CBBC · Automated 2D rig build system
The Dumping Ground
For series 5 of CBBC's The Dumping Ground, I wrote a Python system that turned layered Photoshop files into 2D, pop-up book style character and prop rigs in Maya. Given only a file path, the script read the layers, laid out the rig and added controls for IK/FK switching, limb scaling, image flipping and face swaps, so rigs could be built quickly on a tight schedule.
- Client
- CBBC
- Studio
- Rigstore
- Role
- Automated 2D rig build system
- Tech
- Maya, Python, Photoshop
The challenge
Series 5 of CBBC's The Dumping Ground used 2D, pop-up book style animation, and it was my first 2D project in Maya. The brief was to take a Photoshop file with up to a hundred layers of body and face parts and turn it into a Maya rig. The turnaround was tight, so the rig build had to be fully automated.
The animators needed each rig to have:
- an IK/FK switch
- limb scaling
- image flipping
- PSD layer selection from the controls, mainly for swapping face images
What I did
I wrote a Python system that built the 2D rigs straight from the Photoshop files, leaving very little to do once a file was delivered. Python suited the job well because of the modules that already exist for working with images.
The system was just under a thousand lines of code and only needed the file path of the Photoshop file. As long as the layers used consistent naming suffixes, the script cycled through every layer, laid the rig out on top and added the controls to the mesh layers that held the Photoshop image data. Every feature the animators asked for was then one click away.
- 40+ body and facial rigs
- 40+ prop rigs
The outcome
Compared with most 3D rigging jobs, the first hero characters were ready for animation in relatively little time, and the same system went on to deliver more than 80 character and prop rigs for series 5, which was set to air on CBBC from 2017.
