idea – how can AM hold rights over a ball and two legs?

    • Chris

      Yes, but it’s not the ball and two legs, but the whole design that is part of their brand identity. It’s not that they’re trying to shut down competition, just keep it clear what is coming through them, and what is not. They talked about this very subject on a video interview with blendernation.com back during SIGGRAPH.

      Nice controls though. You did a great job.

    • Guy

      on a rig specific note, and I am not trying to dis the rig but is anyone else having serious knee flipping issues? even counter animating the knee pointer I am still getting jitter or outright flipping in the knee. This is not happening in anything near an extreme pose just in a passing position. Also is there an fk switch or is the rig purely ik?

    • Toon Scheur

      I don’t see a problem with using the ball and legs model. How many CG artists already modeled a version of well known super heroes of DC and Marvel or famous cartoon characters? As long you’re not using it commercially it wouldn’t be a problem. Besides, the AM models are far too generic for them to make hard claims on. I mean COME ON! A ball and legs? Even their mascot is so generic that if you look at any direction, you’ll will find it:

      http://img409.imageshack.us/img409/5223/vlcsnap17302di2.png

      http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/1365/vlcsnap23664lb7.png

    • toontje

      I don’t see a problem with using the ball and legs model. How many CG artists already modeled a version of well known super heroes of DC and Marvel or famous cartoon characters? As long you’re not using it commercially it wouldn’t be a problem. Besides, the AM models are far too generic for them to make hard claims on. I mean COME ON! A ball and legs? Even their mascot is so generic that if you look at any direction, you’ll will find it:

      http://img409.imageshack.us/img409/5223/vlcsnap17302di2.png

      http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/1365/vlcsnap23664lb7.png

    • http://blendernewbies.blogspot.com Kernon

      Why is it that at one moment, people are pulling their hair out over licensing issues and then, in another moment, there’s every excuse and reason to not pay any attention to it? Make up your minds.

    • RANKN67

      isnt this illegal?

    • Chris

      Just passing on what AM’s founder’s said on the SIGGRAPH video. Watch it for yourselves, and decide.

    • Lasphere

      Yearh I did this once, and as BrianH said, they asked me to remove the rigs. I had also made bribe.. ball with two legs..

    • http://www.bing.com/ Tory

      Thanky Thanky for all this good informitoan!