Bringing the yokai to life with Cartoon Animator The main plot, for which IPC drew on his own upbringing, features a young boy named Shigin. He has started weaving his stories - and the films he creates around them - into an epic narrative called Matsu, which is unfolding online. IPC employs yokai to tell modern-day folklore stories which deal with issues everyone goes through in life, and bring plenty of positive messages for children and parents. This is when IPC delved deep into the world of yokai. Exploring his own heritage, he discovered that his grandmother was a poet in the Japanese “shigin” oral tradition as well as a yokai folklore specialist. Creating an epic narrativeĪfter recovering from his illness, IPC continued to use his art to enhance other people’s quality of life. IPC later learned that this is the role of folklore: to narrate the stories and hopes of common folk. When a nurse encouraged him to paint for other hospitalized kids, IPC began creating fantastical creatures with stories that gave the creatures positive superpowers. At the time, he began to draw monsters and strange imaginative characters, which he now categorizes as “21st-century folklore.”

Finally, math nodes are introduced to set up the feet, which is where the position of the IK effector is being calculated relative to the ankle and ball of the foot to create a reverse foot effect.In his youth, IPC spent several years in hospitals visiting his ill dad and dealing with sickness himself. Next, Basic Inverse Kinematics with Pole Vectors are used to control the arms. To start, you will see direct connections from Controls to Bones for the Root up to the Head. The rig graph is laid out in a way that’s easy to follow and grows in complexity the further down the graph you look. Upon opening the file, the Control Rig editor will open, and you will be greeted with the mannequin in a reference pose.

The Control Rig we created for the mannequin can be found within this directory: /Game/ControlRig/Mannequin/Character/ControlRig/Mannequin_ControlRig. The Animation Panel contains settings to filter viewport selections to Only Select Rig Controls, allowing you to quickly adjust animations without selecting the surrounding environment. It is often helpful to disable Translation, Rotation, and Scale Snapping in the top right corner of the viewport to allow animation controls to move freely. Right-click on the actor in Sequencer and choose Create Animation Sequence to save your animation for use in Animation Blueprints, Blendspaces, and other animation systems. To manipulate the rig, simply select and move an animation control from the viewport, animation panel, or Sequencer’s hierarchy view. Sequencer will be open with the animation ready to play. Upon opening the sample project, you will see the mannequin seated at the table.

See the Unreal Engine 4.25 Python documentation for more information. It’s worth noting that Control Rig is Python-ready, which means you can create rigs, customize workflows, and automate your pipeline by leveraging Python in Control Rig.

Rigging mastery in cartoon animator 4