Saturday, January 12, 2013

Why so many master controls?

Been asked this quite a few times when I've shown my classes some rigs. Seems easier to do a quick vid and point people here. (this is another one that's been sitting on my computer for months that I forgot to post)
I usually put my rigs under multiple levels of master controls (both for chars and props) and the main reason is that it seems easier to me to default to doing that, than to have to go back and add more controls when an animator wants to do something crazy like add something to a motion path and still retain some type of control. I mention a few other circumstances where this is useful, but to be honest, it just seems like common sense to me and makes me grumpy.
So get off my lawn.

Maya/Rigging: Using multiple Master Controls from zeth willie on Vimeo.

5 comments:

  1. Hello Mr. Willie, very interesting explanation :), I am kinda new in 3d area, I would like to know if you could guide me to a place where I can find a tutorial on how to set this, I built a rig already with 1 master control and would like to add 2 more because my character will prolly do some acrobatic movements, but up until now, when I add an extra master control (when I try lol) my connections fail and move the skeleton or the main master control wrong, would appreciate your help :)

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    Replies
    1. The easiest way to add more controls is to simply unparent the rig stuff from under the master to the world, parent the children master under the original master, then reparent all the rig stuff under the new children master (at the lowest level). If it works under the original master, it should work in that circumstance. If it doesn't you've got something funky going on in there :)
      That help at all?

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    2. Hello, thanks for the fast reply :) Well, as you are answering without actually see the rig I decided to show you a pic of my outliner so you can guide me better on how to set this. here is the link:

      http://www.imagebam.com/image/ac83f8239294544

      My rig works like this: master_03 controls GlobalMove_01 group through connections made in the connection editor (translation, rotation and scale) GlobalMove_01 contains all the joints, IKs and controllers as you can see, I added master_01 and master_02 and made them parents of master_03, but nothing is happening, master_02 has no control at all over the skeleton and I am kinda confused on what to do next. x_x

      Many thanks in advance for any help you can give me, here is my blog page if you want to visit: http://maestro3design.wordpress.com/ :)

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    3. Hmm. . . not really sure why you'd go to all the trouble to do all of that. your xtra controls aren't working because the way you've set things up, they're not connected to anything! If you put everything under the master you'd get the same effect with 1/10 the effort. Just make sure the bound geo is it's own group so you can turn off the inherit transforms.
      You may have reason to do what you did, but then you should know the workarounds you need (i.e. move the connections to the last child master, etc). Just sayin, in ordinary circumstances it's not necessary.

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  2. That worked perfectly and it´s a lot more simple :) thanks!

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