Pushing Your Character Rigs Beyond the Basics in 3ds Max
In this series of lessons, we will learn how to push our character rigs beyond the basics in 3ds Max. Software required: Autodesk 3ds Max 2015.
What you'll learn
In this series of lessons, we will learn how to push our character rigs beyond the basics in 3ds Max. We'll start by learning how to build a modular system, with advanced twisting and volume capabilities that will be inserted throughout the rig to improve deformations. We'll then learn how to create our very own cage deformer to hold volume and form in geometry that is challenging to skin. We'll also learn neat topics like how to setup auto clavicle and advanced shoulder systems, animator-friendly hand rigs with multiple levels of control, and how 3ds Max can be customized so that we can work faster. By the end of this tutorial, you will have the knowledge you need to produce promising results from your character rigs in 3ds Max. Software required: Autodesk 3ds Max 2015.
Table of contents
- Building Our Own Muscle 8m
- Creating the Muscle's Global Control 5m
- Adding the Muscle's Spline and Secondary Controls 5m
- Constraining Our Helpers to Follow the Muscle's Spline 3m
- Controlling the Orientation of the Helpers Connected to Our Spline 5m
- Finishing the Process of Constraining Our Helpers 3m
- Implementing the Muscle's Advanced Twist Control 4m
- Wrapping up the Muscle's Advanced Twist Control 4m
- Controlling the Squash and Stretch Factor of Our Muscle 3m
- Maintaining Volume in the Muscle 8m
- Finishing the Muscle's Squash and Stretch System 8m
- Cleaning up the Muscle 3m
- Exporting Our Muscle 1m
- Cleaning up Our Model and Using Our Muscle to Set up the Spine 8m
- Setting up a Global Control 6m
- Customizing 3ds Max to Improve Our Productivity 4m
- Creating the Leg Bones 8m
- Finishing Our Leg Chains 4m
- Rigging the Neck and Head 6m
- Finishing Our Work on the Neck's Rig 2m
- Adding Bones for the Clavicles and Arms 6m
- Creating Hand Bones 8m
- Creating the Thumb's Chain and Mirroring the Arm 7m
- Maintaining Volume in the Knees and Elbows 6m
- Attaching Muscle Systems to the Shins 5m
- Setting up Muscle Systems for the Thighs 5m
- Setting up the Twist Systems for the Thighs 5m
- Setting up the Right Thigh's Counter-twist System 2m
- Completing the Twist Systems for the Shins 4m
- Wrapping up Our Twist Systems for the Ankles 5m
- Scaling the Muscle Systems Connected to the Legs 3m
- Adding Muscle Rigs to the Forearms 4m
- Connecting Our Muscle Rigs to the Shoulders 4m
- Setting up the Shoulder's Counter-twist System 6m
- Completing the Twist Rig for the Shoulders 4m
- Setting up an Auto-clavicle Rig 8m
- Finishing the Twist Rig for the Forearms 4m
- Connecting Our Twist Systems to the Wrists 3m
- Attaching the Neck to the Upper Torso 3m
- Preserving Volume in the Buttocks 5m
- Enveloping the Head 6m
- Weight-painting Techniques 9m
- Skinning the Shoes 8m
- Transferring Weights on Separate Pieces of Geometry 3m
- Skinning to a Proxy Cage 5m
- Connecting the Shirt to the Proxy 7m
- Checking Our Progress and Adding Inverse 9m
- Creating Control Objects for the Legs 6m
- Adding Custom Parameters for Our Secondary Foot Controls 5m
- Setting up Foot Roll Systems 7m
- Finalizing Our Foot Controls 3m
- Controlling the Knees 6m
- Finishing the Knee Controls 4m
- Controlling the Spine 7m
- Wrapping up Our Spinal Controls 5m
- Controlling the Head 4m
- Adding a Control for the Collar 5m
- Controlling the Clavicles 7m
- Creating Arm Controls 6m
- Controlling the Elbows 4m
- Creating Finger Controls 8m
- Finishing the Finger Controls 6m
- Cleaning up the Rig and Working with Selection Sets 6m
- Finalizing Our Rig 6m
About the author
Delano works avidly as an animation author at Pluralsight. Starting his career at animation studios like Shilo, Delano has developed a strong passion for his talents. His animation and rigging background help him teach and create some of the most-watched training on Pluralsight. A few of his favorite projects that he has contributed to include: Character Interaction in Maya and in Softimage, Rigging the Human Face in Maya, Rigging Sea Creatures in Maya, and Rigging and Animating Transforming... more