Here's a little peek into what has to be done to animate a 3d model. I can now say with absolute certainty that rigging is by far the most challenging part of the 3d animation process.

Bones, controllers, skin weights, movement constraints, object parenting, linking, etc. There's just so much to keep track of. @_@ It's also a rather tedious process. One must make minute adjustments then test and tweak until things look right, and since a lot of the changes being done are so integrated into the model, one has to constantly save backup versions in case something doesn't turn out right near the end.

My model of Dack here is currently at his 15th revision. It's my first time going through the complete process so I'm being extra careful here.

What you see is the current 'face rig' of the model, which is there to control face expressions and eye movement. The light blue curves around the surface are called control points or handles. Each of those are linked to a skin weight cluster, which can be moved around to morph the geometry of the face. He looks pretty lifeless right now but the end result is quite convincing. More shots coming soon! =]

Model rigging done with Maya.