Rigging Related - Volume Preservation vs. Squash and Stretch

In Owned, one thing that bugged me about Jeff's rig was that the volume preservation was getting in the way of squash and stretch.  Squash and stretch are two things - its not "squash when stretched."  As an animator, I need a setting tht lets me change how much "volume preservation" affects what is being stretched.  The two images I am adding are of Rambo, but for the needs of the animation style, it needs to be applied to all characters - maybe 1 for full preservation, 0 for none, maybe -1 to do the opposite and inflate the part.

Wile E Coyote is a good reference for this - when he falls off a cliff, his body parts generally stay the same width when they get pulled off screen.  Some example smears from other cartoons, found on Smears, Multiples, and Other Animation Gimmicks

Rambo Test

Rambo

Lamb reference video for Rambo

Thumbnails

Andre expressions: rough first pass

Mountain

Another take on the mountain

Rough Papa Poses

Gag Set Thumbs and Environment Reference

Messed around with some color and shapes for the gag set. 

With the environments I think it would be cool to try and translate the graphic quality from UPA cartoons into 3d.  I think Eyvind Earle is a good example of finding form while maintaining that graphic quality, but in a more sophisticated way.  The CG coyote cartoons is a cool way of stylizing environments and using color really well. Also, Denise Blakely Fuller's blog, and she has some really great stylization in her black and white environments for a short animation she worked on.