Quick Rigging Solution?
I have a character that needs rigging but I don't know how to construct a rig. I tried to rig my character by dling a simple one online, and deleting the geometry but my skin doesnt bind properly. Also the controls for the arms are grayed out. Im using Maya. Is there a simple rigging solution for someone who just wants to animate their character?
Replies
I think it would be best if you read some maya tutorials on how to construct a rig and do it yourself. A good animator needs to know how rigs work.
edit: I do know how to skin weights.
i would give abrig a try http://www.supercrumbly.com/archives.php?sid=173
nevertheless you should give yourself a basic knowledge of rigging. these tutorials are really good for beginners http://www.digitaltutors.com/store/product.php?productid=3436&cat=96&page=1 or character based http://www.digitaltutors.com/store/product.php?productid=1292&cat=96&page=1
hope this helped a little
time and patience and the inbuilt maya tuts will probably help and a lot of experimentation
Pros
They are very thorough, explain every step in detail and explain it very clearly.
The rig built in the dvd is a complete one, rather than different dvds tackling different aspects in detail. While the rig created with that dvd isn't really high tech, it is a very balanced one in terms of complexity.
Cons
While they discuss each aspect they deal with in detail, they (just like any other rigging tutorial I've ever seen) fail to mention the thinking that should go behind rigging. In the long term it's a lot more useful to develop a sense of why you're actually building the rig the way you do (and get it accustomed to your needs as an animator), rather than assume the digital tutors rig is a good one...
...which brings me on to the next point, I personally think the rig as they create it is really terrible, and so did everybody in my class who tried replicating it. Even in the videos it's clear that the rig isn't entirely solid and especially the controls for the spine are horrid.
This dvd is in my opinion pretty far from being worth 45 bucks. The introduction might be, since it probably covers all of the obvious in a very clear way, but the character setup one is a waste. Rigging often seems complex but when starting out it's actually pretty straightforward. Just keep it simple, and don't try doing more complex stuff once you totally understand what you've learned from previous tutorials...
Good luck if you're going to try and learn how to rig. There is no easy way really, as even using premade setups and rig can be horribly frustrating.
Outside of TSM2 you're stuck on the long road of learning how to rig.
Over the last 2 months in my spare time, I've been teaching myself how to rig animate in Maya. Lack of a standardized base rig is something that bugs me about Maya. I come to Maya from 3dsmax using PupetShop and Biped so I expected a comparable rig set up I could tweak and pick apart all the while learning how the animation tools worked without getting bogged down in the technical rigging aspect of things until I was ready. But it was very much a no go until I started using TSM2. I'm sure at some point in the future I'll dive into the technical side of rigging and love it, but for now, learning how the package operates as a whole, is near impossible without a standard rig to work off of.
Maybe its the way I learn that's the problem? I like to get a good overview and then go back over the weak parts. But I couldn't get a good overview until I started using TSM2. Without it I was stuck laboring on a rig I wasn't really sure would do what I needed it to...
Long story short: Check out The Setup Machine2 its a good base to start from until you can find the time to really dig into rigging.