Building Blocks for Rigging in Maya

1
Building Blocks for Rigging in Maya

• A 40 minute presentation about neither here nor
  there

2
Who the hell is this David Choi?

• Tell a joke. Wait for laugh
• Rigging from the perspective of a local crackpot
• Whos all confused about rigging? Who isnt?
• Find the one thats right for you?

3
What sort of rig do you need?

• Level of complexity
• From the simple to the complex
• For games you need at least two rigs
• Control rig
• Export rig

4
Seeing the Matrix

• MEL Scripting
• Its not brain surgery, just copy and paste
• When in doubt, steal

5
The Kid

• The sum of its parts
• The Leg
• The Spine
• The Arm
• The Neck
• The Head
• The Face

6
You and Me and the Attribute Makes Three

• Its all about relationships these days
• Parent/Child
• The child inherits all attributes from the
  parent, but the parent cannot follow the child
• Master/Slave
• A slave is constrained to the master
• Driver/Driven
• Attributes from the driver drives the attributes
  of the driven
• Input/Output
• Attributes that drive other attributes through a
  math node

7
5 Steps to Better Your Rigging Self

• Practice these and you cant go wrong
• Hierarchy
• Constraints
• Connection Editor
• Set Driven Key
• Expressions

8
Things to consider before rigging

• The pivot center and the insert key
• Freezing transformations
• Creating and using curve controllers
• Naming convention

9
Climb the Steps of Hierarchy

• Hierarchy
• Creating a parent/child relationship
• FK animation by default
• Example Robot Arm

10
Constraint Yourself Or It Will Be Your Undoing

• Constraints
• Creating a Master/Slave relationship
• Example FK/IK arm

11
We Are All Connected Together

• Connection Editor
• The two halves of power
• Example Foot Rig

12
Use it Wisely or Youll be Driven to Madness

• Set Driven Key
• The poor mans expression creator
• Example Rigging the Hand
• Example Rigging the Mouth

13
Expression Yourself

• Expressions
• All things being equal
• Example Forearm twist

14
Now Step into the Void

• Now that youre rigging, no one will see you for
  awhile

15
Well Thats It

• Questions?
• You can get a hold of me if you get stuck. The
  worse I can say is that Im too busy.
• Email davchoi_at_comcast.net
• Website www.3david.com