my name is Lawrence - i was given your email address by adam vanner and Malcom Child with whom you worked with at the ncca. I am currently studying for my MA - Animation and am doing a research project based on the subject of muscle systems which falls in context of my final piece. A character that i hope to rig for animation (please find attached) using the knowledge that i am able to accumulate from my research.

I was able to find your thesis for your MSc online amongst other papers and was wondering if you would take the time to answer some of the following questions in relation to the subject. Subject matter on the area is limited, even more so for xsi, so any information that you are able to present would be a huge help.

 Are you able to tell me more about muscle systems on the industry side of the work flow compared to the information that i am able to get hold from books and / or off on the internet?

How accurate do the muscle systems equate to real anatomy is a vast knowledge of this needed to make a successful system?.

A brief understanding was neccessary. A system as used with the troll animation did not involve a complex understanding of the subject. Using a fantasy creature/monstor based on a biped it allowed leeway on the subject without the sensitivity we have for the human form. My research paper on skinning and muscles touches on Scheepers paper in which the method for using simple shapes based on physical attributes are used.

The industry is fast paced which means you must use lots of cheats are these often favored over the time consuming process of setting up muscle systems for example blend shapes?

Yes use them where you can if you can. Shapes are excellent for cleanup as well as implementing more complex systems. Being a more technical exercise the system was conventionally a physics based system implemented on a Maya workflow designed to later be released as a plugin.

Do they differ much from the system that you presented in your thesis?

Unfortunatly my line of work has taken me away from this area. As can be seen from my show reel i have moved to the vfx side of production.

Have you tried using displacement maps with muscle systms from sculpting packages such as Zbrush. If so have you run into any problems in doing so?

No, however i understand it is tightly linked into the most industry piplines with successful results, whether this relies on an external plugin to fufil specific requirements i am unsure of. Programs such as zbrush, mudbox, depaint however rely on the layout of uv's therefore i cannot foresee a problem, deforming similar to a texture.