Ex 9: Explain the Importance of Rigging in animation

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3
Aim: To give control points to the animator from which the animation can be
done. As the actual polygons are not touched, but the controls are used for
animation, and to create these controls, we rig the model.

Methods to Use Rigging in Maya

Below is the step to use rigging in Maya:

Method #1 – Quick Rig (One-Click)

Step 1:

Now we will rig the character using a quick rig tool, but before that, we will see
what happens if we directly interact with the geometry. See Figure 2

Step 2:
As you can see above, this will deform the geometry in ways which is undesirable.
To avoid this problem, we have to add a skeleton to the model. To do that, first,
undo the above changes, and then we will go in the Rigging menu and from there
Skeleton > Quick Rig to get a general idea. Figure 3

Step 3: Now select the model and click Auto-Rig. Figure 4

Step 4: We can see in the outliner the skeleton bones references are added along
with the controls; if you cannot see it, open from Windows > Outliner. Figure 5
 Figure 4 Figure 5

Figure 6 Figure 7

Figure 8 Figure 9
Step 5: What actually happened is that as you can see above, each vertex is
controlled by a skeleton, and each is given weights as to which vertices will be
influenced by the bones and a value from 0 to 1 will be assigned, which will
determine which vertex will follow which join. Figure 6

Step 6: Grab the handle on the left and drag it to control it. Figure 7

Step 7: As you can see, when we start dragging, it is not accurate as the joints
placed by the quick rig are not accurate, which we will improve later. But when we
actually animate the character, we have to hide the bones as the keyframe
animations will be done on the controls, not on geometry or joints. Figure 8

 We hide the joints by going in the Show in viewport menu and uncheck Joints
which will be the view for the animator. We do the entire process of rigging by
keeping the animator in mind.
 Since we are rigging the character, we can use a quick rig tool, but for another
thing such as quadruped animals, aliens and props, we have to create a custom
rig which includes creating joint, creating controls, and then skinning, which is
attaching the rig to the geometry. In this article, we will not be creating a
custom rig, but we will see the corresponding steps in detail in the quick rig
step-by-step method as we have done rigging using the one-click method until
now.
Figure 10 Figure 11

Figure 12 Figure 13

Figure 14 Figure 15
Method #2 – Quick Rig (Step-By-Step)

Figure 9

Step 1: In the step-by-step method, first, we will rename our character by selecting
the third icon. Then we will add the geometry by clicking plus button while the
character to rig is selected. Figure.10

Step 2: Next, keep the embed methods and other settings as is and click
Create/Update in the Guides section. Figure.11

Step 3: If you cannot see the joint, then turn it on from the Show menu in the
viewport. Again, the joints are not in the exact position where they should be, so as
shown below, I have adjusted the left-hand joint using a transform tool and using
“User Adjustment of Guides” it is mirrored to the right side, which brings it to the
exact position as the left hand. Figure.12

Step 4: Similarly, we can adjust other joints using adjustment guides or manually,
as shown. Figure.13

Step 5: Next step is skeleton and Rig Generation, in which we select both Skeleton
and Control rig option and generate using Create/Update button. As you can see
below, the skeleton is generated, and the HumanIK panel also shows the preview
of the control rig and character. Figure.14

Step 6: The last step is skinning, which binds the skeleton to the mesh geometry;
as we can see above that the joints are still independent of geometry. You can
change the binding method in the settings and click Create/Update.
So, we have successfully done the skinning of the joints to the geometry.
Figure 16 Figure 17

Figure 18 Figure 19

Figure 20
Inverse Kinematics (IK) and Forward Kinematics (FK)

IK and FK play an important role in rigging in Maya. We will dive into IK and
FK’s concepts and look at the differences and why one method is useful over
others in certain circumstances.
Following are the actual definitions:

 “Forward kinematics takes as input joint angles, and calculates the Cartesian
position and orientation of the end effector.”
 “Inverse kinematics takes as input the Cartesian end-effector position and
orientation, and calculates joint angles.”

Step 1:

In IK, if we select the control and move it, then all the other bones will follow,
which means the motion is calculated based on where the control point is ending
up. This is the new concept as compared to FK.

Step 2: FK is an older concept that was used to animate movies like Jurassic Park.
In this approach, we do not have controls, so we have to rotate each bone
individually.

Step 3: Whereas in IK, we have to just move the control handles to achieve the
same pose as shown below.

Step 4: Also, when we move the control handle at the hips, we can see that in IK,
the legs stay at the same place as they are in the world space, while in FK, the
entire character moves as they are meant to be adjusted from the joints.

Step 5: In FK, we adjust individual joint as shown below

Step 7: While in IK, we adjust the control handle to get the effect.

Conclusion

So, in this article, we have seen how the quick rig tool gets you started with human
characters and also seen step by step method for rigging. Also, we have touched on
IK and FK concepts and how to constrain is used in rigging. Remember, rigging is
fundamental to animation, so we have to keep it strong for better animation down
the road.