Rigging Next-gen Characters in XSI
Pluralsight
Course Summary
Learn a production workflow for rigging and enveloping, how to create custom tools, and time-saving methods for creating game-ready character rigs. Software required: XSI 6.0 or higher (XSI 7.0 required to open project files).
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Course Description
Learn a production workflow for rigging and enveloping, how to create custom tools, and time-saving methods for creating game-ready character rigs. Contains over six hours of project-based training for artists learning character-rigging for next-generation games. Popular highlights include: Rigging Techniques for Games; Scripting Custom Tools; Groups and Transform Groups; Mirroring Rigs; Mirroring Weights; Models; Exporting Weights; Automating Follow-through; Creating Custom Spine Rigs; Character Key Sets; Intuitive Forearm Rigs; Custom Toolbars; Building Animator-friendly Controls; Animating Pivots; Enveloping Techniques; Polygon Cluster Visibility; Scene Organization; Working Creatively with Expressions. Software required: XSI 6.0 or higher (XSI 7.0 required to open project files).
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Course Syllabus
Introduction and Project Overview- 11m 35s
—Preparing the Scene for Rigging 11m 35sRigging Next-gen Characters in Xsi- 6h 37m
—Rigging the Staff 12m 34s
—Adding a Pivot Control to the Staff 7m 46s
—Creating a Button That Keys the Staff's Pivot 5m 53s
—Building the Character's Left Leg Bones 7m 13s
—Setting up Secondary Foot Controls 5m 14s
—Adding Primary Controls for the Leg 7m 15s
—Establishing a Custom Parameter to Control the Ball Roll 3m 37s
—Choosing a Good Rotation Order 3m 19s
—Creating a the Knee Control 4m 46s
—Enhancing the Knee Control to Be Animator-friendly 8m 40s
—Adding an Envelope Deformer to Preserve the Volume of the Buttocks 5m 33s
—Averaging the Movement of the Buttock Deformer 9m 28s
—Mirroring the Knee Control and the Leg and Foot Chains 10m 20s
—Mirroring the Leg and Foot Controls and Reapplying Expressions 7m 34s
—Building a Custom Spine 8m 50s
—Setting up Controls for the Spine 9m 43s
—Building the Back and Center of Gravity Controls 9m 26s
—Creating Objects to Control the Twisting of the Spine 5m 37s
—Using Expressions to Create Twist Distribution in the Spine 9m 6s
—Rigging the Neck and Head 8m 29s
—Rigging the Hair 9m 13s
—Looking at an Automated Follow-through Solution for the Hair 7m 7s
—Building the Shoulder and Arm Chains 6m 30s
—Creating a Shoulder Control 5m 43s
—Constructing the Fingers and Constraining the Left Hand 12m 5s
—Setting up the Arm Control 4m 31s
—Using Custom Parameters to Drive the Fingers 6m 43s
—Working on the Elbow Control 5m 47s
—Finishing the Elbow Control 2m 46s
—Discussing Various Ways to Rig the Forearm Twist 10m 8s
—Parent-switching the Arm 10m 5s
—Mirroring the Hand and Elbow Controls 7m 0s
—Mirroring the Shoulder Controls 9m 23s
—Retargeting the Right Hand's Fingers to Be Driven by the Correct Parameter 7m 26s
—Creating a Global Control and Double-checking the Control Rig 9m 34s
—Utilizing Character Key Sets 8m 6s
—Writing a Script to Connect Nulls on All Bones 9m 21s
—Organizing the Envelope Nulls and Enveloping the Character 8m 26s
—Blocking the Weights on the Left Leg and Hip 7m 44s
—Adding Influence to the Left Buttocks and Blocking in the Upper Body 4m 2s
—Blocking in the Chest's Weight and Using Polygon Cluster Visibility 8m 37s
—Blocking in the Neck and Head Weights 3m 26s
—Blocking in the Hair's Weight 3m 54s
—Fixing the Deformations of the Left Shoulder and Arm 5m 25s
—Wrapping up the Blocking Pass 6m 41s
—Mirroring the Blocked Weights 10m 58s
—Smoothing the Deformations of the Left Leg 9m 53s
—Fine-tuning the Abdomen Deformations 6m 48s
—Fine-tuning the Chest Deformations 4m 18s
—Tweaking the Neck and Head Deformations 4m 50s
—Smoothing the Hair's Weights 2m 45s
—Fixing the Left Shoulder and Arm Deformations 8m 25s
—Tweaking the Left Elbow, Forearm and Wrist 4m 59s
—Double-checking the Character Deformations 7m 19s
—Mirroring Smoothed Weights 4m 34s
—Bonus: Exporting Envelope Weights 2m 20s
