Looking at Other Scripts

For inspiration into my own scripting tool I did some research into other tools out there that are designed to assist in the rigging process.

There is definitely a lot out there, ranging from simple scripts that can solve a simple problem to complex tools that can automate most of the rigging process. The type of tools and where they are used can vary, with some tools being used to interact with a fully built rig, to others that help build the rigs.

Here's a few I found with some notes on their uses in relation to my own work so far.

Display Color Override

A neat little script that displays a colour index UI used for easily selecting a colour. This is used for objects such as control shapes to change their colour rather than having to go into the attribute editor and using the slider to find the colour you are looking for.

Radial Blend Shape

Useful tool that assists in setting up facial deformers such as eyelids and eyebrows. The deformer is suited to keeping eyelids deforming properly (i.e. over the eye).

Control Curve Creator UI

A similar scripting tool to what I imagine I want to create. This is quite extensive offering multiple shape options, a colour selection grid and additional options such as auto/manual name toggle and adding text.

This script only creates the control shapes for future use in rigs, it doesn't apply them to any joint.

Biped Auto Rigging Script

Create a full rig or a specific part of a rig, can rig characters in any position and is fully scalable. Allows IK/FK switches and other features.

One of the many auto-rigging tools out there, this was created by a student. Is pretty comprehensive but other auto-rigging tools have gone much further.

Rapid Rig: Poser

The only scripting tool on this list that costs money. This is a UI designed to enhance animation and allows the user to save out poses on a character rig. It also allows you to mirror a pose across the body and to transfer poses to other rigs.

It also acts as a picker allowing you to select control shapes from a user interface. This script is by far the most advanced and comprehensive script on this list but it does have dependencies on other tools.

This is a companion tool to the Rapid Rig: Advanced script (another auto rigging tool). Poser tools are often tied to the rigs they are designed for.

Technical Artist Research

This is a post mostly looking into Technical Artists in the industry.

Technical Artists are considered the connection between artists and programmers. They help to ensure assets can be imported into games and work correctly within the limitations but not hindering the creative vision.

They are also the researchers and tool designers. This is something we've seen an example of in our own coursework, where somewhere along the rigging process we'll find ourselves in need of a tool to help with that process. Improving pipelines is obviously more efficient to the process but can also help alleviate workloads by automating certain aspects of the process.

This year I've been learning 3D animation myself by optionally attending the Advanced Animation module. Through that I discovered the Mery rig which of course I am using the character model to rig myself to learn the process. The Mery rig is very advanced for something you can freely download on the internet and has been credited for being built to a very high professional standard. I mention this because it was only created by two guys and so far is the most robust and advanced free rig I've found.

Recently Sony Pictures Animation released a zombie rig from their Hotel Transylvania film. This was the first I'd seen of a major studio releasing something like this for anyone to try out. In the demonstration video one of the animators walks through the features of the rig. This is sort of evidence that the work of a technical artist to create a rig with a large variety of features pays off by making the job easier for the animator.


I've also discovered some information on DreamWorks website about technical art, particularly the process of creating character rigs. Artists are actually hired under the title of "Character Technical Director" (TDs) and can spend between three and six months of time on each character.

As their film "The Croods" required about 35-40 unique creatures the Character Technical Directors came up with their own package called the Creature Assembly system to help with this process. By storing information on different limbs and creature parts (wings, tails, etc.) they could mix and match them, analyse how they interact together and connect them up appropriately.

I'd highly recommend giving this article a read as I found it interesting and informative on the topic of character rigging: https://web.archive.org/web/20141214215455/http://www.dreamworksanimation.com/insidedwa/tech/cas

I'll leave you with a demo reel from Technical Artist Tim Carter who shows off some of the things he's created. This includes rigs he's made and their advanced features as well as dynamic cloth, scripts and some problem solving rig features such as no-flip elbows & knees.

Creative Skillset profile on Technical Artists: http://creativeskillset.org/job_roles_and_stories/job_roles/339_technical_artist_games

Looking at Other Rigs - Continued

I have collected a number of rigs to look at. Some of which I have used to animate and some just to see how they function. I will list some of these rigs here and some of their identifying features.

Andy Rig

• Can switch gender and clothes via attributes.
• Limbs can be stretched
• Facial controls that more than one aspect of an object, i.e...
• mouth slider can control shape of mouth and jaw rotation
• brow slider can control elevation of eyebrows but sliding to the left or right controls which eyebrow is affected more
• Ability to control where elbow/knee controls are parented to (either part of the rig or the world)

Sam Rig

• "Breathing" attribute that deforms chest
• Help toggle that displays text around some controls explaining how they work
• FK controls have hidden nodes to help prevent gimble lock
• Facial UI looks like a face, moving the controls also deforms the control's shape
• Eye aimer control can be locked to world, moving eyes also moves eyelids and parts of the face

Eleven Rig

• Multiple attributes allowing you to change the default shape, size, gender and proportions of the character model.
• Facial controls placed directly on the face
• Squash and stretch options for limbs
• Scaling options on many limbs (a tiny head is amusing to me)

Looking at Other Rigs

As part of some research into rigging for animation, I have downloaded and tested other available rigs on the internet. I've taken into consideration how they function, how their controls work and what they look like, and any additional features they have that would set them apart from other rigs.

I've also been learning a bit of 3D animation so have been able to sample a few rigs already.

The 'Mike and Tina' rig is simple to understand and use, yet is also very reliable and has a number of features that can be used. It has an FK/IK switch so you can move limbs around in multiple ways: such as from the hand (which moves the rest of the arm) or rotating each joint (hand, elbow, shoulder) individually.

For controlling the face there is an interface which follows the head. Many elements on the face can be controlled by individual sliders. There's also a face camera to allow you to animate the face up close even if the character is moving around.

A recent rig that was made available is the Mery rig, which is very advanced and contains a whole range of features, while still remaining very simple to use even for a novice in Maya. The character design resembles something from Pixar and with the in-depth facial controls and control features it is a very powerful rig to animate.

Mery also contains a facial user interface although is not labelled like MikeAndTina's. Fortunately the location of these sliders match up with the layout of the face so you can make a pretty good guess as to which control controls what.

There's also IK/FK switches on almost everything and I prefer the hand setup to other rigs as it allows you to just grab a controller and do what you want with it rather than messing with values. For selection of multiple fingers for example you can use the picker tool which comes with the rig. This picker tool is an example of a script that could be useful to look at for my scripting tool later on.

Naming Systems

Part of being a technical artist involves working with programming code, lists of objects and a whole wealth of assets that pass between programmers and artists.

Naming conventions are important in order for everyone in a project to work efficiently and understand what they are working with. If something is appropriately named, it can be interpreted by a software or script easily as well as tell a user what that object is or does.

I've had experience of using naming systems in the past, such as in Adobe Flash, where objects are given names depending on what type they are. Labels are often given the prefix "lbl_" whereas buttons would have the prefix "btn_".
Similarly, in Maya I will be using prefixes in the rigging process. "jnt" would be used in front of joints and "ctrl" would be used in front of control objects. "L" would represent something on the left side of the character and "R" would be for something on the right side.

For example:
jnt_L_arm_01 would be the first joint in the left arm.
jnt_spine_02 would be the second joint in the spine.

I have already seen another use for an implemented naming system, which is mirroring a skeleton onto the other side of the body. Maya can automatically name new joints by using your own system. For example jnt_L_arm_01 can be mirrored and the resulting joint would be named jnt_R_arm01. This definitely speeds things up and improves workflow.

Variables in a script need to be readable too, for similar reasons with naming things in an object.

Digital Tutors has a tutorial on naming conventions in Maya, I will take the information in that video into consideration for my project: http://www.digitaltutors.com/lesson/19390-Choosing-solid-naming-conventions