3ds Max: Character Rigging
3h 46mIntermediate2014-08-12
Authors
George Maestri
Animation Director and Producer
Course details
3ds Max is a powerful 3D application with great rigging tools. This course covers the complete workflow for rigging characters for realistic motion and animation. Author George Maestri shows how to prep your model, draw a skeleton, and add controls: foot and leg controls, hip and spine controls, and controls that allow the animator to toggle between inverse and forward kinematics (IK/FK). Plus, learn to how to skin your character, and create hand and face rigs that allow for greater control over delicate hand movements and facial expressions.
Learning objectives
Setting up layers
Drawing and positioning bones in the skeleton
Rigging foot controls
Creating hip and spine controls
Setting up IK and FK skeleton controls
Wiring the IK/FK switch
Rigging hands
Skinning characters
Setting up single- and multiple-axis face controls
Learning objectives
Setting up layers
Drawing and positioning bones in the skeleton
Rigging foot controls
Creating hip and spine controls
Setting up IK and FK skeleton controls
Wiring the IK/FK switch
Rigging hands
Skinning characters
Setting up single- and multiple-axis face controls
Skills covered
RiggingCharacter Animation3ds Max3D AnimationRenderingMotion Graphics and VFXAutodesk3D ModelingVisualization and Real-TimeAECProduct and ManufacturingAnimation and IllustrationDeep Dive (X:Y)
Concepts
Introduction
- Welcome
- Using the exercise files
Getting Set Up
- Prepping the model for rigging
- Setting up layers
- Naming schemes
Creating Skeletons
- Drawing the leg chain
- Adding bone fins
- Mirroring the leg chains with bone tools
- Positioning the hip bone
- Drawing the spine
- Positioning arm bones
- Creating hand skeletons
- Mirroring arm skeletons
Creating Leg and Foot Controls
- Positioning the foot control splines
- Setting up inverse kinematics (IK) chains
- Rigging the heel and toe controls
- Rigging the main foot control
- Controlling knee direction
Creating Hip and Spine Controls
- Configuring the main control
- Setting up the spine
- Head and neck controls
- Creating shoulder controls
Creating FK IK Controls
- Creating control skeletons for the arm
- Constraining the control skeletons
- Setting up the forward kinematics (FK) skeleton controls
- Setting up the IK skeleton controls
- Wiring up the FK IK switch
- Making controls appear and disappear
Rigging Hands
- Setting up the wrist control
- Setting up finger FK controls
- Getting the fingers to curl
- Creating a control pane using attributes
- Controlling finger spread
- Rigging the thumb
Skinning Characters
- Applying the Skin modifier
- Adjusting envelopes
- Fine-tuning vertex weights
- Advanced weighting tools
- Mirroring weights
Face Rigging
- Understanding morph targets
- Setting up a single-axis slider
- Wiring parameters to control blinks
- Setting up multiple-axis controls
- Connecting parameters using Reactor
- Creating a jawbone
- Skinning the head
- Controlling the jawbone
- Controlling eye direction
- Finalizing the face rig
Conclusion
- Next steps