The Bug

Here's a side project I've dug up from a couple of years ago. The Bug was designed as a character for an as of yet unmade short animation featuring a cowboy and and an indian. The short was never made but The Bug lives on!

I have just rigged and animated him. The most exciting thing about this rig is I've used the "Rivet" plugin http://www.geocities.com/bazhutkin/ which is a simple Mel script for Maya. It simply 'rivets' a locator to a polygon surface. The locator will then stay rivetted as the surface is deformed. This has allowed me to stick the bugs rigid arms to his flexible body and not have to worry about building the arms into the joint hierachy of the body. It really was a joy to see working!