Rig it Right! Maya Animation Rigging Concepts

1

Props, Pivot Points, Hierarchies

Chapter Example Files:

chpt1_trophy_v1.ma;

chpt1_trophy_v2.ma

Rules Covered

Rule #2: Never keyframe on the geometry

Rule #7: Happy history—always delete unneeded history to keep a rig fast

Now that is a funny thing, we skipped Rule #1. It is Rule #1 for a reason. We’ll come back to it, don’t worry. For now we’ll dive into Rule #2 and a basic concept in rigging. If you don’t get any further than this chapter, you will have learned something that will certainly save your rear-end in your own personal projects. It is simple… remember your conversation with Thurston at the cocktail party about keyframing the transform node? Let’s push that concept a bit further.

First let’s think about that transformation node ...