Rigging 101 for Video Games - Maya 2018

Explore Maya constraints by linking objects with parent, point, orient, scale, and aim constraints, showing how each constraint affects translation, rotation, scale, or look at behavior.

Reference the telescope model to enable updates across scenes, set up a project workspace, organize geometry with layers and groups, and build a joint-based, constrained rig in Maya 2018.

Assign joints to deform geometry, organize the rig with a global control and empty nodes, group controls, and constrain joints to controls for a clean, reusable Maya 2018 rig.

Bind the geometry to joints with skin and bind skin, adjust weights for a simple Maya rig, and save the scene to review resting position with a single control.

Use set driven keys in Maya 2018 to drive telescope movement with a control slider, linking Z translation through a container and neutral nodes, refined in the graph editor.

Learn to build an inverse kinematics arm in Maya 2018, including joint chain setup, pole vectors, constraints, and painting skin weights for realistic bending and control.

Build a Maya 2018 switcher to attach a glass to the hand using two constraints and a 0–1 custom attribute with a reverse node, enabling seamless hand movement.

Learn to create and map blend shapes in Maya 2018, duplicating base meshes into up, down, left, and right, and driving them with controllers for game-ready animation.

plan and rig a biped for video games in Maya 2018, using ik/fk for legs and fk for the spine, arms, and head.

Create and place spine joints to form an fk chain from the hips to the chest, centered on the mass, then build nurbs-based controllers and bake animation for game rigs.

Create neck and head joints, organize rigs with groups for deformers, mechanisms, and controls, and constrain to the neck and global control to animate the biped.

Create a complete biped leg rig in Maya by building upper and lower leg joints, establishing IK/FK switches, and mirroring to the other leg, with proper constraints and visibility controls.

Master biped rigging for the feet by building fk and ik chains, setting up joints for toe, heel, and ankle deformation, and organizing controls and hierarchies for clean animation.

Build an fk biped arm rig in Maya by placing clavicle, shoulder, elbow, and wrist joints, mirroring axes, creating controls, and applying parent constraints to the chest.

Create and position finger joints for a biped hand, mirror to the other side, freeze transforms, rename and group controls, and constrain controls to joints to drive the hand rig.

Demonstrates how rotation orders determine joint motion, shows selecting orders like y z x and x y z to prevent gimbal lock, and guides binding the rig.

Bind the bones to the skin, set max influences to three, and paint weights to refine the biped rig. Mirror weights, test poses, and polish weight painting for clean deformation.

Master rigging basics for video games in Maya 2018 by cleaning the biped rig, painting finger and clavicle bones, color-coding limbs, and testing IK/FK constraints for a clean, animatable hierarchy.

Master the biped rig workflow in Maya 2018: animate with IK legs, bake animation to bones, remove constraints, optimize the scene, and export an sbx file for Unity.

Import Maya animations into Unity, identify the animation clip, switch the rig to legacy, and enable looping. Place the animated model in the scene and adjust lighting and camera.