So far we have gone over some of the same things we went over in the last course like parenting, changing pivot points, creating joints, etc. I will try to not repeat it all over again in this blog post. I would like to say that I found out that you can also move the pivot point of your object in Maya by holding down the "d" key.
This video shows a simple joint rig parented to a character's head.
The next video went over the Joint Tool settings and different ways a IK Handle can bend. Here is a video showing examples.
During the next part of the tutorial we learned how to limit IK Handles to prevent IK locking. Here is a video showing where the option is located.
I struggled hugely with lesson 8. I re-watched the video 4-5 times and I followed the instructors instructions, but I just couldn't seem to get the joints connected correctly to the IK Handle. The lesson was trying to show how you could disconnect the joints of a joint chain so that you could control and bend parts of the leg rig independently. In the end I still couldn't get the disconnected joints to work (I've worked on it for over 2-3 hours) so I am moving on to the next lesson.
Luckily the next video was much less frustrating, haha. If there is a joint in your rig that you find doesn't serve a purpose anymore you can get rid of it by clicking on "Skeleton/Remove Joint".
Next we learned about connecting constraints and control objects to the joints of the rig. Here is a video showing their connection.
Luckily the next video was much less frustrating, haha. If there is a joint in your rig that you find doesn't serve a purpose anymore you can get rid of it by clicking on "Skeleton/Remove Joint".
In the next video Delano showed the effectiveness of an IK Spline Handle Tool. I followed along and just made a quick video to show you what it does.
Clusters were next! Clusters are actually pretty cool little tools that you can set up for controlling parts of your rig. To create a cluster select an object(s) you want to cluster and then go to "Create/Cluster". Here is another video showing what they can do and where they are located.
The next tutorial just showed some tricks you can use to blend IK and FK handles for animation purposes.
In the following tutorial we looked at how to effectively group objects and what some of the grouping tools did.
After that we went over how to use point constraints to lock down an object(s) translate channels.
In the following tutorial we looked at how to effectively group objects and what some of the grouping tools did.
After that we went over how to use point constraints to lock down an object(s) translate channels.
The following lesson continued with learning about constraints, but this time dealt with the "orient constraint". Orient constraints just lock down the rotation that you want a specific object(s) to possess.
The next lesson went over different ways to use the "Parent Constraint". With the parent constraint you can lock down both the translation and rotation constraints to an object(s). Delano also showed some uses of it for animation.
The following lesson went over some of the uses of the "Aim Constraint". The aim constraint, as the name implies, can be put on a control object to move a piece of your model in a specific direction. Delano was using the example of using the aim constraint to control the direction his female android's eyes looked.
The robotic leg in the next lesson was insanely cool! I kept thinking about Iron Man, haha. The lesson went over using a simple object such as a box and then using the CV Curve tool to create a wire frame control object. He also showed how to change its color and a couple of its attributes.
Here is a video showing how the control object was able to control the rig after parented to the angle joint.
The next lesson went over different ways to use the "Parent Constraint". With the parent constraint you can lock down both the translation and rotation constraints to an object(s). Delano also showed some uses of it for animation.
The following lesson went over some of the uses of the "Aim Constraint". The aim constraint, as the name implies, can be put on a control object to move a piece of your model in a specific direction. Delano was using the example of using the aim constraint to control the direction his female android's eyes looked.
The robotic leg in the next lesson was insanely cool! I kept thinking about Iron Man, haha. The lesson went over using a simple object such as a box and then using the CV Curve tool to create a wire frame control object. He also showed how to change its color and a couple of its attributes.
Here is a video showing how the control object was able to control the rig after parented to the angle joint.
The next couple tutorials went over the usefulness of Adding Attributes and working with the node editor. I tried to follow along the best I could, but when I was trying to connect everything via the connection editor it wasn't allowing linking them up properly. Hopefully I will learn more about them in the future.
Once again the connection editor was used along with the add attribute option. We made a custom rotation menu for the sword so that it would save an animator time. I can definitely see now the importance of the connection editor.
Next lesson we went over Set Driven Keys, and they have some really cool functionality. You can create a custom animation and make it into an option on your object so that you can add the animation into your timeline, whenever you wanted to.
Delano went over some of the capabilities of the Lattice Tool. We used a shark to experiment.
Here is a video showing what Lattices can do once applied to an object and how changing the some of the attributes can affect the deformations.
If you accidentally remove your object from the lattice box and moving the lattice points aren't deforming the object's mesh anymore you can either do two things. Either bring the object back into the lattice box or go to the "Lattice" tool's option and select "transform all points" in the "Outside lattice" menu set.
In the next video we briefly went over binding your mesh to your joints/skeletons using the "Smooth Bind" option. Here is just an example of an option set that might work for you as you try to bind your object to your joints.
If you want to reposition your joints after you have skinned them to your model you can always go to "Skin/Edit Smooth Skin/Move Skinned Joints Tool" and move it to a more desirable position.
The next lesson went over briefly some of the uses of the Component Editor and how to paint weights to accurately move your mesh with your joints.
In the following video the "Weight Hammer Tool" was addressed. The Weight Hammer Tool averaged the weight on any vertices selected and created a more desirable bend on your selected mesh.
In the next tutorial it was mentioned that sometimes after you parent the model, rig, and node to each other double transformations can occur. Turning your locked down rig into a group was able to prevent it from happening. Here is a video showing an example.
Delano next showed how to create influence objects to effect the mesh. Parenting the influence object (can be anything: cube, sphere, etc.) to a joint you can then select the mesh and paint the weights onto the mesh using the "Paint Skin Weights Tool". This will dictate how much the control object effects the mesh. You can also add a jiggle deformer to an the influence object using the "Jiggle Deformer" tool. Here is a video showing the effects of both.
Sometimes you can properly paint weights on one side of you object, but the other side hasn't been painted yet. Instead of having to try to duplicate painting the weights all over again on the other side you can always use the "Mirror Skin Weights" tool. Here is a video showing an example of this.
The next video went over using the "Rigid Bind Tool" and how it can effect your mesh. Here is a video showing the effects of the tool.
In the next set of tutorials Delano showed some of the advantages of using the "Edit Membership Tool" and the "Paint Set Membership Tool". Both tools can be used to control points of influence once the "Rigid Bind Tool" is used. This video shows the results of effective painting on a mesh.
If you want to modify your object without harming the rigid body that was attach to your object you can always "Detach Skeleton" to make changes and then "Reattach Skeleton" to set your rigid body back in place.
In the next lesson we learn about "flexors" and how to use them. Flexors can be used to smooth out the animations of your rigid bind-ed object. Here is a video showing a successful use of flexors.
After the lesson on flexors we moved on to learning about the "Substitute Geometry" tool. With this tool you are able to take one rigged object and swap it with another object while still keeping the rig. Here is a video showing an example of this.
The next lesson went over the use of the "Blend Shape Deformer". The blend shape deformer is really cool. You can create copies of an object and then deform them slightly and then use the the "Blend Shape Deformer" to create multiple options on your original object. In this way you can deform the object at will whenever you want. Take a look at this video to see what I mean.
The following lesson had the same object to work with, but showed how "input order" can effect your object. In this example turning on the smirk made it so that the control object controlling the head only affected the cyber head piece behind it. I found out that sometimes changing the order of inputs can fix this problem. This video shows how to do this.
We went still further into modifying blend shapes in the next lesson. You can have multiple blend shape deformers attached to one object. You can also paint weights to effect how your blend shapes act. Here is a video show such examples.
In the last lesson we went over how to create a custom shelf using multiple tools in Maya. This seems like it could be very useful for future projects where you use a lot the same tools more than once. Here is a video showing that I added a tool (Joint Tool using "Command + Shift + Clicking on a tool"), added a script that selects all the animation control objects, and made a hotkey (control + alt + q + hold down left click and release on option) to also select all of the animation control objects. Here is one more video showing everything working properly.
In these set of lessons I learned a lot more about the rigging tools that Maya boasts of and about many of the options in Maya's animation menu that I had not previously known about. If anyone has been following along, I hope that some of these videos might have been helpful to you (even if I wasn't talking and explaining how to do everything). Peace! (Until next post of course ;] ).
Once again the connection editor was used along with the add attribute option. We made a custom rotation menu for the sword so that it would save an animator time. I can definitely see now the importance of the connection editor.
Next lesson we went over Set Driven Keys, and they have some really cool functionality. You can create a custom animation and make it into an option on your object so that you can add the animation into your timeline, whenever you wanted to.
Delano went over some of the capabilities of the Lattice Tool. We used a shark to experiment.
Here is a video showing what Lattices can do once applied to an object and how changing the some of the attributes can affect the deformations.
If you accidentally remove your object from the lattice box and moving the lattice points aren't deforming the object's mesh anymore you can either do two things. Either bring the object back into the lattice box or go to the "Lattice" tool's option and select "transform all points" in the "Outside lattice" menu set.
In the next video we briefly went over binding your mesh to your joints/skeletons using the "Smooth Bind" option. Here is just an example of an option set that might work for you as you try to bind your object to your joints.
If you want to reposition your joints after you have skinned them to your model you can always go to "Skin/Edit Smooth Skin/Move Skinned Joints Tool" and move it to a more desirable position.
The next lesson went over briefly some of the uses of the Component Editor and how to paint weights to accurately move your mesh with your joints.
In the following video the "Weight Hammer Tool" was addressed. The Weight Hammer Tool averaged the weight on any vertices selected and created a more desirable bend on your selected mesh.
In the next tutorial it was mentioned that sometimes after you parent the model, rig, and node to each other double transformations can occur. Turning your locked down rig into a group was able to prevent it from happening. Here is a video showing an example.
Delano next showed how to create influence objects to effect the mesh. Parenting the influence object (can be anything: cube, sphere, etc.) to a joint you can then select the mesh and paint the weights onto the mesh using the "Paint Skin Weights Tool". This will dictate how much the control object effects the mesh. You can also add a jiggle deformer to an the influence object using the "Jiggle Deformer" tool. Here is a video showing the effects of both.
Sometimes you can properly paint weights on one side of you object, but the other side hasn't been painted yet. Instead of having to try to duplicate painting the weights all over again on the other side you can always use the "Mirror Skin Weights" tool. Here is a video showing an example of this.
The next video went over using the "Rigid Bind Tool" and how it can effect your mesh. Here is a video showing the effects of the tool.
In the next set of tutorials Delano showed some of the advantages of using the "Edit Membership Tool" and the "Paint Set Membership Tool". Both tools can be used to control points of influence once the "Rigid Bind Tool" is used. This video shows the results of effective painting on a mesh.
If you want to modify your object without harming the rigid body that was attach to your object you can always "Detach Skeleton" to make changes and then "Reattach Skeleton" to set your rigid body back in place.
In the next lesson we learn about "flexors" and how to use them. Flexors can be used to smooth out the animations of your rigid bind-ed object. Here is a video showing a successful use of flexors.
After the lesson on flexors we moved on to learning about the "Substitute Geometry" tool. With this tool you are able to take one rigged object and swap it with another object while still keeping the rig. Here is a video showing an example of this.
The next lesson went over the use of the "Blend Shape Deformer". The blend shape deformer is really cool. You can create copies of an object and then deform them slightly and then use the the "Blend Shape Deformer" to create multiple options on your original object. In this way you can deform the object at will whenever you want. Take a look at this video to see what I mean.
The following lesson had the same object to work with, but showed how "input order" can effect your object. In this example turning on the smirk made it so that the control object controlling the head only affected the cyber head piece behind it. I found out that sometimes changing the order of inputs can fix this problem. This video shows how to do this.
We went still further into modifying blend shapes in the next lesson. You can have multiple blend shape deformers attached to one object. You can also paint weights to effect how your blend shapes act. Here is a video show such examples.
In the last lesson we went over how to create a custom shelf using multiple tools in Maya. This seems like it could be very useful for future projects where you use a lot the same tools more than once. Here is a video showing that I added a tool (Joint Tool using "Command + Shift + Clicking on a tool"), added a script that selects all the animation control objects, and made a hotkey (control + alt + q + hold down left click and release on option) to also select all of the animation control objects. Here is one more video showing everything working properly.
In these set of lessons I learned a lot more about the rigging tools that Maya boasts of and about many of the options in Maya's animation menu that I had not previously known about. If anyone has been following along, I hope that some of these videos might have been helpful to you (even if I wasn't talking and explaining how to do everything). Peace! (Until next post of course ;] ).
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