Abstract Rigging Workflow

1) Set Up Joints

Now the joints have been implemented into the mesh I can start to put in controls to help make it easier to move them. Controls are attached or constrained to the joints so that when you fish you only need to click the shapes surrounding the character instead of the joints themselves.

2) Add Controls To Joints

I have now added most the controls to the character. These controls have only been put on the Left hand and Centre of the rig and will be mirrored at the end of the process. After creating all the controls we now need to go into the hypershade in Maya and Do some "visual coding" as I like to think of it. This will allocate different controls to do different things so that when they are moved the joints react in a unique way predicted and chosen by you.

3) Add IK to Rig

Inverse Kinematics is where you can set a target from one joint to another so there is an almost elastic constraint between the two. Meaning that you can move just one joint and the leg will bend like a knee should or a tail will wag like you want it to. As well as adding IK to the rig you can also add pole vectors that help you twist the joints in a natural way.

4) Program Switches and Joint Restrictions in Hypershade 

In Hypershade you drag different nodes resembling the objects or actions to other nodes and link then together. For e.g. This finger controller will rotate but it will rotate 3 different joints evenly at the same time. And this can only be done by programming it to do so in the hyper shade. You can also use a controller to turn the visibility of other controllers on and off shown in the pictures down the bottom. This hand controller switches the arm between IK and FK by just changing a number as well as changing the controllers used. All using hyper shade.


Abstract Conclusion


After the question was asked "Why a beaver?" we realized that conceptually we had drifted and were looking at things too technically. Would we then try to make a realistic beaver? So we decided to move on from the beaver and create a second abstract character. This character would be the same as the realistic character showing the true differences between the two. Although the character was not bound to the rig I could still gather a conclusion on the abstract character by positioning the rig. In terms of movement and animation an abstract character is in most regards simple. Technically though the abstract is a nightmare. The more freedom the character has the more programming you need to do so the rig can perform. If you are truly worried about falling into the valley then an abstract character is a good path to take.