Introduction to Rigging 1001

Learn the tools and processes to create an animator-friendly rig

In this course, we will delve into the depths of rigging in computer graphics. This will be an introductory course focused on using Maya but the concepts can be easily applied to other packages. From joint placement to rig finalling, we will be taking our CAVE base mesh to build a rig fit for animation. We’ll also clarify the role of the rigger and get accustomed to some of the principal tools used during this process, and also some common practices to create clean rigs that won’t drive animator’s nuts.

Please note, the course was created a few years back. However, the concepts are still relevant to this day.

Course Details

Release Date: 2014.01
Type: On-demand
Level: Beginner
Lessons: 12
Duration: 14hr 15mins
Format: Video on-demand
Tools: Maya
Prerequisites Basic knowledge of Maya
Course Access Time: Lifetime

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Lessons in this course

01. Rigging fundamentals

Before jumping in and creating joints left, right and center, let's take a step back and look at the aims of creating a rig and the main tools used in the rigging process.
02. Rigging the torso

Following on from the introduction, we will now take on the task of creating a flexible torso rig for our character.
03. Rigging the neck and head

With the torso rig complete, we have a base to start adding the neck, head, arms and legs. Although you could go in any one of these directions, we’ll tackle the neck and head next.
04. Rigging the arms

The lesson will focus on the arms, and creating FX and IK controls.
05. Rigging the hands

In this section we are going to create the joints and controls for the hands.
06. Rigging the legs

We now move on to rigging the lower limb. We’ll tackle the legs much in the same way in which we handled the arms. We’ll create three joint chains, add twist joints, allow for FK/IK blending, etc.
07. Rigging the feet

We now come to the foot. We’ve already created its FK controls, so here we will mainly focus on creating the reverse foot setup for the IK leg
08. Cleaning up the rig

In this lesson, we'll spend some time to clean up the rig and add additional functionality, such as space switching, auto breathing attributes and more.
09. Skinning - setting up the volume joints

In this lesson, we will take a look at adding additional joints to the rig to help maintain volume.
10. Skinning - blocking out the weights

With all the joints in place, let's now turn our attention to blocking out the skin weights.
11. Skinning - refining the weights

Now that we have the weights blocked out, let's move on to refining and cleaning up the skinning.
12. Finalising the rig

With the skinning complete it's time to finish off the rig, so we can pass it on to the animation team.

Tutor: Jahirul Amin

CAVE Academy Founder | VFX Teacher

Jahirul Amin is a Computer Animation and Visual Effects Teacher and Consultant. He specialises in designing and delivering courses to create solid and diverse production ready skills in all 3D related departments and across a number of facilities worldwide. His background in academia feeds into his ongoing connections with Universities and Colleges which provide Computer Animation and Visual Effects courses. He is also involved in course and examination design as well as lecturing, running workshops and mentoring.

Course Fee: £24.99

ENROL ON COURSE

Introduction to Rigging 1001

This on-demand course will introduce you to rigging in CG, where we will create an animator-friendly bipedal character rig.