How did you learn to rig in AM?

#1

In this post, TMNT3d asked about the Setup Machine. Some folks replied that AM has everything you need to make your own rig, and that is true.

That got me to thinking… how did some of you learn how to rig in AM? For years, I couldn’t figure out what combination of constraints to use to get a rig that worked, given the small amount of documentation on constraints provided with AM. I guess I’m “rigging challenged” :slight_smile:

Finally, 3D Artz came out with the Cog tutorial, which helped me a lot. But how did the rigging gurus learn? C’mon, spill your guts! :slight_smile:

#2

I read tutorials and such online- but animating taught me how to rig a lot more than anything, because then I had to innovate my own solutions.

#3

I tried making my way through the Anzovin tutorial on the 2001 Rig (or was it an earlier version?). In any case there were so many constraints etc that it just became a Monkey see, Monkey do situation (and I never got a rig to work properly). 4 years down the track and I understand the basics but TSM 1 and 2 are a godsend :slight_smile:

Cheers

#4

I started by taking other peoples rigs apart and then trying to duplicate’em some times just one part i.e. an arm or finger then i built a simple one just geometry bones and built from there. Still finding new things to add everytime I get a chance to work on them.

#5

The same way I learned everything else in A:M: Start simple. don’t try to get a fully functional animation rig on day 1, just like your first model shouldn’t be a photoreal human. First you figure out what each and every constraint and limit is, how it works alone and how it works in relation to similar constraints. Then you take an isolated section of a character, say a leg, you analyze it and decide what you will require in the way of controls, then you set up constraints based on your knowledge of them to achieve your goals. Then you take that portion of the rig for a test drive and decide if it meets your needs, if so move on to the next part of the character, if not either re-work the rig or scrap it and start again until it does what you need.

Once you have a rig for any portion of a character working the way you like it you can make it so that you can apply that rig to any character with a similar bone structure without ever setting a single constraint again. The secret here is actions.

Say I have a leg rig I love (and I do, been using it since v7,) I rig that leg rig in an action file then from the Action menu I choose the create pose function and now the character has an on/off pose that holds all the constraints for my legs. Now if I save that action out as an independent .act file (leg_rig.act) I can simply load it into any project where characters need constraints, edit the action with any character, create a pose and bam rigging is done. done and re-usable.

If you want to get way fancy, you can rig an basic biped skeleton with no mesh in the model window and then rigging simply becomes a matter of saving that model out and importing it into a new model, you scale your bones to fit and assign the geometry and that’s all there is to it.

-David

#6

Hey, thanks for the replies so far! As for me, the cog tutorial helped me learn how to do the finger controls and how to use bones to deform geometry, and also how Orient Like and Roll Like constraints work.

Also, I recently tried out a surface constraint for the first time. I wanted the character’s pupils to move across the surface of the face without sinking into the head, and it worked pretty well. The eyes were transparent spheres, and I wanted the pupils to be inside the eyes. You’ll see if I ever get my Oz contest entry done :wink:

#7

OB - thanks for the insight, am very interested in building my own rigs… I have been playing with them for a while and starting to understand them… So far only my fish rig is complete;still trying to get the hang of constraints and limits and how they effect each other…

~DL~

#8

I agree with what has been said already. Start simple. Lathe a cylinder. Put 2 bones in it. Assign the geometry. Go into an action and grab the end of a bone and see what it does. Make a model where there are just two paralell bones…no geometry. Go into an action and start playing with constraints. What does an “orient like” do? A “translate to”? etc. This is by far the best way to do it. My first day on the job, I was put in front of a computer and A:M, told to model a character and rig it. Coming from Maya, it was a bit daunting, but once I played around for a bit, it was a whole new world. A:M is simply the best rigging package out there. I guess it also helps when you work with some of the best A:M artists ever (Joe Williamsen to name one). Maybe one day I’ll get around to writing a tutorial on rigging in A:M. Yeah, that’ll happen when “crunch time” “stops”, if it ever does.:slight_smile: Seriously, though, anyone can learn to rig in A:M, and it’s not as hard as it looks. 95% of the constraints we use are “orient like”, “scale like”, “translate to”, and “aim at”. Those in combination do almost everything you could possibly want to do. If you look at A:M and think it’s scary, try opening Maya and rigging there!!

To sum up, rigging your own character allows you to customize your rig to fit your character and act how YOU want it to. Premade rigs are great, but they are a generalization that, if you are not familiar with how it works, can get you stuck. Try rigging in A:M and there is no going back!

#9

Here are the remaining images:

#10

Are any of you guys using an inverse foot setup on your rigs? I used that in Maya and loved it. Or is it even necessary in AM? (I haven’t gotten to the rigging stage yet). Is there a link to this “cog” tutorial?

#11

Skurge, it’s at http://www.3dartz.com/ . It costs $30.00 and comes on a CD, or $20.00 for a downloadable version. There’s a sample chapter on the website if you want to check it out.

#12

Cool, thanks Catnip!

#13

in the beginning i rigged a few characters based on Raf Anzovin’s rig. they had a vhs tut that was 3 or 4 tapes. i went through them and basically made a book of notes so i could rig my characters. the setup machine came out and made it real easy.

i must say, that i learned the most from 2 tutorials i bought from eggprops.com. billy eggington made it very simple to follow and understand…the hash 2001 rig is based on billy’s rigging. i’m not sure if he still has those for sale, but they are priceless. one was on rigging a character…going step by step and explaining each item. the other was on using fan bones to get good joint deformation…this one was amazing. they started with a simple lathed tube with one row of cp’s and then went to having 3or4 rings of cps for the joint. then on to do the knee, elbow, and hips of a full character (which is the same character they rigged in the other tutorial). then he showed how just by making slight adjustments on the position of each on of the Intermediate bones could effect the deformation.

hey billy, if you still check out this forum…you should offer those again…or maybe get hash to bundle them on the CDs.

anyway…that’s my story and i’m sticking to it!

laterz,
dieter

#14

When I got into real animation I knew I had to use constraints…half of it I figured out on my own…the other half I would just check out some other rigs a bit :slight_smile:

Ok…I admit it…97 percent was dissecting rigs and 3 percent was figuring it out on my own

#15

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