Quick Start to Rigging in Maya: Volume 1

What you'll learn

Welcome to the Quick Start to Rigging in Maya. Quick Starts are a series of specially-constructed courses meant to be followed in sequence and include valuable exercises to reinforce learned concepts. The lesson format for these Quick Starts will be similar to other Digital-Tutors introductory training. We'll go through Maya's rigging tools in a very methodical way, making sure to cover the tools and techniques that are most important in enabling you to get up and running quickly. Each volume of a Quick Start will build upon the previous volume, enabling us to progressively build up a complex project into a finished state. In this initial volume, we'll cover the basics of getting started with the rigging tools in Maya. We'll learn how to create joints and work with Inverse Kinematics. We'll cover skinning tools and ways to improve our deformations with time-saving techniques. We'll also learn about constraints, how to set up control objects, and how to build systems with Driven Keys. While building a project together, you'll be provided with valuable knowledge, and the real power comes from being able to take the techniques you've learned and apply them in a different way to your own work. With this in mind, you'll be presented with an assignment immediately following each volume. These assignments will challenge you to take the skills that you've learned in a particular volume and apply them to a different asset. These courses are designed to be taken in sequence so we really encourage you to start with this volume and proceed all the way through to Volume 5, all so you can take advantage of the periodic assignments along the way to get the full learning experience. For an additional learning resource, download your free copy of our Key Rigging Terms Reference Guide and PDF so you can get comfortable with important 3D rigging terminology.

Table of contents