Rigging Cartoon Vehicles in Maya
Learn a production workflow for creating vehicle rigs with emphasis on cartoon performance, squash and stretch rigging techniques, and the principles of building solution-based rigs for easy animation. Software required: Maya 8 and up (2008 required for project files.)
What you'll learn
Contains over 8 hours of project-based training for setup artists and animators learning the processes of creating intuitive cartoon rigs with animator-friendly controls. Perfect for experienced artists. Popular highlights include: Creating Customized Tools; Squash and Stretch Tools; Custom Tools for Pinning Objects; Maintaining Volume with Squash & Stretch; Creating MEL Scripts; Creating Illusion of Weight on Tires; Automating Follow-through in Antenna; Automating Revolving Lights; Intuitive Control for Steering Wheel; Rigging with Non-linear Deformers; Rigging Doors and Windows; Automating the Car Idle; Setting up Proxy Meshes; Adding a Smooth Node Switch; Creating Control Objects; Attaching Vehicles to Motion Paths; Binding to Lattices; Creating Exhaust Sputter. Software required: Maya 8 and up (2008 required for project files.)
Table of contents
- Creating a MEL Script for Snapping Objects 11m
- Starting the Wagon Rig 8m
- Creating Bones to Deform the Vehicle 11m
- Designing a MEL Window to Apply Squash and Stretch to the Rig 9m
- The Execution Command for the Squash and Stretch Tool 12m
- Finishing the Squash and Stretch Tool 16m
- Adding Volume to the Squash and Stretch of the Vehicle 10m
- Finishing the Squash and Stretch Setup of the Vehicle 6m
- Creating the Initial Controls 8m
- Finishing the Vehicle Body Control Objects / Adding a Twist Deformation 14m
- Making the Proxy Cage for the Vehicle 9m
- Controlling the Spinning of the Police Light 10m
- Connecting Objects to Polygon Meshes 12m
- Beginning the Setup for the Antenna 7m
- Connecting the Antenna to the Mesh 7m
- Finishing the Antenna 0m
- The Setup Process for the Doors 11m
- Adding a Control Object to the Front Right Door 11m
- Finishing the Front Right Door 8m
- Working on the Front Left Door 18m
- Starting Setup of the Steering Wheel 9m
- Wrapping up the Steering Wheel 3m
- Starting on the Back Doors 10m
- Final Tweaks for the Back Left Door 6m
- Beginning the Right Back Door 5m
- Finishing the Right Back Door / Starting on the Back Lock 11m
- Finishing the Back Lock 10m
- Beginning the Setup of the Exhaust 10m
- Finishing the Exhaust Rig 2m
- Rigging the Siren with Non-linear Deformers 10m
- Tying the Non-linear Deformers Together to Create a Noisy Siren Effect 6m
- Final Tweaks for the Siren Rig 12m
- Starting on the Tires: Creating Control Objects 7m
- Connecting the Tire to the Control Object and Setting up a Tire Follow Switch 12m
- Looking into Ways to Rig the Tires to Revolve 12m
- Creating the Illusion of Weight on the Tire 7m
- Working on the Connections Between the Tire Control and Squash Deformer 7m
- Completing the Back Right Tire 7m
- Moving on to the Back Left Wheel 12m
- Applying the Revolve Expression to the Rear Left Tire 4m
- Adding the Squash Deformer to the Rear Left Wheel 8m
- Starting Our Work on the Front Left Tire 9m
- Wrapping up the General Connections of the Front Left Tire 9m
- Setting up the Steering Control 4m
- Working on the Last Wheel 7m
- Finishing the Rig for the Last Tire 7m
- Creating the Wagon Idle Expression 9m
- Adding the Idle Shake to the Hood 9m
- Making Character Sets for the Vehicle 9m
- Determining a Good Rotation Order and Writing a MEL Script to Quickly Apply It 5m
- Smoothing the Wagon Model and Setting up a Control to Switch Between Smooth Levels 11m
- Concepts for Adding a Vehicle to a Motion Path 15m
- Bonus: Explanation of the Connect to Mesh (CTM) Tool 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