I am horrible at creating rigs/Need help

[eek]

Rigging is bloody hard - its easy to build quick systems, with over complication. But to build simplicity is extremely hard.

[IkerCLoN]

I had the chance to see some samples of the Jason Schleifer's videos from Autodesk ('Animator Friendly' series), and I liked a lot the way he was explaining things, very plain but very detailed. I guess you could learn some basics as well as some advanced things from there.

[stewartjones]

Start small, and work from there. Just do parts of a rig first. So, just a leg. Then a stretchy leg. Then an FK/IK leg and start putting it all together. Then a spine... and so on.

I learnt that way and actually work somewhat like that even now! The thing is, it just takes time and practice.

As for animation transfer, you could script it, or export using FBX or other exporters like that.

[hansedr]

Cool, thanks for the input everyone.

[arctor]

go through the docs and tuts from autodesk carefully....
and as others have said - start very small and simple....capture a grid to a few bones and just start playing around with how all the little details work...then build up from there...

[DMNY]

Rigging can be a real headache when you're not sure what to do. Technicalities over artistic approach in that sense. Try finding a good tutoring source. As for me, I use XSI and got up to speed with “character in motion” from www.3dmastermind.com (http://www.3dmastermind.com)
The training goes in depth in all aspects of rigging and even some animation and all at a good pace. It contains 11 hours so it’s a very good investment IMO.
As for the saving animation part… In XSI you save a ‘clip’ like a library and you can mix with other actions in the mixer or apply as baked f-curves directly on the character.

[clesage]

When animators begin learning animation, they are told to learn bouncing balls and flour sacks first. I think it's the same with rigging. Start simple, do little experiments and take notes.

And then as you advance, break things down into single, simple problems ("I need the foot to do this. How can I do that?) and just working them out one by one, and keeping enough notes that you can figure it out again and again. Keep tons of notes!

The problem with following tutorials is that you can get lost in the steps and not really understand why you are doing something. On the other hand, the problem with coming up with your own solutions is that you ignore the discoveries of others and waste a lot of time. So it's a balancing act. Always ask yourself "why am I doing this?" whether you are following a tutorial or solving your own problems.

That said, here are a couple of links to more principle-based articles that don't force you to follow specific steps, but rather teach you how you need to think to be a great rigger:

http://www.anticz.com/puppets.htm (Great overview, a must read for character riggers.)

http://216.39.145.248/talks/bp/ ("Best practises". Advanced, but enlightening)

Cheers,
-sage

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