Marcel Brynard
My name is Marcel Brynard. I am a digital artist with a background in architecture, inspired by working some years at a bronze sculpture studio in Cape Town, South Africa and by my travels to various archaeological sites.
My love for beautiful forms intertwines with a fascination for the chimeric and arcane, resulting in art that exudes story-telling and mysticism.
Embracing digital tools, I explore new possibilities intersecting architecture and sculpture. Fueled by a love for these things, I am working on an animation project titled “Transcendental Rebirth,” narrating the transformative journey of two shamans on a pilgrimage.
In this video I will be taking users through the process of rigging my original models in AccuRIG and uploading to ActorCore for motion previewing and retargeting, as an easy workflow to achieve animation and concept art.
From a Static Sculpture to a Fully Rigged Actor
All my creations are inspired by ancient religions and lore from different places. The Deer character that I have used in this project is inspired by an ancient Peruvian relic.
In order to bring my model to the 3D production, I have chosen AccuRIG to do the magic. There are other rigging tools. But AccuRIG, new in the market, is not only free of charge but provides really accurate results.
With only five simple steps and some very useful functions such as symmetry, I have completed the body rig and hand rig of my model in no time. With minor adjustments, the end results are above my expectations.
Situate the Best Poses for My 3D Model
Next I uploaded my rigged Deer character to ActorCore on the cloud and tried out animations. In my account, I can see all my uploaded actors, and I can go ahead and test different motions in the 3D preview window. There is a whole range to choose from, including 32 free motions; totalling over 2,000 animations on ActorCore — way more than I need!
I can select and download any motion on the model that I have uploaded. Classic “Sneak”, “Wondering Walk”, “Normal Walk” — it’s all very straightforward.
Flawless Export to Blender
I want to export everything included, not only motions. I like to choose 24 frames per second, original size, and embed the texture. And it downloads in a zip folder containing the FBX, and I can easily import that FBX straight into Blender.
Now I have got the character in Blender. If I were to scrub through the timeline at the bottom, I can see that the animation is included in the FBX, as per the motion that I have downloaded. I can set it up with cameras and lights, and it is ready to render out.
Conclusion
Overall it is really very simple, from rigging with AccuRIG, motion previewing on ActorCore and sending to Blender. The AccuRIG to ActorCore workflow has given me an impressive result to continue my production in Blender. I recommend other character artists to give this pipeline a try and see for yourself how the workflow can be largely enhanced.
Free download AccuRIG auto-rigging tool: https://actorcore.reallusion.com/auto-rig
Visit ActorCore 3D animation store: https://actorcore.reallusion.com/motion
Learn More
Marcel Brynard’s Artstation: https://www.artstation.com/marcelbrynard
