MECHANICAL RIGGING  by Ludovic Habas 

A challenge

Mechanical rigging projects are always a challenge because each project is different. Indeed, each object has its unique operating system.

Geneva

At the end of my studies at Supinfocom I had the opportunity to work in the studio Le-truc in Geneva. Le-Truc is a studio specialized in luxury watchmaking, a rich and fascinating world that I did not know at all.

Watchmaking

If Swiss watchmaking is recognized around the world, it's not for nothing. The mechanisms they perform are incredibly complex. And until now, during my studies, apart from a bike, I had almost done only organic. For a beginner rigger it was therefore the perfect school.

Each new watch had its own set of complications and each complication was a problem in its own right. For each of the animations to realize, our watches in 3D had to work like the real ones! A challenge in a world of extreme precision where each brand seeks to push back the complexity of the mechanisms.

How to speed up the process

If each watch is unique, they all have, all the same, some common points. The possibility opened up to automation. For example each watch has a balance (mechanical device that regulates movement through a spring), needles or at least the wheels that train.

Development

We have therefore synthesized all the systems that can be automated. So I started a long phase of research and development over two years, between projects, to develop a whole tool panel automating or simplifying our watchmaking projects.

During these 2 years I developed more than sixty of tools for all the departments. Rig tools for example to automatically rig the wheels between them according to their number of teeth, scene management tools or texturing tools to facilitate the application of recurring shaders.

This period of research and development pushed me into my technical barriers. She got me involved at every stage of the production and the pipe. It allowed me to discuss and understand the work of each artist to try to facilitate their work. It was very formative for me.

From watchmaking to mechanics

The experience acquired in the rigging and development around watchmaking project allowed me to work on new projects with mechanical type characters successfully.

Honda with Nexus

Working on this project with the Nexus studio was a great experience. The robotic characters I had in charge of the rig were interesting because of their design. The cables were rigging using spline and body using my auto-rig.

Mécalac

The Mécalac commercials with the Spacesheep studio were also small rig challenges. Mechanical rig projects on relatively complex work gear to understand and built in short time. Projects always interesting and trainers.