Skin And Bones...

In order to further develop and test my Antron fleece style puppet shader, I used Maya to quickly model a generic hand puppet loosely based on the Glorified Sock Puppet pattern which I originally used to build No. 1.

The mesh is very straight forward and is bound to a minimal rig, the image below illustrates the construct of the model.

I made some adjustments minor adjustments to the length and the density to the fur feedback once it and the Antron shader were applied to the mesh in order to make it fit better and while there is still some room for improvement I feel that the effect, when rendered, is quite convincing.

While I rather like the aesthetic of the puppet, looking solid as though it is made from skin, muscle and bone, I would still prefer it to appear to appear like it is made from puppet making materials. To achieve this I need to think about the way that Antron hangs and reacts to motion and I will be looking at a number of techniques, including sculpting, blendshapes and cloth simulation, in order to determine the best solution for this problem before I commit to building my final puppet..

Have a Happy Christmas,

Mat :)

On Antron Antron Antron....

There is a material called Antron fleece which is used for puppet making, it is particularly recognisable in the construction of the Muppets, and I would like my CGI puppet to have a look similar to that Antron. Below you can see the texture that I am after in the puppet from Project Puppet.

Antron fleece is a rather complex material with a mixture of loose and tight fibres and a specularity that varies depending on the viewing angle. I have spent the morning trying to emulate the material in Maya and, while I have not quite got it nailed, I believe that I am definitely on the right tracks with my investigations.

I have applied my shader to an n-cloth plane which has been simulated to drape over a sphere in order to illustrate tone variation through folds and light angles.

The main texture of the material has been generated using an MIA Material X node into which I have plugged in a ramp to the Colour attribute and fractal noise nodes into the Reflection Colour and the Bump attributes.

In order to get the fuzzy look I have applied a Fur node to the plane which can be more clearly seen in the following close up render.

My fur node started life as the Duckling preset. The presets are a great starting block for any fur feedback in Maya and, providing you understand the nature of each of the samples, it is relatively simple to adjust your initial choice to suit the requirements of the job.

Because of the short length and light weight of the fuzz on Antron fleece it is not necessary for the fur to be dynamic. However, the processor requirements may still slow things down a bit so I will need to create an option on the user interface, when I get round to designing it, through which I can make it possible to switch the fur on and off depending on whether the model is being captured or rendered.