Raff Anzovin's Ephemeral Rigging/ Interpolationless Animation
So I've been following Raff Anzovin's blog for a while (https://www.justtodosomethingbad.com/). And I really like what I read. I would love to try that stuff just out of curiosity and to see how it works. And how it changes lots of ways we see production. I was wondering what the rest of the rigging community though about this?? What are your pros and cons on this subject? I am really curious about this.
Hey, glad you guys are interested! I just posted some more demonstrations:
https://www.justtodosomethingbad.com/blog/2018/6/11/how-to-interact-with-an-ephmeral-rig
You're certainly correct that ephemeral rigging is a manipulation method, and poses a variety of issues for interpolation. Conceivably, you could get around those by using it as a layer on top of a more conventional, interpolated rig.
As time goes on, I become more and more convinced that interpolation is the Wrong Thing for pretty much all character animation, but we don't really have the tools to make anything else work in most contexts other then the traditional animation-inspired approach I'm using. It's a strong opinion, though, and I don't necessarily expect anyone else to agree with me. :)
Thanks a lot for sharing this, I'm glad I didn't miss it!
From reading the blog, it seems to me like the problem of curve interpolation is one Raff would rather sidestep entirely, replacing procedurally calculated (but confusing) animation curves with a rig that supplies the animator a more intuitive experience, but is only useful for step framed posing like in traditional 2d styles.
I think many would say that animation with a variable pose rate can look really appealing, and a rig like that would certainly be way more approachable to all those 2d animator types who may not yet be fully capable of understanding the peculiarities of things like rotation orders.
I imagine that it's really a stylistic choice more than a technical one. The variable pose rate could come out a little uncanny in fully-realistic 3d, and might require some npr shaders to confound those details for the viewer. Without the option of controlling interpolation, I can't see it becoming a universal change in how the industry works, it's more like a solid framework with a very small demand. I like it though! Half the reason I first learned to rig was because making animation with curves didn't feel smooth or intuitive as it seemed like it should have, and I wanted to see if I could fix it. So I'm a fan.
As a mechanic of manipulation it makes sence I think, as one of interpolation I’m not sure about. In general anything that cracks open frameworks allow for better manipulation is a good thing.