Shelby Rig Breakdown Page

Shelby is a rig I did during a directed study with Glen Vigus.

This was hands-down one of the more formative experiences I’ve had as a student in Visualization. I loved the freedom I had to push a program to it’s limits and figure out new, interesting workflows that would eventually make my life easier when creating the rig.

My goal for this project was the create as photo-realistic of a horse as I possibly could. In order to do that I had to understand all of the parts that make up horses in real life! I spent weeks studying a horses musculoskeletal anatomy in order to create as authentic of a product as possible. Doing that bit of studying also allowed me to include only the most important muscle groups and not “bog-down” my system when rendering.

The most complicated part of building this rig was using the software package Houdini in ways it may not have been originally intended. Throughout the process I couldn’t help but feel like I was an explorer stepping onto uncharted lands. A bit romantic I know, but there was something fun and excited about rigging in Houdini while everyone else insisted on using conventional industry standards like Maya.

This video quickly goes over every aspect of Shelby’s rig. With a short clip of the rig file actually running inside of Houdini.