Uri is a light spirit from the short film A Shadow's Glow. Being made of fire, there are some elements that make Uri's rig unique.
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Semi-Master Controller: Uri's base parts are single drawings that smoothly transform him 180°. However, it was unnecessary to create a head grid because of the face's simplicity. He uses deformer-on-deformer controls for his arms to allow for easier, freer posing as needed for his boneless nature, and has the secondary envelope deformers to allow further refining of the shape. The Master Controller deformers also deform the the baked-in animated textures to the arms as they stretch and bend.
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Effects cycles within rig: Uri's flaming head has three different cycles built in, since his energy changes throughout the film. This was to cut down on the time that would be needed to animate custom effects for every scene. He also has effects cycles inside his arms as to give him more a sense of fully being made of fire.
Node View- Full
Process
Director Cole Fourqurean and I worked together to tackle the task of how we would implement Uri's flames into the rig. At first, we planned on having a blank drawing node where flames would be traditionally animated per scene after the rig animation was finished, but soon realized we didn't have the time nor the resource to consistently animate the flames.
We decided on having a set cycle with a simple curve deformer for overlapping action and more flexibility of motion would fit our needs. High, medium, and low energy cycles were made.
Uri's arm cycle would have to be different, though. Initially, his arms were also going to have flame cycles at the ends, but we decided that would be too visually distracting and obscure Uri's acting. Instead, I added another segment with deformer on deformer so it could be fluidly animated.
Art and character design by Josh Mizrahi
Fire cycles by Cole Fourqurean
Next, for the inner texture, the flames had to move similarly, but we wanted it to be a bit more lava-lamp like, but still with with the sharper shapes of his head flames. I did a rough cycle, and Ke'Shaun Grant, the film's effects lead, did the cleanup and added more on the outside bounds so there would be more leeway in the pattern when it deformed.
Rough cycle
Finn Kulers
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Cleanup and final
Ke'Shaun Grant
With Gaussian blur, arm cutter and weighted deformer
Deformer on deformer in action
