"Oatmeal" Animation

"Oatmeal" is a character modeling, rigging, animation, and physics simulation design study created in 2014. This custom created plush hippo presented the design challenge of needing to move authentically like a stuffed toy. To that end, a custom animated bone rig sits on the inside of the model and is designed to look and emulate large bundles of “fluff.” The “skin” is then rendered as a cloth physics simulation. This was a particular challenge with the pink shirt, as it is a cloth simulation on top of another cloth simulation.

The final result is satisfyingly organic looking and required little direct tweaking. It was able to handle complex motion, such as the dancing seen in the final demonstration video farther below.

Project demonstration video.

Model breakdown, including original plush that this character is based on.

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