Rigging Tutorial Series

#1

Hi everyone,

I am currently building a curriculum for a series of tutorials on Rigging. I would like to cover topics that I have not seen around much before, like how a rigger looks at a model, how to choose a bind pose etc.

I wanted to ask what you guys think a good rigging tutorial series must have. Is there any techniques that you guys would want to see explained?
Just to cover the basics I will demo IK/FK and bendy limbs and spine, but it would be great to have your input on what else I can cover.

In the end I would like it to be the ultimate rigging resource for people who are just starting and people who are professionals and would like to see new techniques.

I am going to start posting the first parts of the series soon on CGCircuit.com

Thanks so much for the help!

#2

I hope that the tutorials have more skining method ,

#3

I would like to see character setup tutorials where the teacher first introduces the viewer into watching a bunch of recommended rigging tutorials from all different sites, DT, gnomon,. eat3d etc… … then your (or who ever’s) new tutorial takes off where that finishes and take it to the next levels. There are a tonne of basics for beginner stuff, even free stuff on you-tube, how to do a reverse lock foot setup, proper joint orientation practices, fk/ik switching techniques, how to apply expressions and plugging in connections… take people where they’ve never gone before, using tools not found in out of the box Maya, but all the better tools (MEL and/or Python) found on TD’s personal blogs, creative crash, etc.

Cater to the experts. But there’s more money in catering to the beginners… that the problem.

It took me ages to find on the internet how to apply extra tiny controllers to a blendshape driven face and have those controls follow the deforming geometry. I discovered it in the book “Stop Staring”. Haven’t seen that anywhere in a video tutorial.

BTW @ zaiyicheng
The best skinning tool I’ve used is ngSkinTools.

http://www.ngskintools.com/

The last skinning I did with it was also the first time I used it. I don’t know how I did skinning without it. And I suppose the ngSkinning tool is the perfect example of what you never see in “professional” rigging tutorials. They’re nearly always use the native paint weights tool.

#4

scripting
rotation order
constraints, especially aim constraints for forearm twist and bicep twist
pose space deformation
blendshapes
deformation ordering
transferring weights from one mesh to another
how to deal with UV map edits

#5

@egglybagelface, yes I totally agree, that is one of the reasons why I want to make a good rigging tutorial series and to talk about these tools that do not come in Maya. Though I am going to also include basic concepts just because of the sheer amount of request I get for those.

@gmask, thanks so much. I am almost done with a series of videos that talk about some of the stuff in your list. I am hoping to post it in the next week.

note: sorry about the change of user name. I finally found my old cgtalk user name so I am switching to that.

#6

Besides UV Map edits on already rigged characters… All been done before… to death!.

#7

one joint chain rigging which has all those things like squash and stretch , ik/fk matching like cartoonish.
and not too much mel scripts.
(for skinning) only use flood on selected vertex or component editor.
like don’t use brush if some vertex need smooth then select all those vertex and smooth flood it.
i am new in rigging right now but i am sure you guys can specific weight selection.

#8

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