Ep.0 — Why It Was Built · Squash & Stretch · The Reality of Rigging Pipelines

Overview

This is an introductory video explaining why BipedPlus was built, what rigging and pipeline problems repeat themselves on the ground, and in what direction this tool aims to solve them.
The focus is on understanding the background and philosophy rather than how to press tool buttons.

Key Topics Covered in This Video

1. The Recurring Foundation Work of Rigging

Working as a Technical Artist or lead rigger across many productions, the same work repeats every time you move to a new studio.

• Rebuilding rigging guidelines, naming conventions, and bone systems from scratch
• Repeating the climb from the very beginning (level 1–5) to production level (video: level 30) at startups, mid-sized studios, and large companies alike
• The experience of a fundamentally similar foundation being reset every project due to different circumstances

BipedPlus aims to reduce this repeated cost and let you start working immediately on a shared foundation.

2. Squash & Stretch and Korean Games

Squash & Stretch, the first of the 12 principles of animation, is essential for exaggeration, rhythm, and liveliness.

• Even just watching in-game footage, the presence or absence of Squash & Stretch makes a huge difference in expressiveness
• Overseas and global titles like Genshin Impact and Overwatch make bold use of bone deformation
• In Korean in-game footage, there are many cases where the technique was not used because the rigging system could not support it
• It is not impossible because of the game engine. It is entirely possible with the right structure

BipedPlus aims to support Stretch/Squash/Scale expression at the rigging stage so animators can achieve the exaggeration they want.

3. The Fragmented Tool Environment

The 3ds Max rigging ecosystem has many useful scripts and plugins, but they are scattered everywhere.

• No common standard, so knowledge accumulates only as individual know-how
• Difficult to find out which tools are current or recommended

BipedPlus is not an all-purpose tool. The direction is to consolidate the functions needed for advanced Biped-based rigging builds and animation assistance into one package.

4. Rigging Is an Important Part That Is Often Invisible

• Modeling, animation, and effects are easy to give feedback on through visuals
• Rigging is about data structure, efficiency, and pipeline, which is hard for art directors and PDs to relate to
• Even so, respecting the opinions of 1–2 animation TAs and riggers can prevent problems like those below

A Real Production Case: FBX Export Hell

• Each character had its own export method (presence of root, axis orientation, weapon inclusion, etc.)
• Animators rigging on their own without riggers/TAs → impossible to unify rules
• The more scenes and characters, the more weeks spent on manual export
• There are cases where 80 hours → 3 hours after automation and rule unification

Lesson: Even if the visuals are great, the entire schedule falls apart if the internal pipeline breaks down.

5. The Unique Traps of Biped — The Clavicle Example

In Biped's default settings, the Clavicle is set to 4 bones, and the connection to the Spine can also be structurally awkward.

• Unintended influence propagates to neck and shoulder movements
• Once the bone connection structure (parent–child relationship) is misaligned and animation accumulates on top of it, it is hard to undo

BipedPlus aims to reduce these bottlenecks by consistently providing bone connection structures and skin bone placements suited to game engines.

6. What BipedPlus Aims For

Regardless of company size or infrastructure level (level 5–60), the goal is to help with practical skills you can use immediately and pipeline organization.

BipedPlus UI Preview (End of Video)

The actual tool interface is briefly introduced in the latter part of the video.
- Panel docking — Using BipedPlus attached to the side of 3ds Max
- Various expression and assistance features like Stretch/Squash after Build
- From ep.1 onward, tutorials proceed in order starting from the Build tab

Who This Is Especially Helpful For

• Those who need to create rigging guidelines from scratch at every new company
• Animators and TAs working with Biped who want to use Squash & Stretch
• Productions where export and pipeline differ per character
• Teams who want to establish a standard in an early-stage project with no infrastructure

To Managers and Team Leads

• Animation Technical Artists and riggers play the role of lubricant for the art team. You don't need many
• Proposals for file structure, export rules, and reference structure are realistically applied only when team leads and art directors understand and make decisions
• Even though rigging doesn't directly show on screen, it supports the quality of modeling, animation, and effects