When we ask her to explain her work, which is still largely unknown to members of the general public, Amandine willingly compares herself to a puppeteer. This is because her role is to create skeletons and movements for video game characters - vital work that allows animators to breathe life into these characters. Amandine shares insights about the hidden aspects of her work with Stories, and particularly her secret technique for getting her characters to dance, working on their flexibility.
NOT MANY MEMBERS OF THE GENERAL PUBLIC KNOW WHAT A RIGGER’S JOB IS. IN EXPLAINING IT, YOU LIKE TO SAY THAT YOU ARE A PUPPETEER OF VIDEO GAME CHARACTERS. WHY DO YOU PUT IT THIS WAY?
AMANDINE PIELAWSKI There are two riggers in the team supporting technical direction. In fact, artist’s characters are a bit like rag dolls. My work involves adding the wooden ends and strings that allow the animators to bring the characters to life. We add the main joints: a “bone” for the top of the arm, and another for the bottom of the arm, for example. Ultimately, the character moves in a particular way as the rigger allows them to do this, as they have placed a bone and a joint in a particular place. And to simulate the effect of muscles, we add additional “bones”, a type of support, which will pull on the character’s outer parts, and specifically allow the biceps to inflate when called to do so.
IN PRACTICAL TERMS, TELL US ABOUT A TYPICAL DAY IN THE LIFE OF A RIGGER?
A.P. This is difficult to answer as no two days are the same! But there is always a common thread: you have a problem to solve, and you want a character to move in a particular way. I do tests, I develop the skeleton, and I make adjustments when I reach the front appearance. This is because male and female characters don’t have the exact same characteristics, especially in terms of the face. It involves in-depth communication with my colleagues as well as with the Animators and Character Artists. Because for example, if I do something to make a character bend an arm, but there isn’t enough “skin” matter for follow through, the rendering is going to be very strange, very stretched. It’s as if we’re drawing on elastic material and we’re pulling on it, the drawing no longer makes any sense. So I work with the Character Artists to correct these type of issues. Luckily, as I had already received general training, I had a better understanding of my colleagues’ needs, allowing me to anticipate them.
WHAT HAS YOUR GREATEST CHALLENGE BEEN AT UBISOFT TO DATE?
A.P. I’d say that my greatest challenge was correcting the face of each and every Ghost Recon Breakpoint character: there were over 150 of them! In fact, there’s a base facial animation, which has to work as well with the male faces as with the female ones. This caused me to have to adjust them to make them work together better, not only in terms of gender, but also shape. We’ve already had the situation that on certain faces with smaller eyes, the eyelids closed too much, turning up on themselves. In terms of the mouth as well: I needed to correct the smiles, and most of all the kisses, as the skin was over-stretching, it made the lips too fat.
More to discover on: https://stories.ubisoft.com/article/she-works-where-you-play-rigger/ (French)
CREDITS Author: Vincent Manilève - Photographs: Maud Espié - Graphic Designer: Elie Sitbon - Content Director: Coline Molina