Free CG Tutorials: Digital Tutors - Cartoon Character Rigging in Maya

Digital Tutors - Cartoon Character Rigging in Maya

Learn a production workflow to creating advanced character rigs with an emphasis on toon, squash and stretch rigging techniques, and the principles of building solution-based rigs. Contains over 7 hours of project-based training for animators and setup artists learning the processes of creating stylized toon rigs with animator-friendly controls. Perfect for experienced artists.

Lesson : runtime 10 hrs. 30 min.

Introduction and project overview
In this lesson we will go over the course objectives and highlight the tools and techniques we will be learning throughout this training.

Discussing the scene
In this lesson we will learn how the broken bone hierarchy is set up so we can begin rigging

Using the MEL window to easily access controls
In this lesson we will learn how to use MEL to create a window for our common rigging commands

Finishing the setup of the custom window
In this lesson we will learn how to program in our MEL procedures for our rigging tools

Starting the construction of the rig - rigging the feet
In this lesson we will learn how to create IK Handles and create joints for a reverse foot

Setting up the Reverse Lock feature
In this lesson we will learn how to use Point Constraints and Orient Constraints to connect our Reverse Foot and how to Mirror it to the other side

Using a unique concept for a foot control
In this lesson we will learn how to create a control object and joint for our foot control

Finishing the setup of the foot control
In this lesson we will learn how to use Joints and Parenting to connect our Reverse Foot to its control

Connecting the custom attributes for the feet
In this lesson we will learn how to use the Connection Editor to connect our attributes

Creating an improved Foot Bank rig
In this lesson we will learn how to use Joints to create a Foot Bank that works off the edges of the foot

Adding a stretchy feature to the legs
In this lesson we will learn how to use the Distance Tool and Expressions to create a stretchy leg

Continuing the stretchy limb setup
In this lesson we will learn how to use a Multiply Divide node to fix a scaling issue with our stretchy legs

Finishing the legs
In this lesson we will learn how to create an on/off switch for our stretchy leg using expressions

Starting on the spine
In this lesson we will learn how to create hip controls using a Parent Constraint and begin to create the spine controls

Using an advanced twist setup for the upper body
In this lesson we will learn how to use Parent Constraints to connect our Control Objects to the spine and change the Advanced Twist Controls for advanced twisting

Utlizing a concept for natural spine performance
In this lesson we will learn how to use Curve Clusters to create a more natural spine performace

Creating an extendible spine
In this lesson we will learn how to use a Multiply Divide node to create an extendible spine

Adding volume as the spine squashes and stretches
In this lesson we will learn how to use expressions to scale bones and create a graphical user interface to control squash and stretch

Connecting the Volume Interface Controls to influence the spine
In this lesson we will learn how to use Expressions to tie our Volume Interface Controls to our spine

Completing the Volume User Interface
In this lesson we will learn how to limit the translation of our control objects and create an attribute to control visibility

Utilizing a concept for Multi-Parent control objects
In this lesson we will learn how to add custom attributes and Set Driven Keys to create follow controls

The head control
In this lesson we will learn how to create control curves, add custom attributes to our controls and connect the rotation using the connection editor

Rigging the eyes
In this lesson we will learn how to create our eye controls and get them ready to connect to our geometry

Wrapping up the control for the eyes
In this lesson we will learn how to connect our eyes to the controls using Aim Constraints and create follow switches for the world and head

Setting up the hat
In this lesson we will learn how to create control objects for the hat and use a Parent constraint to connect it to our head control

Starting on the arms
In this lesson we will learn how to create control curves, connect our shoulder to them with an Orient Constraint, and create IK Handles for our arms

Creating the arm controls
In this lesson we will learn how to use an expression to keep our elbow rotated relative to our arm and create the rest of the control objects

Basic connections of the left arm
In this lesson we will learn how to use Point, Pole Vector and Parent constraints to connect the arm and how to use expressions to drive the forearm twist

Basic connections of the right arm
In this lesson we will learn how to use Point, Pole Vector and Parent constraints to connect the arm and how to use expressions to drive the forearm twist

Adding a stretchy arm feature
In this lesson we will learn how to add custom attributes, use the distance tool, the multiply divide node and expressions to create a stretchy arm

The Arm Follow Switch
In this lesson we will learn how to add custom attributes and Set Driven Keys to create follow controls

Rigging the fingers for a wide range of control
In this lesson we will learn how to create custom attributes and use the connection editor to connect them to the fingers

Finishing the fingers
In this lesson we will learn how to create a switch to control finger display

Establishing good rotation orders for control objects
In this lesson we will learn how to set our object rotation order to avoid issues later on

Modeling blend shapes
In this lesson we will learn how to create blendshapes using Duplicate and the Soft Mod Tool

Seamlessly mirroring blend shapes
In this lesson we will learn how to use a Wrap Deformer to mirror blendshapes

Efficient; user-friendly control for blend shapes
In this lesson we will learn how to create a control object and set limits on the transform

Finishing the setup of the facial control
In this lesson we will learn how to use Set Driven Keys to drive our Blendshapes

Pinning the loose assets to a bound mesh
In this lesson we will learn how to attach loose assets to a bound mesh using the Rivet script

Continuing the pinning process of assets on the Watchman's shirt
In this lesson we will learn how to attach loose assets to a bound mesh using the Rivet script

Completing the pinning process for the shirt
In this lesson we will learn how to attach loose assets to a bound mesh using the Rivet script

Pinning for the lower body and preparing the setup of the flashlight and keys
In this lesson we will learn how to use blendshapes to animate a clasp opening and attach loose assets to a bound mesh using the Rivet script

Creating a control for the flashlight and attaching it to the Watchman
In this lesson we will learn how to create attirbutes for our flashlight to follow the world or our hips controls

Controlling and animating the control of an object's pivot
In this lesson we will learn how to create a locator and the Connection editor to drive the flashlight

Finishing the flashlight
In this lesson we will learn how to connect our hand control to follow the flashlight

Beginning our work on the keys
In this lesson we will learn how to connect our keys to the character's hips

Adding custom attributes to manipulate the keys
In this lesson we will learn how to use custom attributes and Set Driven Keys to spread out the keys

Continuing the connections between keys and the custom attributes
In this lesson we will learn how to use custom attributes and Set Driven Keys to create key controls

Wrapping up the keys and creating character sets
In this lesson we will learn how to use Character Sets to easily animate our character

Creating a MEL window to quickly switch between each character set
In this lesson we will learn how to modify a MEL script to easily select our Character Sets

Finalizing the rig of the Watchman
In this lesson we will learn how to add all our attributes into their Character Sets

Conclusion
In this lesson we will go over the course objectives and highlight the tools and techniques we learned throughout this training.

Project Overview
In this lesson we will go over the course objectives and highlight the tools and techniques we will be learning throughout this training.

Adding display layers to organize the scene
In this lesson we will learn how to organize our scene using groups and display layers

Building the leg chains
In this lesson we will learn how to draw the leg joints

Creating the spine, neck, head, and jaw chains
In this lesson we will learn how to draw the spine, neck, head, and jaw joints

Creating the left shoulder and arm chain
In this lesson we will learn how to draw the arm and shoulder joints

Building joints for the left hand
In this lesson we will learn how to build joints for the hand

Mirroring the left arm and Parenting assets
In this lesson we will learn how to mirror our joints and organize our scene

Binding and editing the weights of belt, pants, and shoes
In this lesson we will learn how to bind and edit weights

Refining the deformations of the pants
In this lesson we will learn how to paint weights on the pants

Binding and weighting the neck, head, and jaw
In this lesson we will learn how to paint weights on the neck, head and jaw

Finalizing the jaw's deformations
In this lesson we will learn how to paint weights on the jaw

Skinning the upper body and blocking in its weights
In this lesson we will learn how to block in weights using the Component Editor

Fine-tuning the deformations of the torso
In this lesson we will learn how to block in weights using the Component Editor

Fixing the undershirt's deformations with corrective shapes
In this lesson we will learn how to create blendshapes for the shirt

Tweaking the forearm twist
In this lesson we will learn how to add arm twist using the Component Editor

Completing the shoulder's weights
In this lesson we will learn how to finish weighting the shoulder using the Component Editor

Binding and weighting the left hand
In this lesson we will learn how to paint finger weights

Modifying the deformations of the fingers
In this lesson we will learn how to paint finger weights

Finishing the fingers and mirroring the hand's weights
In this lesson we will learn how to save time by mirroring the finger weights

Setting up an influence object for the neck
In this lesson we will learn how to create an influence object for the neck

Creating Character Sets
In this lesson we will learn how to add our bones into Character Sets

Utilizing the Move Skinned Joints tool
In this lesson we will learn how to move joints after skinning using the Move Skinned Joints tool

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Digital Tutors - Cartoon Character Rigging in Maya

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