Maya Tutorials -- Rigging for Animation

Tutorial: Page (7) of 7 - 01/28/04

Maya Tutorials -- Rigging for Animation Tips and techniques to help improve your workflow To summarize, here?s the final list of tips:

Using Different Resolutions
Having different resolutions of the character you are working with can dramatically increase the speed of your rig.

Less is More
Keeping your controls to a minimum and your functionality to a maximum can greatly increase animator performance.

Lock and Hide
Any channels that will not be keyed by an animator for movement should be locked and hidden.

Expressions Are Evil
Expressions are bad; instead consider using a utility node in its place. This will keep things running smoothly.

Prevent Counter Animation
Counter animation can slow an animator down.

Clean Your Scene
No one wants to dig through your mess -- clean up after yourself.

If you follow each tip, you?ll probably end up with a pretty fast rig. For the experienced animator, these might seem like common tips that everyone should follow. Unfortunately, these are answers to questions that are frequently asked. For those smaller studios out there that might not have a structured pipeline setup, this might be a good start for helping your production process speed up. And if you?re working on your own project at home, following these steps might save you time later in your production process. Just remember to pay attention to what you are doing, and keep track of the details. That?s what rigging is all about.

Final Rig Ex. 1 (Click for larger view)

Joe Harkins is a Creature TD at Tippett Studio currently working on Hellboy. Most recently he wrapped up work on Matrix: Revolutions. His background includes rigging and animation for film and broadcast. You can find out more information about Joe on his website http://www.creaturetd.com.

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