Please join us in welcoming Tina, the newest member of our character family! Tina has been in development for a while now and we’re thrilled to see students bring her to life.
Students can get access to this exciting new character beginning in our Introduction to Acting course. Alumni of our Character Animation Program are encouraged to give Tina a try as well!
Say hello to the creative team behind Tina!
Thank you to these talented artists for helping us bring this character to life:
- Character Designer: Eduardo Gilsanz. We’ve loved working with Eduardo and it was so cool to bring both his designs for Darius and now Tina to life.
- 3D Modeler: Ander Liza. We’ve worked with Ander on the bulk of our character models: Aia, Jules, Imps, Stan, Stewart, Stella, Viktor, Moya, Aristotle, etc. You can see more of his work on Instagram.
- Rigging and Surfacing: Twisted Mountain Animation. Tina was created through an exclusive partnership with Twisted Mountain Animation (TMA). Their talented and creative team helped bring new ideas and features to this rig with a goal of empowering students to animate compelling performances.
Cast of Characters
Whenever we are adding character rigs to our collection, we approach it from a standpoint of giving students access to a growing roster of actors to choose from. As that idea has evolved over time it has meant adding more customization options to our rigs.
One of the ways this manifests itself is through initial outfit options. We want to help inspire students to find an initial look that matches the vision they have for their story.
The artists at TMA did a fantastic job when it came to the surfacing of this character and her costume options. We really loved all the subtle details they included, for example how the textures for the dress make it seem like it shimmers in the light. So good!
Development & Testing
Seeing a character rig evolve over the course of the development process is pretty exciting. In the early stages each version is radically different as new features are added. TMA’s modular rigging system made it easy for us to explore new development ideas.
In those earlier stages we focus on animation tests that target broader movements, evaluating joint placement and how the character moves through space.
When we move on to the facial rig the character really starts to have that spark of life. Below you can see some of the work our test animator did to explore the expressiveness of the facial setup.
The real magic is when students use these characters and bring them to life. We can’t wait to see what stories they tell with Tina!
Tina is available to alumni and students in our acting courses.
Get ready to animate this cool character—apply today!
