Flamingo Rig - Designed for Game Production

Features:
-Reverse foot with bend limit and toe straight angle settings
-Custom foot attributes with multi-roll and banking options
-FK/IK switching neck and legs 
-Multiple options for leg twisting 
-Flexi spine with advanced twist 
-Beak and eye rigs 
-FK wings with dynamic parenting
-Tail rig with custom curl control
-Fully scalable 
-Character display settings
-Unity/game ready 
-Fast playback speed

​Built to run in the Unity game engine, this flamingo rig is one I constructed for an augmented reality project by Disney Research. The character's primary movement throughout the project was to run around the scene, so I spent time investigating the anatomy of flamingos before I got started to help recreate their locomotion. It was very interesting in particular to discover that a flamingo's legs bend in the opposing direction of a human. 

For my rig, I made sure to not only incorporate the proper bend of the legs, but I also created a reverse foot system that gives the animator the opportunity to set a value for how the the foot rolls forward and for when the toe straightens out. I used a number clamp, setRange, and multiply/divide nodes to achieve this feature. As a result, the feet are capable of achieving an array of movements for body dynamics. 

I ran a number of experiments for the flamingo's neck rig, and ended up using an IK system. This IK system worked best with our production pipeline and achieved the type of motion the animators desired. The remainder of the rig features an IK spine, beak and eye gaze controls, FK wings, and a tail with a custom curling control. Dynamic parenting also allows for automatic follow on the wings.