Four: Starting the Rig

  The UV mapping process was swifter than I initially expected, in part due to the layering I have considered. Everything is just about on there, the eyes could have their own texture map but on the other hand there is still some space on the above UV map not filled that could possibly fit the square UV map of the eye. Except for the core body and the head, the body has a line of symmetry down the middle of it which could be used to give a touch of asymmetry to some of the more easily definable areas of characterisation such as the face or the back. This reduced some of the time spent UV mapping as half of the map was created when mirrored. This was especially fortuitous for the UVs of the claws and teeth, to which there are a lot of models that could otherwise be easily repeated.

With the UVs done I moved on to creating the rig. There might be some tweaking needed but I did not want to repeat the mistake of Colo Colo when it came to 'solutions' that broke the various joint orientations. So I was more careful this time around, making sure the joints were oriented properly and each node was added using a locator.

  It might be tricky to see within the model but there are five bones in the tongue. The tongue is an extremely flexible muscle so I figured this is where the most amount of control is required to allow it to bend, flex and curl. I had been contemplating how to deform it as well, as it appears to me there's going to be a good deal of stretching (nothing extreme, Four doesn't have a snake's tongue), I looked at dog and lizard tongues for ideas on how to construct it.

  I spent some time twisting my wrists and ankles about in order to get an understanding of where the joint's centre was. From what I can estimate,the point of rotation is a little below the bone growths that define the ends of the wrist and the ankles.

  I'm still considering some reverse joints on the feet. The hands, conversely, I could install a reverse joint set maybe with the ability to turn its control over the hands on and off for those times when Four will be using her digits to grab or manipulate objects. 

  Geometry-wise I think she might be about done. Though I might or might not at some point go back to the fins to see how I could make them blend. Or better yet refer back to my influences to see how fish fins, or possibly the fleshy 'sails' on certain breeds of dinosaur attach to the body.