Zenko Rig Reel

Zenko Rig Reel

Zenko was my capstone character that I rigged and animated for Zenko: A Fox's Tale.  He is built to have a very reactive spine that is easy to stretch and squash.  Unlike many rigs, Zenko is build with FK Space controllers in all four legs rather than regular FK controllers.  This kind of controller is great for characters that are in the air and creatures that fly.  I also build four visible pivots that the animator can use to show how the feet can lean.   Zenko also has two master controllers, visibility controllers, curvature controller in his neck, and a controller that controls which space the eyes are in.  Overall, Zenko was a very fun character to rig as he is the first character I have rigged for games.  Some of the considerations that went into Zenko's rig was the fact that his spine was not supposed to move like a regular fox.  His spine is inspired by snakes, ferrets, and cats.  We also wanted a lot of movement in his tail so there are a lot of controllers built to give fluid movement.  We also wanted a lot of expression in Zenko's ears as he does not have a facial rig.  Besides creating Zenko's rig, I also created Zenko's animations.  For his animations I looked at many fox videos and I captured over 60 clips of my dog Rivers doing many of the movements we were looking for Zenko to do.  I also created his original Character Sheet that broke down who he is as a character.  The beginning of this reel is clips from the Zenko release trailer and afterwards it shows off his rig.  The music is from Zenko: A Fox's Tale release trailer.