Rigging

The next stage of the character creation is to add bones to the character. To start make the character see-through so you can see where to place the bones then  go to helpers and select catobjects then select catparent. Resize the parent object so that it fits the character and then add a pelvis to it. Resize the pelvis so that it just fits the character and then select the add spine option, placing it in rough alignment with the shoulders.

Next add the arms placing them just inside the mesh of the arms so the bones fit comfortably. Some of the bones may need to be resized in order to fit.

Next select the pelvis again and add some legs placing them within the mesh.

Move back and select the top spine again, the one that is level with the shoulders and add another spine and place it within the head.

Click on the hand and add another bone, then place it in the mesh within the finger. Do this for all of the fingers to make up all of the joints.

Adding skin

Once all of the bones have been added select the mesh and add the physique modifier. Add all of the bones to the modifier which will attach the mesh to the bones. In the drop down list from the physique modifier select the envelope option and using the child and parent overlap options smooth out the connection between bones and mesh.

Changes

Due to problems with the catobjects to make the bones I had to scrap the bones and do it again with the biped instead. Each part of the biped needed to be resized and moved around so that it fitted comfortably inside the mesh. Once all the bones were the right size I had to select the pelvis and initialize the bones to the mesh. I could then select the envelope feature in the physique modifier and smooth out the skin around the bones. To check if the bones were attached to the skin comfortably I selected the biped and added some footsteps so I could watch my villain walk with the skin. This allowed me to see where the skin needed a little more smoothing.

Villain Scene Layout

I then moved on to create a quick setting for my character where all of the animation will be held. I used a box to create a floor and another box to create the walls. I converted the wall boxes to and editable poly and deleted a few of the segments to create holes for the doors in the walls. I then used another box to create a basic door and assigned a colour and glass texture to it then placed it in all of the door spaces. I then assigned some other colours to the floor and the walls.

I then created an editable poly box and applied various techniques to create a layered trolley, then placed various sized boxes on it. Next I created a bucket for my character to carry which would swing from the arm with the hook. This was created using two cylinders, one of which has the bend modifier to form a handle.

I then placed in some labels to go on the trolley and the wall near the doors to aid the viewer. Next I saved it and merged the villain animation scene with the character putting them in the same file. I made a few adjustments to the size of the scene layout so that the character fitted with the scene.