Workshop: Ziva VFX 1.6 Anatomy Transfer Tools

The Ziva team has shared a recording of a Ziva VFX workshop hosted by co-CEO & Founder James Jacobs and Senior Creature TD Andy van Straten at FMX 2019, in Stuttgart, Germany. The workshop is focused on Ziva VFX 1.6 Anatomy Transfer tools/workflow.

With Anatomy Transfer, artists can take the full anatomy of one character and automatically fit it to the mesh of another, removing the need to start from scratch every time a new character or creature has to be developed.

The recently added Anatomy Transfer allows beginning right away, using the anatomy of one creature to generate another. Transferred rigs require little to no remodeling and come with the full power of Ziva physics, producing characters that move, flex and jiggle just as they would in real life.

“Creating hundreds of high-quality characters has never been easier,” stated James Jacobs, Co-CEO of Ziva Dynamics. “When we were at Weta, we would have given our left arm for technology like this; now, every artist and studio in the world can ‘build it once,’ instead of again and again.”

The transfer process basically starts with a source creature that has been simulated with Ziva VFX and the external skin mesh of a target creature with similar topology. You should then run two functions (a proprietary bone-warp and spatial-warp) that automatically reshape the bones, joints, and muscles to the second creature. A load function automatically transfers the simulation properties to the new rig, including attachments, fibers, materials and more. What you get is a new creature that is simulation-ready, out of the box.

You can learn more about the tools here.