Rigging
After working through this whole concepting phase, we need to work on getting some bones into the character so we can animate her. We will be using Autodesk’s Maya 2022 to rig our character. The points we will go over will be principles, not technical details. Depending on your DCC tool, you may encounter slightly different terminology, however, the following terms will generally apply to any of the major DCCs in use for game development.
Animation-first thinking
When beginning the rigging task, the most efficient way to work is by having a detailed conversation about the animations themselves with the artists who will be responsible for them. Even if you’re doing the animations yourself, successful rigs are ones that ensure the animator doesn’t need an explanation of what each control does. There may be some technical attributes, but overall if a control doesn’t need something, it should be locked and hidden.
When the animator moves...
