Sparks, the soft-spoken four-armed pacifist was my main focus for rigging and Technical Animation setup in this film.
I set up his vest and all the hanging tools for the Tech Anim Crew. I modeled the vest cage and created animated mass constraints for the pockets so they would hang heavier when a tool was placed inside.
Scripts were created to clean up much of the geometry pass through that occurred around his four arms as they moved over each other.
All the aliens had lots of belts and gadgets and armor that were carried along with the rig, and needed Tech Anim cleanup when the characters were animated into extreme positions.
The sinister leader, Skip, had dynamic belly jiggle and simulated shoulder pads, as well as multiple armor plates that would slide across one another with the movement of his arms, chest and stomach.
I handled the three shots in the film in which Sparks is hiding in a backpack. I created Tech Anim controls, animated the zipper tabs and pull strings, and ran cloth simulations to give the feeling that his lower body was shifting inside.