I posted a while back about a cat rig I was building (yes the four legged, purr purr kind, not the 3ds Max kind). Here's the animation generated from it. The rig has rpIK on the two front legs and spring IK on the back. Both have got reverse foot joints added and toe and ankle roll attributes on the foot controller to get that paw flick that happens when the front paws come through and the leg stretch and contract that happens on the back legs' movement. The tail is a spline IK with five controllers. There is a muscle system built into the legs too but there's only a light weight painted to them, just to maintain a little structure and give the muscles a little wobble.
The fur is made up of two different fur descriptions, one on the body, legs and tail and a separate one for the head. Both have got a colour file linked to their base and tip colour and there are only two lights lighting the whole scene. There are still a few little bits I'd like to clean up. . . one of the back leg's strides is a little too short and the ears' movement would probably look better starting low and then rising up rather than the other way round but that's it for now.
The fur is made up of two different fur descriptions, one on the body, legs and tail and a separate one for the head. Both have got a colour file linked to their base and tip colour and there are only two lights lighting the whole scene. There are still a few little bits I'd like to clean up. . . one of the back leg's strides is a little too short and the ears' movement would probably look better starting low and then rising up rather than the other way round but that's it for now.
Cat Animation Test from Paddy Finn on Vimeo.