CSE 464 - Character Pre-Production for 3D Animation

Assignment #7: Basic Rigging

Start from the finished gray model scene from the last assignment.

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Save your file as "assignment7_control_rig" file type .ma

  1. Add IK to the right leg
    1. Activate the IK Handle tool
      • (Rigging Submenu) Skeleton → Create IK Handle [options]
      • In the option window for the IK Handle tool, set Current Solver to "ikRPsolver"
    2. Click on right_upperleg_bind_joint
    3. Then, click on right_foot_bind_joint
    4. Notice that the IK handle is now created
      • Name the IK handle "right_foot_ik"
      • You can select and translate the IK handle to test it out (be sure to undo and get it back to the original position)

  2. Create the right knee pole vector control
    1. Create a locator, Create → Locator
    2. Name the locator "right_knee_pv_ctrl"
    3. In the Channel Box, set Local Scale X, ,Y and Z to 10
    4. Position the locator in front of the right knee
      • Parent the locator to the knee
        • Select right_knee_pv_ctrl, shift-select right_lowerleg_bind_joint, press "p"
      • Set translate and rotate on the locator to zero in the Channel Box
      • Move the locator forward in parent space
        • Double-click the Move Tool button in the toolbox to bring up the Move Tool options
        • Set Axis Orientation to "Parent"
        • Move the locator out to match the position in the screenshot
        • Unparent the knee pole vector control.  Select right_knee_pv_ctrl, press "shift-p"
    5. Create the pole vector constraint
      • Select right_knee_pv_ctrl
      • Shift-select the right_foot_ik
      • (Rigging submenu) Constrain → Pole Vector

  3. Create the right foot control
    1. Create a NURBS circle, Create → NURBS Primitives → Circle
    2. Name it "right_foot_ctrl"
    3. Align it to the foot joint
      • Parent it to the foot joint: select right_foot_ctrl, shift-select right_foot_bind_joint, press "p"
      • Zero out translate and rotate in the Channel Box
      • Unparent the foot control: select right_foot_ctrl, press "shift-p"
    4. Scale the foot control up so it can be easily selected
    5. Freeze Transformations on the foot control
      • Select right_foot_ctrl
      • Modify → Freeze Transformations
    6. Add a point constraint from the foot control to the IK handle
      • Select right_foot_ctrl
      • Shift-select right_foot_ik
      • Constrain → Point Constraint
    7. Add an orient constraint from the foot control to the foot joint
      • Select right_foot_ctrl
      • Shift-select right_foot_bind_joint
      • Constrain → Orient Constraint (Options)
      • In the Orient Constraint options box make sure "Maintain offset" is checked, then hit apply.
    8. Lock rotate channels on the right foot joint
      • Select right_foot_bind_joint
      • In the Channel Box, highlight the names of the attributes, Rotate X, Y, and Z
      • Right-click the highlighted attribute names
      • Click "Lock Selected"

  4. Repeat steps 1-3 for the left leg

  5. Add the rig controls to a layer
    1. Select right and left foot and knee controls
    2. In the Layer Editor, go to Layers → Create Layer from Selected
    3. Double-click the new layer to open the Layer Editor window
      • Name the layer "rig_ctrls_lyr"
      • Choose yellow for the layer color

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  6. Group the rig controls in the Outliner
    1. Create the top level rig group
      • With nothing selected, press “Ctrl-g” to create an empty group null node
      • Name the empty group “<character_name>_all” (for example, “sly_all”)
    2. Create the rig controls group
      • Select right and left foot and knee controls and the skeleton root joint
      • Press "Ctrl-g"
      • Name the group "ctrls_grp"
      • Parent ctrls_grp to the all group
        • Select ctrls_grp
        • Shift-select the all group
        • Press “p”
    3. Create the “do not touch” group
      • Select right_foot_ik
      • Shift-select left_leg_ik
      • Press “Ctrl-g”
      • Name the group “do_not_touch”
      • Parent do_not_touch to the all group
        • Select do_not_touch
        • Shift-select the all group
        • Press “p”
    4. Create the skins group
      • Select the gray model mesh (make sure the mesh has a name like “gray_model”)
      • Press “Ctrl-g”
      • Name the group “skins_grp”
      • Parent skins_grp to the all group
        • Select skins_grp
        • Shift-select the all group
        • Press “p”

  7. Create a Quick Select Set for your rig controls
    1. Select center_root_bind_joint
    2. Select Hierarchy, Select → Hierarchy
    3. Shift-select the foot and knee controls (Note: If you're doing this through the Outliner, Ctrl-select instead. Shift-select will just select all of the garbage inbetween.)
    4. Create a Quick Select Set, Create → Sets → Quick Select Set
      • In the pop-up dialog box, enter the name <character_name>_rig_controls. (for example, “sam_rig_controls”)
      • Tip: You can click "Add To Shelf" to create a button on the shelf to select everything in the quick select set.

  8. Clean up the control rig scene
    1. Delete any unused nodes from the scene hierarchy in the Outliner.  
    2. At this point, your Outliner should look similar to this.  
      • Note, DAG sibling order is not important.  This is the order in which nodes appear relative to their parent.  As long as the parent is correct, that’s all we care about.


      Collapsed Outliner
      Expanded Outliner

  9. Save your file
    • assignment7_control_rig.ma


Turning in your files

Like last time you will be turning your files into Collect-It on catalyst. For this assignment, turn in the following:

  1. assignment7_control_rig.ma (Part 2)
  2. screenshot of your control rig from a 3/4 perspective view.

Your assignment is due Thursday 8/11 at 5:00 PM.