Blender Character Artist & Rigger — Athletic Soccer Instructor

About the project

# 3D Character Artist & Technical Rigger — Custom Athletic Character for Kinexus Sports We’re looking for an experienced 3D character artist and technical rigger to create a premium, animation-ready soccer instructor for the Kinexus Sports training app. **This is a fresh build—not a repair of our existing model.** We want a professionally constructed character with strong anatomy, deformation-friendly topology and a reliable rig. Properly licensed professional basemeshes are acceptable if disclosed and customized; we are not looking for an unchanged stock character. ## Character direction - Lean, athletic male proportions matched to supplied body measurements and reference photos. - Smooth, faceless humanoid head. - Opaque satin-graphite body with restrained highlights. - Anatomically convincing human form—not segmented robot armor. - Close visual fidelity to approved references, with consistent front, side, back and three-quarter views. The completed character will wear a Kinexus-branded soccer jersey, outer shorts over compression shorts, and cleats. No long socks or compression undershirt. ## Initial milestone: body and rig Our first priority is the unclothed character body and rig. Clothing will follow only after the body’s appearance and deformation are approved. We need: - Professionally modeled anatomy and clean, deformation-friendly topology. - Full-body controls, including hands, feet, toes and appropriate IK/FK functionality. - Carefully refined skin weights and pose-driven corrective shapes or equivalent solutions where needed. - Clean shoulder, chest, underarm, elbow, wrist, hip and knee deformation. - A workflow suitable for retargeting captured human motion and manually polishing soccer movements. - An editable native Blender file with functional controls and corrections. An automatic rig with unrefined weights will not meet the requirements. ## Acceptance testing Please demonstrate the character through continuous movement ranges—not just attractive still poses—including: - Arms raised overhead and reaching forward. - Shoulder and forearm rotation. - Elbow and knee bends. - Torso twisting and bending. - Deep squat, lunge and kicking positions. - Foot roll and toe movement. We will review the character from multiple angles for unnatural chest stretching, joint collapse, severe pinching, unintended volume loss and intersections. Before final rig approval, we also want a short soccer-motion test using supplied motion data, with the input format agreed in advance. If that data is not yet available, please propose an interim test and a separately scoped retargeting validation. ## Later milestones Following body-and-rig approval: 1. Soccer kit and cleats, fitted and weighted for athletic movement. 2. Final materials and branded appearance. 3. Optional support with mocap cleanup and soccer animation. The wider project will eventually include ball interaction, a Kinexus studio environment and downloadable looping tutorial videos. Please quote character creation separately from those later production services. ## Deliverables and rights - Editable Blender source files, meshes, rig, corrective systems, materials and textures. - Packed assets where practical and clear file organization. - A short rig-control guide or walkthrough. - Exact Blender version and required add-ons, including any additional license costs. - Disclosure of all third-party assets and their licenses. - Commercial rights suitable for use in our app, rendered tutorials and marketing, with ownership/licensing terms agreed before work begins. ## Please include in your proposal 1. Two or three relevant human-character examples, identifying your role in each. 2. Deformation or rig demonstration videos, especially shoulders and hips—not renders alone. 3. Your approach to anatomy, topology, skinning, corrective deformation and mocap retargeting. 4. Confirmation that the delivered rig will work fully in Blender. 5. A milestone-based quote separating: - Character body modeling. - Rigging, corrective deformation and testing. - Soccer kit, cleats and final materials. 6. Estimated timeline, availability, revision allowances and any additional software costs. 7. Whether you complete modeling and rigging yourself or work with a disclosed team. We can provide visual references, proportion measurements and private reference photos to shortlisted candidates. We prefer approval checkpoints for the body’s appearance, rig deformation and clothing before proceeding to the next stage. We’re seeking demonstrated quality and a dependable production asset—not the lowest-priced or fastest automatic setup. BUDGET AND QUOTING The indicative USD $750–1,500 budget covers the initial character body and tested rig only. Quote soccer kit, cleats, and final clothing materials separately. Please provide an itemized quote; higher proposals are welcome when supported by relevant work and demonstrated deformation quality.

Skills required