advice on 3rd party rigging tools for Maya?

#1

I’ve just started learning Maya.

                                         I’m interested in the best 3rd party tools for rigging and for facial animation.                     

                                         I’ve had “The Setup Machine” and “The Face Machine” recommended.                     

                                         And then there’s Di-O-Matic.                     

                                         I’ve had one friend recommend CAT on 3ds instead.                     

                                         I’d appreciate some feedback as to pros/cons.                     

                                         I understand the basics and have used Lightwave for some time.                     

                                         Much of my motion will come from MotionCapture - and I’m getting up to speed on MotionBuilder.

One of the characters I’m interested in animating is not in the t-pose, so I’d like the software to be able to handle this.

                                         I’d like to use Mudbox to create facial morphs.                     

                                         I intend to use PointOven to move my motion data  from Maya to Lightwave for surfacing and rendering, at least until I can  get up to speed with all of that in Maya.                     

                                         Making the move to Maya is a bit scary, as now I know NOTHING, it’s all totally new.                     

                                         Also, any recommendations for other ‘must-have’ plug-ins or tools would be appreciated!                     

                                         Thanks!
#2

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