Rigging Fundamentals

BA3

Rigging Fundamentals

Elbert Lim

1001740

In this project I am to construct a rig on Autodesk Maya that enables complex movement for inanimate digital assets. The rig that I will be creating would be for a bipedal asset with skins provided from the tutors like shown below.

Most importantly this rig have to be animator friendly and be able to be used for an in game asset and animation properly.

Process

The rig that I will be applying is called Reverse Foot Lock. It is a setup of external set of bones that drive the foot of character, its called a reverse foot lock because it is constructed going backward from the heel up the foot to the ankle.

This rigging process started by creating the bones or joints starting from the true beginning (hip> knee> ankles > ball> toe). I then proceed on making the IK handles and making sure the orientation and naming is properly assigned prior to that. After the handles are done, NURBs circles are created as controllers, which are then constrained to the handles on the ankles and the knees. Next, the waist joint is created as a center of gravity and when everything is movable the rig is then binded to the skin. Lastly the Reverse Foot lock is binded to the handles and the rig is good to go.

I made a loop of jumping animation using the bipedal rig and smooth the skin after animating it, below is what it looks like.

Finalizing

I rendered the clip on maya while at the same time making sure the skin are moving properly and not stretched (which can be resolved using the painting tools).