Rigging is an essential part of a 3D production pipeline. It is impossible to animate without a proper rig, and hence, important for an animator to understand the difference between a good rig and a bad one. A rig should be a flexible 3D version of how the joints work of an entity in real life for an animator to work their magic.
This week, we played around with certain rigs that are known to be bad character rigs.
For example, the following rig of Malcolm has too many control curves.
It’s very important for the rigger to place control curves tentatively and accurately so that the animator can tell exactly what the curve would do to the part that it is attached to. The control curves should also be big enough for easy selection.
Control curves, though essential, can be difficult to control all the motions. This is where a GUI (Graphic user interface) feature comes to play. The GUI comprises of all those little controls that would be hard to define through control curves.
IK and FK Controls
Having the option to switch between either IK or FK is important, whether in arms or feet. Every animator prefers their own technic of animating and its always good to have the choice. In a character rig there should also be the switch to IK or FK for the feet.
To know what a good rig is, is to play with the controls and if they work the way you want them to without abnormalities, it is a good rig.
I used one of the Long winter rigs – Taylor for the following pose of excitement. All the control curves and GUI were self explanatory which was helpful to get the desired pose.
Shraddha Mithinti 