Accelerating the Character Rigging Process in Maya
Throughout these lessons, you will learn how to accelerate the rigging process by using a free MEL script called abAutoRig.mel as well as several code snippets and Python utilities to create a character rig, skin the model, paint weights, and apply corrective blend shapes. Software required: Maya 2015, abAutoRig 6.0.3.
What you'll learn
Throughout these lessons, you will learn how to accelerate the rigging process by using a free MEL script called abAutoRig.mel as well as several code snippets and Python utilities to create a character rig, skin the model, paint weights, and apply corrective blend shapes. This course will introduce you to some new thoughts and strategies for completing these tasks quickly and efficiently. We will explore Maya node-centric pose based deformers as drivers for corrective blendshapes. Software required: Maya 2015, abAutoRig 6.0.3.
Table of contents
- Replacing the Head Mesh 6m
- Installing abAutoRig 10m
- Final Mesh Editing 10m
- Placing Proxy Skeleton Joints 11m
- Arranging the Proxy Hand Skeleton 10m
- Creating the Rig and Replacing the Wire Controls 11m
- Creating Control Sets for the Rig 9m
- Skinning the Model 11m
- Creating Animation to Aid Weight Painting 12m
- Continuing the Weight Painting Animation 11m
- Finishing the Weight Painting Animation 7m
- Painting Weights in the Legs 10m
- Painting Weights in the Hips 11m
- Wrap Deforming the Laces and Belt 7m
- Painting Weights in the Torso 11m
- Painting Influence on the Shoulder 11m
- Finishing Weight Painting on the Shoulder 7m
- Painting Weights on the Head and Jaw 12m
- Fixing the Jaw and Painting Weights on the Arm 11m
- Painting Weights on the Hand and Wrapping the Hair 7m
- Creating a Corrective Blendshape for the Head 9m
- Modeling and Mirroring a Corrective Blendshape 11m
- Scripting the Blendshape Mirroring Process 12m
- Editing Created and Applied Blendshapes 10m
- Installing and Using the Pose Reader Python Script 10m
- Creating and Connecting Left and Right Pose Readers 9m
- Connecting the Head Blendshape 7m
- Cleaning up the Final Character Rig 7m
About the author
Eric Kunzendorf has been teaching computer graphics and animation at the college level for the last two decades at such varied institutions as Jacksonville University, the New Hampshire Institute of Art, the Atlanta College of Art, and the School of Visual Arts’ Savannah campus. He holds a Bachelors of Arts in Art history from Columbia University and a Masters of Fine Arts in Drawing and Painting from the University of Georgia. Eric has contributed to several works including "Mastering Maya 8.... more