General Tips
Wednesday, 19 February 2025 8:19 am
Win+Shift+S - snip
Win+L/R - send to other
screen
Labs Page 1
Character Animator
Wednesday, 19 February 2025 8:16 am
Questions:
Ndi creates virtual webcam - run character animator into virtual webcam -> vtuber •
Recording toggles along bottom of webcam preview - Camera, body, microphone
Lipsyncing made up of phonemes - different types of noises that correlate to mouth shapes (Visemes)
Character animator automatically decides which noises are being made from recorded audio and moves
mouth to match
Visemes can be changed directly along the bottom of the recording timeline
Joints are either pendulums or fulcrums - Either connected at one end or connected in the middle
Arms = pendulums, horizontal hips = fulcrum
How to get to menu with particles and stuff - I found it click on [PuppetName/BodyPart] in the
hierarchy on the Rig screen and you can look at all the different expressions movement things and add
behaviours like Particles
How to open puppet in photoshop - Find [PuppetName] (puppet file) in the Project hierarchy -> rclick ->
edit original
Labs Page 2
Maya rigging
Wednesday, 5 March 2025 2:08 pm
Notes:
Creating a new project: can create new folder - renderScenes for finished scenes to be rendered with
new project = project window -> new button -> name project (camelCase_and_underscores) naming convention -> maxAnim_s01_sh02 (max animation, scene 1, shot 2)
(If importing premade model): reference editor -> diamond with plus -> select model
Save -> maya ascii, named appropriately for scene, in proper scene folder (scenes, renderScenes) shot = 1 single continuous piece of footage, cuts change between shots
scene = group of shots in similar setting one after the other
Keyframing: Controllers are objects tied to parts of the model -> moving controllers change values (eg translateX) that deforms the
Hit S to create a keyframe mesh in a non-permanent way
Rclick on property (eeg translateX) and hit key selected to key just one property
-> click break connections to delete all keyframes for selected
Graph editor -> lets you edit keyframes/keyframe blend timings, uses same shortcuts as when manipulating models (w
to translate, e to rotate, r to scale)
Animating with rig:
Switch between FK/IK with controls on root -> eg. Leg Left IKFK (1=IK, 0=FK, why reversed??)
Can switch between FK/IK depending on what is more convenient for motion
Able to blend to make transition between fk/ik seamless
Reset maya preferences and stuff:
Go to documents/maya and rename version folder to have _old at the end, maya will generate
A fresh version on next opening
Maya scripts:
In prefs folder, scripts, icons etc
Labs Page 3
Rigging hierarchy
Wednesday, 12 March 2025 2:25 pm
New project - project name from asmgt brief
Paste character into assets folder of project
Paste textures into sourceimages folder of project
Import character into new file (file ->import)
Save character as ao2_characterrig.001.ma -> scenes folder
Saving -> increment and save
Optimize scene important with models you get from some outside untrusted source - (file->optimize scene size->turn
everything on and apply)
Camel case
Rename mesh root with format grp_geo_characterRigModel
Rename all mesh parts with format: geo_partOfBody (eg geo_teethTop)
Rename layer on display as lyr_geo for geometry layer
Make a custom shelf that you can add stuff you use all the time to !!!!!
Make sure centred & transforms are zeroed out, scale to 1 This changes the shelves. Rigging is better for..rigging
Move tool settings -> symmetry settings -> world x (mirror stuff across x, good for working with symmetrical characters)
Tolerance->minimum
Seam tolerance->minimum
Add tool settings window, dock it on the right
Save as a02_characterRig.incrementnum(005etc)_geoClean.ma (milestone save)
Then save as a02_characterRig.006.ma (next increment num)
Rigging -> change menu from modeling to rigging
NEVER scale joints - it makes things really weird. Keep the scale at 1 always
Skeleton-> create joint (add to shelf)
Center joint in channel box, radius makes the handle bigger
the view cube is evil. being able to rotate on orthographic views is evil.
joint naming convention - jnt_root, jnt_base etc
ctrl+g group joint - group is the skeleton that holds all joints. grp_rigSkeleton or whatever I want to name it that makes
sense
xray rendering makes everything transparent
xray active rendering makes selected object visible through things
xray joint rendering makes joints visible through things
isolate selected (to the left of xrays) shows only selected
COG center of gravity joint is base of all movement
joints should be in a line ->pelvis, cog, spine1
pelvis/spine should be then rehierarchied to be both children of cog
^ needs to be split into 3 for hierarchy reasons but should all be in essentially the same place
shift+p unparent
go up spine, following curve of the body with joint tool. make as many joints as make snse. 5ish in spine 3 in neck? select child->parent and hit p to parent
head rotates at base of neck arrows of joints show parentage, ball is the actual joint
make 1 head joint - end is just for ease
jnt_head and nbj_head for the end joint - non binding joint doesn't move. maya skeletons are ~inspired~ by human skeletons but rotation points and etc is more
important than mimicking real anatomy
hold down D while joint is selected to just move the point rather than the entire joint and
eyes - they shouldnt both pivot at the same place. put joints in them all children
make sure the joints are in the center of the eye mesh -> modeling toolset -> mesh menu separate (make each eye a
different mesh in their own group.
select them and delete history Theres a way to rename all selected objects at the same time with incremented names
the eye pivots are crazy. we need to center it on the eyeballs. but they arent perfect spheres or hemispheres which is but I missed how
annoying cos the mesh center isnt the eyeball center
center the pivot, then snap to vertex from ortho side view to make it snap to that place but only on the one axis. so it’s
the center
hold D when moving a mesh -> move pivot
make joint from eye pivot through to center of pupil. jnt_L_eye and nbj_L_eye_end hold V while moving something -> snap to vertex
parent eye joints to head
arms. self explanatory
feet. self explanatory. ankle, ball, toe. heel is unnecessary
you can add a couple extra NBJ joints for ease if you want (eg palm on hand) but not too
when in doubt feel out your own joints. where do they rotate? what rotation points are most important? many….
Hold V while creating something -> snaps new thing to closest vertex to click
Labs Page 4
Joint rotation
Wednesday, 19 March 2025 2:15 pm
Rotation order: x y z
X: twist along the joint This is to avoid gimbal lock -> rotating in the middle of the order makes it really easy for gimbal lock to
y: least common rotation for the joint happen and then rotations get weird
Z: next (or most) common rotation for the joint
Rotation order: y z x:
Y: twist along the joint
Z: least common rotation for the joint
X: next (or most) common rotation for the joint
Notation order --->
Rotation order: x y z You can rip scripts from the script editor with middle mouse + drag and then if you put it on the custom
X: twist along the joint toolbar itll make a button for it.
y: least common rotation for the joint
Z: next (or most) common rotation for the joint
Notation order <---
Rotation order: x y z
Z: twist along the joint
y: least common rotation for the joint
X: next (or most) common rotation for the joint
Putting controls on joints:
- Make control shape in 2 nested groups
- Freeze transforms of shape and parents
- Select groupgroup and then bone, match all transforms
- Freeze translate of groupgroup
- Rotate/scale control shape to look nicer
MAKE SURE CONTROL PIVOT IS ON THE JOINT BALL
Then freeze joint (oana shelf) after this ^
Labs Page 5
Example rig controls - max&kayla
Wednesday, 2 April 2025 3:49 pm
Labs Page 6
Rig format
Wednesday, 7 May 2025 1:15 pm
Root - dark blue
Ik target - default (dark blue? I cant change it?)
Movable (translation) - light blue
Handle (1 axis) - green
Handle (2 axis) - yellow
Labs Page 7
Constraints
Wednesday, 7 May 2025 3:24 pm
Make sure controls are in a hierarchy as well - match the hierarchy of the rig.
Control shapes should be the parent of the next grp_grp_ctrl under it
Constraints are the icons on the rigging shelf with the chain in the top right
Or on the rigging version of the menu in the constrain submenu
Aim vector:
- Uhhhh
- Aim vector - vector pointing at control. Do not constrain in constrain axes
- Up vector - the one pointing up I guess? Except this one was a bit weird so maybe just trial and
error it
- Constrain both axes other than aim vector
FK -> controls the same as regular parent/child constraints
Dude how many arms does this guy have
IK -> controls joint chain based on position of the end of the chain
Rigging in Maya: Forward and Inverse Kinematics 2025 | AKO | LEARN
Rigging in Maya: Finger Controls and Reverse Foot
Labs Page 8
Reverse foot
Wednesday, 21 May 2025 3:00 pm
Single chain ik handle:
Ankle->ball (ball handle)
Ball->toe (toe handle)
Create rev foot joints:
Ankle, ball, toe with rev_ prefix
Create heel joint ON GROUND SURFACE at the heel.. Area
Reparent the rev joints: heel->toe->ball->ankle (reverse foot……. Get it)
Parent handles with rev foot joints:
Ankle handle (foot ik handle from earlier) ->parent-> rev heel
Rev toe joint ->parent-> toe ik handle
Rev ball joint ->parent-> ball ik handle
NOW:
HEEL JOINT: Controls foot movement PIVOTING FROM the heel
TOE JOINT: Controls foot movement PIVOTING FROM the toe
BALL JOINT: Controls toe bending
Make controls accordingly
Only active when IK is active -> set IK blend of 3 IK handles to 0 while FK is active, to prevent reverse
foot taking control
Also hide the rev foot controls with the IK controls
FK foot can just control the toe and ankle and stuff regular style
Labs Page 9
todo
Monday, 12 May 2025 7:17 pm
• Copy over controls/constraints to right side
• Skinning
• Cleanup
• Expand on bits of compendium that are currently just screenshots/links to learn
• reflection
Labs Page 10
