Here’s the most basic of animation rigs in Maya. A good starting point for those new to rigging. With no control curves just joints we can still animate with rigs like this though super cut down. Very simple fk joint setup for the upperbody and ik legs. Enough to get started and skim to see what rigging’s about.

Skinning Fundamentals in Maya. We’ll cover the main tools like assigning skin weights, the paint weights tool and component editor, and the editing of skinning in general. Lots of advanced tips on this page too using the regular Maya skinning tools.

Joints the most fundamental node in rigging is a good one to understand completely. First we look at pivot placement in characters which is one of the most crucial elements of rigging. Then we’ll see how to create joints with the correct alignment, a very fundamental rigging page.

One of the most frustrating aspects of rigging is rotations. Unfortunately rotations aren’t as easy or as intuitive as they might seem, so this class explains the important are of Euler Rotations otherwise known as Gimbal Rotations. We’ll see why this method is popular with animators and how it works, it’s downsides and potential workarounds and fixes.

We’ll look at curve controls in this page. Controls make it easier for the animators to use and there’s a variety of setups we can use since there’s no specific control type in Maya. There’s a few things to remember. Once we’ve built a number of curve controls the process can be very easy and is scriptable for automation later too.

This class covers the use of the channel box, adding new attributes and how they can help us. Then we use what we’ve learned so far to create a Reverse Foot rig setup. This is the standard foot setup in any human leg and comes with a few interesting tricks to learn.

Now we’ll discover spline IK. This is how we get joints to move like curves such and tails, tentacles, hair, rope and spines. We’ll take a look at clusters which are objects that drive the cv points on the curves and we’ll make a simple spine setup.

Now we can build a full rig with a few more features than the rig in week one. This class takes us through the process of creating a more advanced rig. There’s a lot to keep track of here but it’s great to see that we can now put it all together and create a more production ready rig. Although this rig is still simple we’re really starting to get into rigging here.

This class takes us down the rabbit hole into the core of Maya Rigging by touching on nodes which will start to allow us to have a lot more control in a variety of situations. We’ll also discover aim constraints and create a IK FK switch setup.

Blendshapes are key to deformation in Maya and allow us as artists full control over the shapes we’d like to hit in our posing and facial animation. This class covers the fundamentals of how blendshapes work in Maya, the key elements we need to know so we can get started with having full control over our deformation and character meshes.

An old page but still a good one that goes into the manual methods used to create corrective blendshapes. Correctives can help us sculpt deformation based on the poses of characters to work around skinning issues so we can control the look of poses on characters. This has now been replaced by the Braverabbit SHAPES plugin but some good foundations to explore in this class.

In the last page of this series we’ll talk a little bit about Pose Space Deformers which are used with corrective blendshapes to get around gimbal issues in the deformation of our characters. Then we’ll move onto a quick look at how autoriggers have really changed the way we rig. Giving us access to a lot of advanced features at the click of a button. A must have for those who want to rig characters easily without the tedious setup times required in rigging.

Referencing enables us to update our rigs without loosing animation. This class covers how referencing works and how to set it up in Maya with correct project directories and folder structures. We’ll take a look how we can update the rig whilst maintaining animated scenes. A must know for animators and riggers.

Fish and some creatures especially those underwater can look quite realistic simply animated along splines. This video shows us how we can set this up using a simple fk chain and motion paths. Of course this setup would require a more detailed setup for offsets etc but this will get us a long way there and very simply too, great for background fish.

Build a full rig with controls ready for a basic production rig. This class takes us through the full setup of the rig and controls, including ik/fk switching and spline ik. There’s a lot to keep track of here but it’s great to see that we can now put it all together and create a more production ready rig. Although this rig is still simple we’re really starting to get into rigging here.

This class explores a simple yet powerful “triple jaw setup” that’s easy to understand and gives animators a lot of control when combined with facial blendshapes. Three pivots are use for the jaw instead of the usual one. With clever skinning and a nice parenting structure we can easily create a jaw and mouth setup that’s easy to use and powerful.

We’ll find out how to rig a realistic eye in this class. This version is a very simple setup that supports full automatic lid follow and blinks and will work on a wide variety of characters with rounded eye balls, creatures too. We’ll build the eye rig manually but later we can grab the Drag And Drop Face Rig which is a fully customisable version of this setup with a few extra bells and whistles that can be setup in a few minutes.

This class covers the setup of an eye lash and eye brow rig. We’ll use follicles which is the easy solution to what can be a difficult task. Ordinarily eyelashes and brows are tricky because we may have extra skinned geo following those areas, it’s difficult to maintain volumes in some of these areas. But with the follicle setup we can do this easily, though there are some little tricks along the way.

Shoulder twist is a suprisingly tricky area to get our heads around. And due to issues regarding euler/gimbal rotations we can experience a lot of nasty flipping issues trying to automate twist. Luckily there’s a couple of work arounds. This class will explore a solution using spline ik that’s compatible with bendy arms. While this setup will still flip at 180 roll it’s rarely a problem in most rig setups.

This class will show you how to setup Rapid Rig Modular for bipeds. We’ll find out how RRM works and delete the head as the “neck top” joint is actually the head jnt. Add twist joints and learn how to tweak the fingers and place pivots. Finally we’ll skin the mesh and custom some skin sets for easy tweaking later.

Skinning Fundamentals in Maya. We’ll cover the main tools like assigning skin weights, the paint weights tool and component editor, and the editing of skinning in general. Lots of advanced tips on this page too using the regular Maya skinning tools.

In this class we’ll get more into the preferred skinning workflows in Maya. We’ll use a few scripts to really get the most out of Maya’s skinning functionality and explore the more advanced topics of rigging. Copy skinning between meshes, between topology, using the magic smooth skin tool. Lores to Hires mesh workflow, heat and geodesic skinning and more.

This class will really free up the rigging process by allowing us to rebuild rigs quickly. Mistakes and tests will always find little issues with our rigs. So we need to be able to rebuild fast and be able to go back to the Rapid Rig Modular proxies and tweak pivots/number of joints etc. This class supports the rebuilding of rigs whilst maintaining skinning, blendshapes and the drag and drop facial rig as well.

In this class we’ll explore how to build fk joint chains with curve controls. We cover 3 different workflows and focus in on shape parenting which has a very fast setup using the cgMonks Toolkit. We’ll also cover follicles where we’re able to parent controls to vertices on meshes for appendages and clothing which is handy in certain circumstances. The first half of the class we’ll learn how to build everything manual, then we’ll find how we can build the controls easily with off the shelf scripts. In the last part we demo rigging an entire character in fk and then replacing the legs with some ik to show that whole characters can be rigged with this method as well, although the rig might be super simple it’s possible to rig this way.

This class will explore corrective blendshapes for deformation with the Braverabbit SHAPES 2.0 plugin. We’ll explore all sorts of correctives targeted at body deformation, with both automatic driven key setups and “pose space deformation” known in SHAPES as “weighted drivers”. We’ll also quickly cover “animation finaling” a technique that can be a lifesaver in jobs that need to get out the door fast. SHAPES has a free personal learning edition so you’ll be able to get started easily.

This class is a short class on how to reuse skinning to skin other bipeds very quickly. We’ll use a modded skeleton and transfer the skin weights from this lo res mesh onto our new characters. Be sure to be familiar with Rapid Rig Modular and skinning workflows before watching this class.

This class explores a simple yet powerful “triple jaw setup” that’s easy to understand and gives animators a lot of control when combined with facial blendshapes. Three pivots are use for the jaw instead of the usual one. With clever skinning and a nice parenting structure we can easily create a jaw and mouth setup that’s easy to use and powerful.

We’ll find out how to rig a realistic eye in this class. This version is a very simple setup that supports full automatic lid follow and blinks and will work on a wide variety of characters with rounded eye balls, creatures too. We’ll build the eye rig manually but later we can grab the Drag And Drop Face Rig which is a fully customisable version of this setup with a few extra bells and whistles that can be setup in a few minutes.

This page contains The Drag And Drop Face Rig a simple yet powerful facial rig designed to work with a blendshape system. This is a super easy rig to setup, simply drag and drop it onto your Maya scene, place the pivots and tweak as desired using the rigs attributes. Joints will drive the eyes and “the triple jaw joint” setup and then we’ll add a blendshape system for full facial control.

This class covers the setup of an eye lash and eye brow rig. We’ll use follicles which is the easy solution to what can be a difficult task. Ordinarily eyelashes and brows are tricky because we may have extra skinned geo following those areas, it’s difficult to maintain volumes in some of these areas. But with the follicle setup we can do this easily, though there are some little tricks along the way.

In this class we’ll explore blendshape facial setup with brave rabbit’s SHAPES 2.0 plugin that is a must have tool for blendshape facial setup. SHAPES makes it easy to do a lot of complicated tasks such as driven key correctives, sculpting shapes, tweaking and mirroring, editing renaming and managing all of our shapes. SHAPES 2.0 also goes much deeper but we’ll save those features for another class. SHAPES comes with a free personal learning edition so it’s easy to get started.

Zoo Tools is a powerful set of animation and rigging tools. ZooTools comes with a Auto Rigger, Anim Pose Library, Skinning Tools, Dynamics and Mirroring Functionality, Space Switching among much much more. Zoo Tools is a commercial rigging and animation tools solution perfect for small companies and individuals, it can also be modded and is raw and acceessible in python for TDs.

Create this fantastically lightweight biped rig fast with this proxy setup that builds ZooTools rigs effortlessly. Easy joint placement, rig rebuild, curve control setup and customisation. The rig comes with full space switching capabilities and comes complete with trigger UI selector. And we’ll quickly cover skinning and customisation too.

Build custom controls with simple FK chains for assorted parts of your character like hair, face, clothes and other appendages. We’ll use the information from the custom controls page to quickly build controls manually and learn how we can easily parent them to the ZooTools rig.

brave rabbit’s SHAPES plugin enables us to create and edit blendshapes fast with an amazing amount of control. But before we jump in the deep end it’s worth going over a few key aspects of this plugin, learning how to use some of the manual features so if things go wrong we can repair and fix our files. Best to watch this page first before beginning.

In this class we’ll explore blendshape facial setup with brave rabbit’s SHAPES 2.0 plugin that is a must have tool for blendshape facial setup. SHAPES makes it easy to do a lot of complicated tasks such as driven key correctives, sculpting shapes, tweaking and mirroring, editing renaming and managing all of our shapes. SHAPES 2.0 also goes much deeper but we’ll save those features for another class. SHAPES comes with a free personal learning edition so it’s easy to get started.

This class will explore corrective blendshapes for deformation with the Braverabbit SHAPES 2.0 plugin. We’ll explore all sorts of correctives targeted at body deformation, with both automatic driven key setups and “pose space deformation” known in SHAPES as “weighted drivers”. We’ll also quickly cover “animation finaling” a technique that can be a lifesaver in jobs that need to get out the door fast. SHAPES has a free personal learning edition so you’ll be able to get started easily.

This class will show you how to setup Rapid Rig Modular for bipeds. We’ll find out how RRM works and delete the head as the “neck top” joint is actually the head jnt. Add twist joints and learn how to tweak the fingers and place pivots. Finally we’ll skin the mesh and custom some skin sets for easy tweaking later.

This class will really free up the rigging process by allowing us to rebuild rigs quickly. Mistakes and tests will always find little issues with our rigs. So we need to be able to rebuild fast and be able to go back to the Rapid Rig Modular proxies and tweak pivots/number of joints etc. This class supports the rebuilding of rigs whilst maintaining skinning, blendshapes and the drag and drop facial rig as well.

This class is a short class on how to reuse skinning to skin other bipeds very quickly. We’ll use a modded skeleton and transfer the skin weights from this lo res mesh onto our new characters. Be sure to be familiar with Rapid Rig Modular and skinning workflows before watching this class.