Wolfblood

Last year, while working on a project for Jellyfish Pictures, I was also asked to help out on a different type of project which they were producing for the BBC. I was already generating a series of high end rigs for them for another children’s television show but they wondered if I could turn my hand to a full wolf rig.

I love a challenge and I had created some more low end wolf rigs previously while working on Wolfblood Shadow Runners, so I was eager to work on a more complicated rig aimed at television rather than games. Little did I know that the wolf in question was to become the base for the CG wolves in series four of Wolfblood on CBBC. Making this my third project associated with this show.

They required a fully flexible rig capable of full facial animation meaning the wolf could howl, growl and bark plus the tongue needed to be manipulated too so it could run over the teeth. The body also needed to be capable of achieving many poses but they key was the rig had to be easy to use.

The final rig features full IK and FK support as well as a stretchy spine and limbs. The tail also has the option of FK and IK control in addition to full dynamics support, which can be posed and animated allowing you to move it into any position while using the dynamics.

For season four, I was asked to upgrade the rig further to incorporate a full muscle system.