Maya Rigging Research 1

I found these two beginner YouTube tutorials that go over the basics of rigging and setting up a character rig:

• Basics of rigging by Academic Phoenix Plus
• Quick rigging and skinning by Maya Learning Channel
  
• Adding hand joints to the quick rig by Maya Learning Channel
  

The first video is effective in teaching the very basics of rigging and is very thorough in its explanations. The other two videos give a step-by-step on how to rig a character (using Maya's quick rig as a base) which I will probably follow quite closely. The last video also details how to save skin weights which will be useful if (more likely when) I need to adjust the mesh.

Notes from Tutorials:

FK = forward kinematics

IK = inverse kinematics

Switch from the Modeling menu set to Rigging

    Joints

Skeleton > Create Joints > Tool Settings

    A joint's radius is scaled to its length but they can be made consistent in the settings by making the "Short bone radius" and "Long bone radius" the same (0.5 in the tut).

    This can also just be adjusted in the Attribute Editor. To select all joints, they'll need to be selected from the Outliner.

Turn on Projected Centering to have the joints (roughly) centred within the mesh

Skeleton > Mirror Joints

yz axis

Rename left/right

Make sure to create the joints in an orthographic view rather than perspective.

Joints are based on a parent-child relationship (joint chain). 

x points towards child.

To move a joint alone without effecting its children, move the pivot point (d).

Keep joints inside the mesh.

Remember to name things properly. "jnt" for joints. Have them numbered down the chain.

    In the first tut, she goes to Modify > Search and Replace Names... and replaces "joint"/default item name, with the proper name.

    In the other tuts, he renames the first of the chain, then copies and pastes this.

Animators should not touch the joints at all. They animate using controllers.

    Controllers

Controllers are made using circles from the Curves shelf.

Snap them to the joints using "v" + middle mouse

Create the parent-child relationships in the Outliner. Either middle click and drag, or select both objects and press "p".

Freeze Transform and Delete History after the controllers have been made.

Constrain > Parent

This works like parenting but is only an influence so things don't need to be parented directly.

Make sure Maintain Offset is on in the settings.

Constrain-parent the joints to the controllers one by one by selecting both in the Outliner.

    Hiding

In the first tut, she sets everything up for the animators. 

    Hide the joints in a layer to make things cleaner and the joints unselectable. Name "DO_NOT_TOUCH_jnts" or something

    Group the joints in the Outliner. Also name "DO_NOT_TOUCH_grp" or something.

    Lock and hide all transforms in the attribute editor for the group.

    Lock and hide the scale and invisibility translate tools for the controllers.

    Quick Rigging

Make sure you're in the Rigging menu set.

Skeleton > Quick Rig

Clicking "Auto Rig" will give a flawed rig. Using Step-By-Step gives more control.

Create a new character definition (+ icon).

Select Step-By-Step.

1) Select the mesh and click the second + icon, under the "1) Geometry" tab.

2) Default guide settings are usually fine. Click create.

3) Adjust the joint locations and mirror them.

4) Skeleton Settings: T-Stance Correction will be enabled by default. This makes importing animations onto the model easier. Make sure "Skeleton and Control Rig" is selected. Click create.

5) The skinning step can be put off until after further joints are created (such as for the hands and feet)

    Constrain-parenting head features

To have the head features move along with the head, have them placed in one group and set the pivot point to the head joint (v to snap), 

then constrain-parent the group to the head joint.

The head needs to be weighted properly (all 100% white).

    Linking Finger Joints to the HumanIK

Open the HumanIK editor

HumanIK hides bones by default since they aren't meant to be touched, but they can be displayed by toggling the skeleton button.

Open the Definition tab

Select and drag the finger join chains into the (left or right) wrist joint in the Outliner. 

In the HIK editor, link the finger joints by selecting a joint on the editor, then selecting the corresponding joint in the model. 

Lock the definition, then regenerate the controls.

    Skin Weighting

Skin > Paint Skin Weight

White (full opacity and value) = fully influenced by the joint

Black (0 opacity and value) = not influenced at all

Lock weighting for each joint when done.

Back up skin weighting by selecting the mesh, then

    Skin > Export Weight Maps 

    Increase the resolution in the settings: 512 x 512

This is useful for when I may need to adjust the mesh or the joints. 

Additional videos for later steps and extra learning:

• Copy skin weights for clothes by Daniel Arata
  
• FK vs IK by Doodley