Vehicle Animation Dynamics in Maya
In this course, we will go over how to properly rig and animate a vehicle in Maya. Software required: Maya 2012.
What you'll learn
In this course, we will go over how to properly rig and animate a vehicle in Maya. Throughout this series of lessons, we will learn how to create a seamless vehicle rig that will provide the animator with the control needed to create realistic animation. We will start with preparing our model for rigging with a proper naming convention and hierarchy. Step by step, we will learn how to set up controls for steering and rotating the wheels as well as building a full, custom suspension. We will learn how to clean up our rig to make it simpler to use and be seamlessly passed off to an animator. We will also go through the process of creating realistic animation, including setting up a shot camera, blocking the animation, adjusting the animation curves, and viewing a motion trail. We will also cover animating the suspension for our car to give the it a sense of weight. Software required: Maya 2012.
Table of contents
- Preparing the Model for Rigging 7m
- Setting up the Steering Controls 14m
- Setting up Individual Wheel Controls 6m
- Rigging the Suspension 13m
- Setting up the Global Control 10m
- Colorizing the Control Curves 4m
- Locking and Hiding Unnecessary Control Curve Attributes 5m
- Limit Control Curve Values 9m
- Blocking the Animation 16m
- Finessing the Car Rotation 12m
- Animating the Wheels 9m
- Animating the Suspension 13m
About the author
Scott Cullen is currently an animator/layout artist at Mirada Studios. He received his education through the 3D animation program at the New York Film Academy. He has taught an animation workshop for the New York Film Academy at Harvard University and worked on several high profile projects including a commercial for NCAA March Madness, a trailer for Terra Nova, and graphics for the Academy Awards.