Character Rigging Crash Course In Autodesk Maya

Switch to rigging, create a six-joint spine chain for the torso with the create joints tool, snap to grid with the X key after hiding geometry, and rename joints.

Change joint orientation in Maya using the Orient Joint tool by configuring primary and secondary axes, selecting spine joints, and applying world orientation for a consistent rig.

Bind joints to the mesh in Maya to deform geometry as you move the joints. Learn to use bind skin settings and paint skin weights manually.

Create a spline IK handle to drive the spine joint chain with a nurbs curve for fluid motion, then set up drive joints and enable advanced twist control.

Activate the advanced twist control through the IK solver attribute, adjust forward and up axes, set up vectors, and define hip drive and drive joints for twisting motion.

Create controllers for the Maya character rig using cube-based shapes and curve tools, snap points, and outlines, then apply parent constraints with maintain offset to hip and chest drives.

Create a torso FK rig in Maya by duplicating and refining spine joints, reconstructing a four-joint chain, and building and constraining FK controllers with shape nodes for precise control.

Create the body controller and the global controller for a Maya rig, using parent constraints with maintain offset off, renaming groups, color coding, and building visual controllers for manipulation.

Learn to implement squash and stretch on a torso rig by driving joint scales from the spine curve arc length using curve info and multiply/divide nodes, with global normalization.

Create and orient the arm joint chain in Maya, freeze transforms, rename joints, and build both IK and FK joint chains plus a clavicle for rigging.

Learn to build and organize arm controllers in Maya, including fk wrist and elbow controllers, ik wrist controller, pole vector, and clean grouping with constraints for a complete arm rig.

Bind geometry to the arm joints using Maya skin bind with selected joints, then test by moving the elbow and wrist to verify the rigging works.

Create a four-joint finger chain in Maya, orient joints correctly, snap to grid, place and rotate them, freeze transforms, duplicate for fingers, and rename joints for left wrist and fingers.

Create finger controllers for Maya finger joints using Nurbs circles, constrain joints, delete history, freeze transforms, center pivots, then rename and color the left finger controllers.

Learn to create an arm ik-fk switch controller in Maya by constraining the left wrist with a pan constraint, reshaping and coloring the controller, and adding an ik_fk switch attribute.

Learn to mirror joints and controllers in Maya, adjust orientation, replace L with R, and duplicate with scale x -1 to create the mirrored arm rig.

Create the arm rig by isolating the controller and selecting the joints, then apply a pen constraint with maintain offset, followed by a parent and band constraint to drive motion.

Create an ik arm rig in Maya using a rotate plane solver and ik handle, then connect elbow via the pole vector controller and wrist via point and orient constraints.

Create an IK/FK switch for the left arm rig in Maya using pan and parent constraints, a reverse node, and node editor to toggle FK/IK and controller visibility.

Rig finger joints and bind finger geometry in Maya, then set up controllers and constraints (parent constraint, point constraint, orient constraint, and IK/FK) to drive joints and geometry.

Connect the arm rig to the torso rig, unify controls under the global controller, test ik and fk behavior, and create clavicle controllers with constraints to finalize the arm rig.

Adjust leg joint orientations with the orient joint tool, freeze transforms, fix the anchor using an orient constraint, then duplicate joints to create IK and FK chains for binding geometry.

Create an ik/fk switch controller in Maya by duplicating a group, constraining the left ankle, removing the constraint, shaping and coloring the controller, and adding a switch attribute.

Duplicate the foot roll joints from the ball to the toe and ankle, rename them left toe roll, left ball roll, and left ankle roll, then create and align groups.

Mirror the left rig to the right with the mirror joints tool, then flip controllers and roll joints, rename left to right, and snap pivots with dv.

Learn to build a leg IK rig in Maya using a rotate plane solver and two single chain solver handles, plus knee and pole vector controls.

This lecture shows how to add attributes for a foot rig in Maya, including foot roll (-20 to 20, default 0), heel roll, ball roll, toe twist, and toe tap.

Create a leg IK FK switch for the lag rig by constraining joints, building a node editor network, and using visibility and reverse nodes to toggle IK and FK.

Build a foot roll rig in Maya by rigging heel, toe, and ball joints with set driven keys on rotate Z, then refine with the Node Editor and Graph Editor.

Create and orient head and neck joints in Maya, align joint axes for a consistent torso rig, and establish eye and jaw joints through duplication, unparenting, clustering, and mirroring.

Create and arrange head, neck, eye, and jaw controllers in Maya using nurbs circles, groupings, and constraints; set pivot points, apply colors, and rename controllers for an integrated facial rig.

Connect the head joint to its controller using a pan constraint with maintain offset, then link the left controller to its joint with an aim constraint, zeroing values for verification.

Create and edit blend shapes for facial expressions in Maya, using the shape editor, symmetry, and targets such as left eye, right eye, and angry expressions.

Connect blendshape attributes to AI and head controllers in Maya using set driven keys to drive left and right eye blinks and angry expressions, then tune with the graph editor.

Finish the right side after completing the left side, bind skin to the main geometry, use a script to select _j and _t joints, then test the rig.