Why You Should Test Your Rig in Close Up

Low poly spider "Raa" animated by Alex Southcombe

There are many many free rigs and sets now available to students on an educational or freeware license for use in short films, creating a wide variety of creative choices for student film-makers.  

But not all rigs are created equal, and many problems only become evident when the film calls for a close-up, such as this image of the spider "Raa" shown on the left. 

The Trouble with Close-Ups

That same character or creature which looked great in a wide or a mid-shot suddenly looks low-poly and ugly in a close-up.  The best advice for student film-makers is to test your rigs thoroughly in advance (see this post on "rig wrecking") and, in particular, don't forget to do test renders early on, especially on a close-up.

Raa Animation by Alex Southcombe

Take a look at the animation above by Alex Southcombe. It's a stylish piece of creature animation which illustrates the problem well.  Alex has used the "Raa" rig, an excellent free rig which we recommend for learning creature locomotion.  However, Raa is a low-poly rig and doesn't look very good on close-ups.

Alex's Mid-shot works well at the start

Mid Shots and Wide Shots
Alex's shot works well at the start of the animation, when he gives us a mid-shot view of "Raa".  

But as he pushes in close at the end, the shot works less well, as we start to see the rig for what it is - a low poly assembly of vertices.  To maintain the audience's suspension of disbelief, we should to choose a more high poly rig, or else keep the camera further away. 

Test your Close-ups

This rule applies to most of the free rigs which are downloadable from sites like Animation Buffet or Turbosquid.  Unlike production rigs which are designed to be very detailed and robust, most freeware does not bear close-up scrutiny.  So, think twice before going in for a close-up, or else invest some time and effort upgrading the rig.

Film-making Resources
For more information and resources on the making of animated short films, follow the links below:

Development & Pre-Production

• How to Write a Story
• How to pitch your film idea
• Why Animators Need Mood Boards
• Why Animators Need Colour Scripts
• Managing Group Projects
• Why Animators Need a Storyboard Animatic
• How to Record Voice-Overs
• Sound Design for Animators

Production

• Why Animators Must Wreck Their Rigs
• What an Animation Editor Does, Exactly
• Ten Rules of Animation Dailies
• Why Animators Must Check Their Hookups
• What are CBBs? (Could be Better)
• Using Lighting to Tell the Story

Post-Production

• How Animators Work with Composers
• Royalty-free music at Bensound
• Colour Grading your film
• Thanks and Special Thanks - Getting Film Credits Right
• How to Create the Perfect One-Sheet Movie Poster (and Why You Need One)
• Getting Yourself (and your film) Listed at IMDB

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