Johnson Thomas
Technical Artist/Rigging
LA Natural History Museum Collab
While studying at Cal State Fullerton, I had the amazing opportunity to join a team that was collaborating with the Los Angeles Natural History Museum. Where I rigged two dinosaurs that would be featured as in a video for the museum. Cryolophosaurs and Saurapodamorph was our two feature stars of the show.
Cryolophosaurs Rig
The Cyolophosuarus served as one of my first challenges, but also what inspired me to become the rigger that I am today. Having studied rigging before but not to this scale. I studied many ways to try to make the cryolophosaurus animatable and functionable in the Unreal engine which we used to record our video for the natural history museum. To me this rig has always served as my early stages of being a technical artist and where I aimed to grow to from there.
Saurapodomorph Rig
The Saurapodomorph served as the second most challenging aspect to rig. As not only was this creature a quadruped but also can shift its body into becoming a biped. This was especially challenging as not only was i supposed to make the back legs of the saurapodomorph function properly, but also to make sure that the rig wont break when our animator shifts the body into the biped position.
Thankfully we were able to get the rig properly move without any problems.
The LA Natural History Museum Video
This is the end result of our collaboration with the Natural History museum. From humble beginnings to experiencing new techniques in rigging. This video will serve as my memory of where I started from, and how I continue to expand my knowledge of being a technical artist for rigging.