Biped is a fairly closed system that can animate bipedal characters, it has some support for quadrupeds but there are other tools that are much better and more flexible. Biped is rock solid because it operates inside of a set range of parameters. It knows what it can do and refuses to do anything it can't. It is also insanely easy to set up and animate if you work how it wants you to work.
A custom rig is much more flexible. You can rig anything but it requires a lot more knowledge to set up and maintain. There are a lot of different ways to build the same systems and just because you can stack all of the furniture in the room to change a light bulb doesn't means it's the best way, so it pays to know a lot about rigging if you're going to custom rig it. Custom rigs are more prone to break and a lot of things that animators take for granted and expect, aren't all that easy to create. You can be certain that they will want it to do more later on and expect everything to be backwards compatible and rock solid.
It's not which one is superior to the other, it's which one does what you need with the least fuss. When you're making rigging choices it helps to apply a little project management:
There are three kinds of service, Good, Cheap and Fast, you can pick any two.
Good & cheap, won't be fast.
Good & fast, won't be cheap.
Fast & cheap won't be good.
As for auto rigging, if you make some scripts that speed up a long tedious process, which also makes them more stable and predictable (less human error) that's a huge win for you, you are doing good work cheaply and fast. But if those scripts hamstring you in a way that forces you out of other options, then it might bite you in the ass later.
In general with most machines the less moving parts the easier it is to maintain. Don't fall into the trap of thinking more complicated is always better. Most of the time that just means it is more likely to break in unexpected and unpredictable ways.
I have that book. It's good, but you really need to have a decent understanding of rigging to get the most out of it.
Digital Tutors offers some good starting points.
When I started learning to build rigs I went that route, but in hindsight, learning the Biped system first and then building on that, probably would have smoothed the learning curve.
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For free you can "look inside" this book and read about "Custom Rigs vs Auto Riggers". Decent little write up about it with pros/cons.
Which one is best simply comes down to what you want to do of course.
But if you want to specialise in rigging, then you should aim to be very knowledgeable with both methods.
A custom rig is much more flexible. You can rig anything but it requires a lot more knowledge to set up and maintain. There are a lot of different ways to build the same systems and just because you can stack all of the furniture in the room to change a light bulb doesn't means it's the best way, so it pays to know a lot about rigging if you're going to custom rig it. Custom rigs are more prone to break and a lot of things that animators take for granted and expect, aren't all that easy to create. You can be certain that they will want it to do more later on and expect everything to be backwards compatible and rock solid.
It's not which one is superior to the other, it's which one does what you need with the least fuss. When you're making rigging choices it helps to apply a little project management:
As for auto rigging, if you make some scripts that speed up a long tedious process, which also makes them more stable and predictable (less human error) that's a huge win for you, you are doing good work cheaply and fast. But if those scripts hamstring you in a way that forces you out of other options, then it might bite you in the ass later.
In general with most machines the less moving parts the easier it is to maintain. Don't fall into the trap of thinking more complicated is always better. Most of the time that just means it is more likely to break in unexpected and unpredictable ways.
Digital Tutors offers some good starting points.
When I started learning to build rigs I went that route, but in hindsight, learning the Biped system first and then building on that, probably would have smoothed the learning curve.