CSE 490 J- Character Pre-Production for 3D Animation

Assignment #6: Basic Rigging

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

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Save your file as "assignment6_control_rig" file type .ma

Part 1: Copy skin weights from your original gray model

1. Prepare the grey model for skin binding
   1. Select the mesh
   2. Freeze Transformations, Modify → Freeze Transformations
   3. Delete History, select the mesh, Edit → Delete All By Type → History
   4. Rename the model "grey_model"
   5. Delete any unused nodes in the scene using the Outliner or Hypergraph
      
      
2. Apply Smooth Bind
   1. Select the bind joints
      • Select center_root_bind_joint
      • Select Hierarchy, Edit → Select Hierarchy
      • Deselect the end null joints.  Use Ctrl-click to deselect them in the Outliner or Hypergraph
   2. Shift-select the grey model
   3. Go to the smooth bind options:  Skin → Bind Skin → Smooth Bind [options]
   4. Set the options to match the screenshot and press Apply
      
      
   5. After binding the model to the skeleton, DO NOT DELETE HISTORY!
      It will remove the skinCluster node added to your grey model and thus all of the weights.
3. Import your original grey model (the one with skin weights)
   1. File > Import... (browse for the maya file)
      1. Be sure to use namespaces in the import options
   2. Copy skin weights to your new costume grey model
      1. First, select the original grey model
      2. Next, multi-select the new costume grey model
         1. (press Shift in the scene or Ctrl in the outliner to multi-select)
      3. On the Rigging menu set, go to > Skin Copy Skin Weights [options]
         1. 
      4. Set the options like the screenshot above and press Apply
   3. Delete the imported original grey model
      1. Go to the Namespace Editor (on the Windows > General Editors menu)
      2. Select the imported namespace and press Delete (and Delete again in the pop-up dialog)

    

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   Part 2: Building the control rig

   1. Add IK to the right leg
      1. Activate the IK Handle tool
         • (Rigging Submenu) Skeleton → IK Handle Tool [options]
         • In the option window for the IK Handle tool, set Current Solver to "Rotate-Plane Solver"
      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"
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           • 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, Edit → 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
      • assignment6_control_rig.ma
   • Take a screenshot of your control rig in a 3/4 perspective view (similar to the example above)
     • assignment6_control_rig.png or .jpg

   
   

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   For this assignment we will be checking to make sure that the following things are present in your submission:

   NOTE: 2 points will be subtracted for incorrect file names and formats

   Criteria	Achievement Level
   	Achievement Level 1	Achievement Level 2	Achievement Level 3	Achievement Level 4
   Control Rig assignment6_control_rig.ma	80 points: (0-1 incorrect) Rig has controls for IK feet and pole vector knees for both left and right sides. Controls are on a display layer. Outliner is clean and organized.	78 points: (2-4 incorrect) Rig has controls for IK feet and pole vector knees for both left and right sides. Controls are on a display layer. Outliner is clean and organized.	75 points: (5+ incorrect) Rig has controls for IK feet and pole vector knees for both left and right sides. Controls are on a display layer. Outliner is clean and organized.	0 points: files were missing
   Screenshots assignment6_control_rig.png or .jpg	20 points: (0-1 incorrect) Screenshot shows the control rig in 3/4 perspective view and includes foot and knee controls.	18 points: (2-4 incorrect) Screenshot shows the control rig in 3/4 perspective view and includes foot and knee controls.	15 points: (5+ incorrect) Screenshot shows the control rig in 3/4 perspective view and includes foot and knee controls.	0 points: files were missing

   Turning in your files

   Like last time you will be turning your files into Canvas. For this assignment, please turn in the following:

   1. assignment6_control_rig.ma
   2. assignment6_control_rig.png or .jpg

   Your assignment is due Wednesday, August 14 at 9:00 PM.