Orientation of Rig Handles

recronin · Mar 2016

Hi,
Sorry if I posted this in the wrong forum - please delete this if so. It's been many years since I've done any animations and I want to get back into it.

I've already gone through the process of rigging, skinning and orienting joints, but the question I have is if the rig handles actually need to be oriented in the same way as the joint it's controlling. If it does, could you explain how to do this? I haven't come across any solution.

Here is a screenshot of what I mean - the joint (where the rotation handle is) has the correct orientation, but the rig handle is based on the world and I'm unable to change this.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/mc/hhoavu2hzuf4.png

Thanks!

KielFiggins · Mar 2016

-Group the control shape, name it ..._Adjust (the Adjust and Control should have the same pivot now)
-parentConstraint the _Adjust to the joint without offset (this aligns the Adjust to the Joint)
-delete the parent constraint (now you can put this in your rig hierarchy)
-constrain the joint to the control shape (since the transforms and alignment is on the Adjust, the values will be zero)

Good luck,

slipsius · Mar 2016

Yup, What Kiel said. I also have a script that does it. It's python. Just plug it into your script editor, then, create a control, name it and orient it how you want it to be zero'd out. with the control selected, run the script

 maya.cmds as cmds<br> 
#Creates a selection array with every object selected<br>selection = cmds.ls(sl=True)<br> 
 
for object in selection:<br> 
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;#creates an empty group (em=1) and names it (n=)<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;secondObj = cmds.group(em=1, n=("PvtGrp_" + object))<br> 
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;#Copies selected objects translate and rotate&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;start_Pos = cmds.xform(object, q=True, ws=True, rp=True)<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;rotX = cmds.getAttr(object + ".rotateX")<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;rotY = cmds.getAttr(object + ".rotateY")<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;rotZ = cmds.getAttr(object + ".rotateZ")<br> 
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;#Moves the group to the position of the control, and gives it the controls rotation<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;cmds.move(start_Pos[0], start_Pos[1], start_Pos[2], secondObj)<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;cmds.setAttr(secondObj + ".rotateX", rotX)<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;cmds.setAttr(secondObj + ".rotateY", rotY)<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;cmds.setAttr(secondObj + ".rotateZ", rotZ)<br> 
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;#Parent the control under the new group<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;cmds.parent(object, secondObj)<br> 
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;cmds.makeIdentity(object, apply=True)import

recronin · Mar 2016

Hi Kiel and Slipsius,
Thank you very much for your help. This works beautifully.

edit: removed an error I made

Orientation of Rig Handles

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