WK 8 -Creating joints and using paint weights.

For the tutorial this week i worked further on the hand that i created , and took this further into stages of animation were i created a relevant bone structure to allow it to perform like a usual hand,then learnt to combine the skeleton with the skin texture material. once i had completed this when rotating joints the mesh would collapse so i then learnt how to use paint weights in order to maintain the construction to nature performance without bad features appearing when animating.

This is my inital image of my joint structure on hand needs to be change so that bones appear symmetrical.
now i shall review this and make nessacary changes immediatly, below shows the outcome of my final bone structure.

This screen shot is an improved version of my hand were the joints appear how they should according to my reference of the hand ,it appears a lot more realistic than my previous attempt, in order to animate and use paint weights so the mesh does not distort. i have attached the joints to the skin so now when the hand moves and appears in texture it shall look like a fully functioning C.G.I hand.

i used the reference below of the anatomy of the hand to structure my joints , i fell this was an accurate source to work from.

Looking at other work done by professional individuals i felt that this was another great aspect to learn as its slightly similar to the leg exercise which i did not feel i enjoyed that much this excited me more as it was all my work , and could possibly be why i did not feel my self enjoying the leg task as much. i felt this was relevant in all aspects as again it introduced me to more elements of maya.
Below is my animated hand using paint weights , a few tests were done and i am overall quite happy with the tests undertaken however the footage could not load via blog spot or you you tube.
below is an image of animation in progress using paint weights to reshape any deformed mesh:

Here i found a useful reference were hands were used in  a realistic C.G.I format. This is the trailer for ratatoullie, were a member of staff offers starters to customers and hands and food are in the shot at the start before showing other visuals:

Personally i feel this task was at a basic standard compared to external references i would have liked to perform more tests and added paint weights more effectively i did however give it my best efforts.
Areas in which i would like to develop further are as mentioned aspects with more tests being performed and more effective use of the paint weights, i plan to address this as soon as possible as i would like to have completed it and be happy with the final product coming this far and actually getting tests uploaded.