Amirul Afiq bin Hussain (AMIRULER)
Amirul Afiq bin Hussain or more commonly known as Amiruler began his career as a wedding videographer at the age of 18 and is currently running his own company, Spektrum Cahaya Production Filmmaking) and Rakan Animations (3D Animation and VFX).
Despite his love of drawing, and creating artworks since childhood, Amiruler has never considered pursuing it as a career. However, he still does it as a hobby. In his previous role as the Lead of Shared Services department at a local Malaysian TV station (TVS), he shared his knowledge and grew the 3D/VFX community in his area, hoping that more and more people would grow to know the capabilities of the local 3D artists.
Amirul creates 3D Characters, 3D Environments, Visual Effects and 3D animation for his projects and sells them on online marketplaces such as Sketchfab. He uses Autodesk Maya primarily for modeling and texturing.
ActorCore’s AccuRIG has made his work 10 x easier and faster. Previously, all his characters on the marketplace were not rigged. But with the ability to upload his characters directly from AccuRIG to Sketchfab, he mentions that he may be able to sell rigged and animated characters in the future. The video below shows how easy it is for him to use AccuRIG on the characters he makes, and how he directly sells them on Sketchfab.
Steps on how to use AccuRIG by ActorCore:
1 – LOAD MESH
First of all, a humanoid character need to be loaded on AccuRIG to start the character rigging process. The best pose to start with is of course the T-pose or A-pose. It should always be the default pose whenever a character is created. But AccuRIG can also rig certain other poses as well, including models with accessories or multi-Meshes too. Just drag and drop the OBJ or FBX files here or a selection of models can browse through, which is available for download at Sketchfab. Once you have done this, give it time to load the model, and it will bring it in.
2 – CHECK MODEL
Once the model has been loaded, a vertical line will appear. Most of the time, the software detects correctly where the center of the model is. In cases that it does not, the vertical line can be adjusted manually, so make sure the line is in the middle of the hips. Rotate character button is also available, so it is possible to rotate them to check on all sides. Click “Rig Body” to move on to the next step.
Joints are automatically placed on the 3D model after processing. Minor tweaks can be done to make sure the points are exactly where it is supposed to be. By hovering at the points, there is a reference on the right-side of the screen, on where the point is best placed at, and by referring to that reference, the points can be adjusted simply by dragging them. There is also a symmetry check box, to make the opposing joints move simultaneously and make the process easier and faster. Click “Rig Hand” at the bottom right-side of the screen to proceed.
4 – HAND RIG
This is one of the major advantage of AccuRIG compared to Mixamo, is that the ability to rig the hands. The number of fingers can be changed on the right-side of the screen. For the most part, the joints are placed correctly, but also there is a freedom to adjust them manually, in cases that it does not. Also make sure the cone on the thumb is pointing to the right direction, as referred to the reference image. Proceed by clicking “Rig Left Hand”. Similar with the right hand, check for the placement of the joints and the direction of the cone on the thumb. If all is good, proceed to “Finalize Character”. It will take a few minutes to rig the 3D model.
5 – CHECK ANIMATION
The 3D model should be already moving in “idle” position once the processing is done. Check the models to see if it is moving and bending correctly by going through the preview motion library that is located at the top-right of the screen. It is also possible to add more mocap animations here by clicking the “+” sign, and it will be directed to the website library. If there are certain poses that needs to be tweaked, it can be done so in the “Pose offset” menu.
6 – EXPORT
Once everything is done, click export to any format that is desired, as it supports most major software that is available today.
With the ActorCore AccuRIG tool, it had become easier to rig and animate 3d models more accurately. From previous experience with Mixamo, there we’re a few downsides to it such as, the character not deforming correctly…. especially the models with extra accessories, and the inability to rig the hands which makes the model seem incomplete in a way.
With AccuRIG , it is as easy as clicking a few buttons to get a 3D model with rig and mocap animation ready, which can be an added advantage to the Sketchfab marketplace sellers to sell their creations with better rigs and animations at a much higher price allowing customers to get more value for their purchase. In addition, it is a totally free software for anyone to use!
You can check it out at https://actorcore.reallusion.com/auto-rig and try it
And also, don’t forget to visit my store and many of my items at Skethfab https://sketchfab.com/amiruler
