A character technical director (TD), also referred to as a creature TD ( ILM, Weta) or technical animator ( Imageworks), is a type of

technical director A technical director (TD) is usually a senior technical person within e.g. a software company, engineering firm, film studio, theatre company or television studio. They are responsible for overseeing and coordinating all of the technical aspect ...

in film and

video games A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

who is specifically concerned with characters, creatures, and mechanical objects.

Responsibilities

The role of a character TD may vary from studio to studio in its scope, but is almost always centered around the discipline of

rigging Rigging comprises the system of ropes, cables and chains, which support and control a sailing ship or sail boat's masts and sails. ''Standing rigging'' is the fixed rigging that supports masts including shrouds and stays. ''Running rigg ...

: the process of engineering anatomical or mechanical

kinematic In physics, kinematics studies the geometrical aspects of motion of physical objects independent of forces that set them in motion. Constrained motion such as linked machine parts are also described as kinematics. Kinematics is concerned with s ...

systems that move and deform digital models, and the design of higher-level interfaces used by

computer graphics Computer graphics deals with generating images and art with the aid of computers. Computer graphics is a core technology in digital photography, film, video games, digital art, cell phone and computer displays, and many specialized applications. ...

animators to control the movements of those models. The role may additionally encompass disciplines such as modeling and simulation.

Software

The software used by character TDs may vary widely from studio to studio, from off-the shelf tools to proprietary in-house systems.

Autodesk Maya Autodesk Maya, commonly shortened to just Maya (; ), is a 3D computer graphics application that runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux, originally developed by Alias and currently owned and developed by Autodesk. It is used to create assets for inter ...

is used predominantly throughout the VFX and animation industry, with Softimage also having a large user-base. In the gaming industry, Autodesk Maya and

Autodesk 3ds Max Autodesk 3ds Max, formerly 3D Studio and 3D Studio Max, is a professional 3D computer graphics program for making 3D animations, models, games and images. It is developed and produced by Autodesk Media and Entertainment. It has modeling capa ...

have been the dominant presence. Many studios pair off-the-shelf software with their own in-house software and plug-ins for rigging and simulation. For instance, Industrial Light & Magic does much of their sim setup and simulation in a proprietary package called Zeno, and Weta Digital uses an in-house simulation system they call Tissue. Notable newcomers to the field of rigging include the independent platform Fabric Engine, being used by

Double Negative A double negative is a construction occurring when two forms of grammatical negation are used in the same sentence. This is typically used to convey a different shade of meaning from a strictly positive sentence ("You're not unattractive" vs "You ...

, MPC and Hybride.

Character TD responsibilities and software by studio

Industrial Light & Magic Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) is an American Film, motion picture visual effects, computer animation and stereo conversion digital studio founded by George Lucas on May 26, 1975. It is a division of the film production company Lucasfilm, which Lu ...

Sony Pictures Imageworks Sony Pictures Imageworks Inc. (simply known as Imageworks) is a visual effects and computer animation studio headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia and Montreal, Quebec, with an additional office on the Sony Pictures Studios lot in Culver C ...

Walt Disney Animation Studios Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS), sometimes shortened to Disney Animation, is an American animation studio that produces animated feature films and short films for the Walt Disney Company. The studio's current production logo features a s ...

Notable character TDs

Within the VFX, animation, and game development communities, a number of artists have gained name-recognition for their contributions to the field of rigging. A few of those artists include: Jason Osipa is an EA and

LucasArts Lucasfilm Games (known as LucasArts between 1990 and 2021) is an American video game brand licensing, licensor, former video game developer and video game publisher, publisher, and a subsidiary of Lucasfilm. It was founded in May 1982 by George ...

character TD known for pioneering and disseminating (through his book '' Stop Staring: Facial Animation Done Right'') a type of facial-rigging that did not rely on

phonemes A phoneme () is any set of similar speech sounds that are perceptually regarded by the speakers of a language as a single basic sound—a smallest possible phonetic unit—that helps distinguish one word from another. All languages con ...

and pre-built expressions, but rather the blending of more generic poses using simplified controls often referred to as Osipa-Style controls. Jason Schleifer is a Weta and Dreamworks creature TD Known for his video series "Animator Friendly Rigging", in which he discusses techniques for building complex rigging control systems that are intuitive and easy to use (thus the term "animator friendly"). Dick Walsh is a DreamWorks character TD who won a Technical Achievement Academy Award in 2003 for his development of the PDI/DreamWorks Facial Animation System. He is also known as Shrek's Dad.

References

{{reflist Entertainment occupations Computer occupations Computer animation