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Welcome! Check out my favorite posts

If you're here for my CG art portfolio, please visit http://www.katietender.com A breakdown of my thesis film production pipeline, which used realtime technology and standard CG art tools: https://ktcg.art.blog/2020/05/10/making-a-short-film-in-unity-using-the-unity-timeline/ Rigging considerations for Unity/realtime: https://ktcg.art.blog/2019/07/25/character-setup-for-unity-rigging-animation-and-importing-considerations/ Motionbuilder voice device lip sync tutorial: https://ktcg.art.blog/2019/06/11/automated-lip-syncing-using-motionbuilder-voice-device/ Hi! My name is Katie Tender, and I love CG art. I make a … Continue reading Welcome! Check out my favorite posts →

Using Motion Capture in an Animated Short Film

Hello! This is the second workflow breakdown for my thesis film. It will concern the motion capture animation process. Check out the first post about using Unity to make a short film here, and watch the film itself here. Purpose: This post is designed for students or independent artists considering using motion capture for animated … Continue reading Using Motion Capture in an Animated Short Film →

Making a Short Film in Unity using the Unity Timeline

Hello! I recently completed production on 8-minute 3D animated short, which I made using Unity. In this post, I'll be breaking down my workflow, from character modeling to final render. I'll also be evaluating the merits and limitations of using Unity in this way. This is probably going to be a chonky post, so below … Continue reading Making a Short Film in Unity using the Unity Timeline →

Character Setup in Motionbuilder: Characterization and Character Face Mapping

I wanted to share my process for setting up a character for mocap retargeting and facial animation in MotionBuilder. I prefer to make a clean character file to retarget onto, with all the possible assets that I would need for a given project. Having all assets on a character from the beginning of the retargeting … Continue reading Character Setup in Motionbuilder: Characterization and Character Face Mapping →

Character Setup for Unity — Rigging, Animation, and Importing Considerations

This post isn't going to a tutorial in the way that my previous posts have been. Rather, it's going to be some advice on how to approach bringing custom animations and characters into Unity, based on my past couple of years experience working on projects that utilize the (Motionbuilder) - Maya - Unity pipeline, and … Continue reading Character Setup for Unity — Rigging, Animation, and Importing Considerations →

Setting Up an Eye Controller in Motionbuilder + Avoiding Lazy Eye

An eye controller that allows you to manipulate the character's look-at point is a bog-standard feature of any rig: If I'm just doing one or two shots, I'll do my body/face mocap re-targeting in Motionbuilder, bake it, send it to Maya, and set up my eye controller in Maya. However, for work recently, I was … Continue reading Setting Up an Eye Controller in Motionbuilder + Avoiding Lazy Eye →

Automated Lip Syncing using MotionBuilder Voice Device

UPDATE: In section 1 of this post, we paint the blendshape weights for the character. I've noticed a bug where sometimes, all your morph targets don't appear in the "Target" section of the Paint Blend Shape Weights Tool. You can get around thing by right-clicking on your base mesh, and while holding down the right … Continue reading Automated Lip Syncing using MotionBuilder Voice Device →