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Rigging Techniques: Cartoon to Realistic

An 8-week course focused on advanced rigging techniques that can be applied to cartoony or creature rigs alike to help you take your rigging skills to the next level

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Course overview Course overview

Course Overview

Build cartoony or realistic rigs

This course is intended to not just click buttons and follow the path that Maya lays out, but deep into the different nodes that Maya has and see how we can use this to our advantage to create flexible rigs. At the end of the course the students should have a good understanding of how data flows through Maya and how they can manipulate this. In addition they will have solid ideas and techniques for building and maintaining rigs for production.

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Course Format:   Standard
Lecture Type:   Pre-recorded
Feedback:   Live in Q&A sessions
Duration:   8 weeks
Assignment:   Deadlines each week
Q&A:   Once a week
Materials:   Maya (ideally 2020 but older versions ,back to 2016, will work)
Skills level:   Advanced
Prerequisites:   Students should be able to rig a biped in Maya and have some basic scripting understanding with either MEL or Python. Python will be used in the course. Course Recommendations: Rigging for Games, Python for VFX and Animation

Rigging Techniques: Cartoon to Realistic WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

What you'll learn

The more you know, the better.

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Making a basic biped rig with FK/IK blending | Basic scripting with either MEL or Python | Using the node editor
What makes an advanced rig? | Analyzing some existing rigs and the rig for the course | Model pose and topology considerations for rigging | Joint placement | Naming convention for this course | Modular rigging (break it down) | Intro to vector and matrix math | Look at new offset matrix on Maya nodes
DG TheoryUtility/math nodes | Creating and using nodes directly VS using Maya command/buttons | Orig shapes Model update with orig shapes | MA files | Scripts folder in Maya install
Making rig more animator friendly | Separating parts of rig. Face, Body, Deformation | Connecting rigs together | Speed modes | Low rig version | Managing the visibility of controls | Presenting work
Building a more advanced spine | How many joints do I need? | IK ribbon spine | Squash and stretch spine | Volume preservation and color­-feedback | FK spine with variable controls | Reverse FK spine
Advancing the legs and arms | Squash and stretch limbs | Split knee and split elbow | Shoulder blade setup | Building a native Maya pose reader | Looking at Brave Rabbit RBF | Auto clavicle | Bendy limbs
Deformations | Looking at edgeflow and topology | Weights painting workflow | Building a low-res cage for skinning and wrap | Rough to decent skinning | Corrective shapes | Pose­-based deformation | Relative tweaks
Anatomy and muscles | Muscles discussion | Faking muscles | Dynamics in rigging | Soft bodies and dynamic curves | Delayed animation ctrls
Testing the rig | Picking three (extreme) poses | Make sure all is working and ready for anim | Creating a script to reset all the control back to default | Reel advice
Instructor

Taking your skills to the next level.

TBA / TBA

Lectures by TBA

To be determined.

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COURSE BEGINS

July 11th!

spring TERM Registration

Feb 10, 2020 - Apr 29, 2020

Only

$699

COURSE BEGINS

July 11th!

Pricing & Schedule

Even though our courses are the most affordable for the quality of education.

These Finance Options allow you to focus on your goals instead of the barriers that keep you from reaching them.

Employer Reimbursement

Animation Guild CSATTF

Payment Plan

Companies that hire our students

  • Naughty Dog
  • Luma Pictures
  • Google
  • EA Games
  • DreamWorks Animation
  • Blizzard Entertainment

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