Kinematics

...with Alex Alvarez

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Kinematics: 1: Skeletons

Everything one needs to know about creating skeletons, which will behave predictably in Maya. Regardless of whether controls will be forward or inverse, a clean skeleton is critical for an intuitive workflow. The same is true for when geometry will later be skinned to the joints. This lecture thoroughly discusses joint placement, orientation and behavior modification.

01: Introduction
02: Creating Joints
03: Joint Tool options
04: Joint Orientation
05: Scale Compensate
06: Mirroring Joints
07: Credits

Kinematics: 2: Forward Kinematics

The process of animating a skeleton via joint rotation is known as forward kinematics. There are several ways to create forward kinematic controls on a skeleton, however, which are intuitive and flexible. Through the use of expressions and ‘set driven key', animation can be streamlined. Useful applications of these techniques range from spines and tails to hands and fingers.

Expressions

Set Driven Key
Locators
Scripts

01: Introduction
02: Pose Buttons
03: Set Driven Key
04: SDK Hand
05: Connection Editor
06: Expressions
07: Attr. Goal Editor
08: Credits

Kinematics: 3: Inverse Kinematics

Before one can effectively rig a character's skeleton to behave intuitively, the basics of Inverse Kinematics in Maya must be understood. This lecture explains all of the IK Handle Tool's settings from a real-world workflow point of view. The four IK Handle Tool types are demonstrated and their settings explained.

2B Handle

01: Introduction
02: Overview
03: Solver Basics
04: Snap Enable
05: Solver Enable
06: End Effector
07: RP vs SC
08: Limits / Stiffness
09: Credits

Kinematics: 4: Arms and Legs

This lecture discusses techniques that can be effectively used to rig a character's arms and legs. While one can animate a character by setting keys directly on IK Handles, this can yield very cumbersome and non-intuitive results. By using a range of techniques involving groups, pivots, effectors, expressions and custom attributes, character controls can become quick and flexible.

Grouping

01: Introduction
02: Overview
03: Deconstruction
04: Joints
05: Arms
06: Wrist
07: Legs
08: Custom Attrs
09: Credits

This video was added to our catalog on November 04, 2005 in Digital Art - 3D::Animation.

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