MEL Scripting a Character Rig in Maya

by Maraffi, Chris

• ISBN13: 9780321383532
• ISBN10: 0321383532
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-11-24
• Publisher: New Riders

Summary

"Whether for big budget films and game productions or lower budget TV and Internet content, creating flexible and believable character rigs is an essential skill required to bring any 3D animation to life. As the leading software used for cutting-edge animation, Maya has an established rigging toolset for creating realistic character controls. Traditionally, however, the process of manually building custom rigs in the software interface has been time-consuming and expensive for those who want to produce high-quality 3D characters. Now for the first time and from the author of the best-seller, Maya Character Creation, comes an in-depth guide on how the pros are using MEL (Maya Embedded Language) scripting to streamline and automate the rigging process. With MEL Scripting a Character Rig in Maya, you'll learn how you can build custom character rigs in a matter of seconds, as opposed to days or weeks."--BOOK JACKET.

Author Biography

Chris Maraffi has been teaching 3D computer graphics for over ten years, most recently as the course director of the scripting and character rigging classes at Full Sail University in Orlando. He has also written two popular books: Maya Character Creation published by New Riders, and Softimage XSI Character Animation FX and Design (Coriolis). In addition, he has lectured internationally at numerous conferences and universities, including SIGGRAPH, Animex, Red Stick, UNM Arts Lab, NYU CADA, Parsons School of Design, School of Visual Arts, NYIT, Academy of Art, Mesmer Animation Labs, and The Master’s Institute.

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Table of Contents

Introduction	p. ix
Starting to Rig a Character	p. 1
Rigging in Computer Animation	p. 2
The Job of a Rigging Artist	p. 2
Character Rigging in a 3D Production	p. 5
Important Goals for a Rigging Artist	p. 6
How Digital Rigging Has Evolved	p. 8
Developing Skills	p. 11
About Maya Skeletons	p. 16
Preparing to Create Skeletons	p. 17
Drawing Joints	p. 18
Understanding Joint Orientation	p. 22
Fitting and Animating Skeletons	p. 24
Setting Joint Tool Options	p. 25
Organizing Nodes in the Hypergraph	p. 28
Editing Skeletons	p. 30
Making Basic Skeleton Edits	p. 30
Performing a Test Bind	p. 34
Introduction to Smooth Binding	p. 34
Introduction to Painting Skin Weights	p. 37
Creating a Basic FK Biped Rig	p. 40
Learning to Script in MEL	p. 53
MEL Scripting Basics	p. 54
Starting to Code in Maya	p. 54
Getting Basic Help on Commands	p. 58
Following Scripting Conventions	p. 63
Learning Essential Coding Techniques	p. 65
Using Procedures	p. 79
Saving MEL Code	p. 86
Refining Your Scripts	p. 94
Using Conditions and Loops	p. 94
MEL Rigging Essentials	p. 106
Beginning the Biped Rig Scripts	p. 124
Scripting a Basic IK Biped Rig	p. 141
Creating the Basic Rig Components	p. 142
Using IK Skeletons in the Biped Rig	p. 142
Examining the Skeleton Creation Script	p. 151
Creating Icons	p. 160
Scripting the Icons for the Biped Rig	p. 163
Building the Basic Biped Rig	p. 172
Creating the Rig Hierarchy in the Hypergraph	p. 173
Preparing to Script the Basic Rig Hierarchy	p. 181
Scripting a Basic IK Rig	p. 182
Adding Advanced Rig Controls	p. 191
Enhancing the IK Limb Controls	p. 192
Creating an Advanced Arm Rig	p. 192
Upgrading the Legs and Feet	p. 208
Examining the Advanced Limb Scripts	p. 214
Creating Advanced Head and Torso Controls	p. 229
Upgrading the Head and Face Rig	p. 229
Building an Advanced Torso Rig	p. 233
Scripting the Advanced Head and Torso	p. 242
Finishing the IK Biped Rig	p. 255
Creating a Final Bind	p. 256
Checking the Skin Model	p. 256
Smooth Binding the Advanced Rig	p. 256
Using Smooth Binding Options	p. 258
Editing the Final Bind	p. 260
Adding Joints as Influence Objects	p. 260
Using Geometry as Influence Objects	p. 262
Setting Keys to Facilitate Editing Weights	p. 266
Using the Paint Skin Weights Tool	p. 267
Editing Weights in the Component Editor	p. 269
Editing Weights Using Menu Commands	p. 270
Using Indirect Deformation Techniques	p. 271
Binding with a Proxy Skin	p. 272
Morphing Through a Proxy Head	p. 274
Scripting Skin Deformations	p. 281
Scripting an Advanced Character GUI	p. 291
Creating More GUI Controls	p. 292
Reviewing Basic Controls in the Setup GUI	p. 292
Using Alignment Flags on a Control Group	p. 293
Adding a Window Menu	p. 293
Incorporating Custom Images	p. 294
Creating Slider Controls	p. 295
Designing a Character GUI	p. 299
Working with Layouts	p. 300
Parenting Basic Layouts	p. 300
Using Intermediate Layouts	p. 303
Designing an Advanced GUI	p. 308
Nesting Intermediate Layouts	p. 308
Running Script Jobs	p. 310
Scripting the Advanced Character GUI	p. 312
Index	p. 333
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