1. Creating Control Curves
Step 1
Open Maya. Open the file which was saved in the last part of the tutorial.
Step 2
Create a cube in the perspective view port as shown in the following image.
Step 3
With the cube selected, go to Create > CV Curve Tool and click on the option box.
Step 4
In the CV Curve Tool settings window, turn on Curve degree 1 Linear radio button.
Step 5
Turn on Point Snapping button on the status bar panel to snap the curve points onto the vertices. In this way, you can create curve on the corner vertices as shown in the following image.
Step 6
Once you create the curve, delete the poly cube.
Step 7
With
the curve selected, go to Modify > Center
Pivot command to make its pivot in the center.
Step 8
Make a duplicate of this curve and snap it to the root joint with pressing and holding the V key and dragging it onto the root joint.
Step 9
With the curve selected, press F9 key for vertex selection mode and edit the vertices as shown in the following image.
Step 10
Create a circle curve on the grid. With the curve selected, press F9 key for vertex selection mode and edit the alternate vertices as shown in the following image.
Step 11
With the circular curve selected, snap it with Spine 01 joint by pressing and holding V key.
Step 12
Create another circular curve and snap it with Spine02 joint as shown in the following image.
Step 13
Make a duplicate of the cube curve for chest control.
Step 14
Snap it with Spine joint04 and edit its shape as shown in the following image.
Step 15
With the CV Curve tool selected, turn on Grid snapping button on the status button bar and then create a two sided arrow shape curve as shown in the following image.
Step 16
Scale
down the arrow curve shape and keep it around the back neck area as shown in
the following image.
Step 17
With
the arrow curve shape selected, press and hold the D key to change the pivot position and V key to snap it to the Neck_jnt01
as shown in the following image.
Step 18
With
all control curves selected, go to Edit
> Delete by Type > History command to delete the previous history.
Step 19
With all curves selected, go to Modify > Freeze Transformations command to freeze the selected curves.
Step 20
Rename the control curves as Root_Control01, Hip_Shake_Control01, ABS_Control01, Chest_Control01 and Back_Control01 as shown in the following image.
2. Creating Clusters
Step 1
Select Spine_IK_01 as shown in the following image.
Step 2
If you zoom in, you will see a spline curve inside the Spine_IK_01. With the spline curve selected, turn on Component selection mode button on the status bar.
Step 3
Using
the Component selection mode, you can select each and every control vertex to
apply clusters.
Step 4
Select all four control vertices.
Step 5
With the bottom control vertex selected, go to Create Deformers > Cluster and click on its option box.
Step 6
In the Cluster Options window, turn on Relative Mode and then click on Create button to create cluster.
Step 7
You can see a cluster has been created on the selected control vertex.
Step 8
With the cluster selected, put some negative value in the Origin Z axis attribute to offset it a little back as shown in the following image.
Step 9
Select the next upper control vertex and go to Create Deformers > Cluster to create a new cluster.
Step 10
With the new cluster selected, put some negative value in the Origin Z axis attribute to offset it a little back as shown in the following image.
Step 11
Following the same procedure, keep creating clusters for each control vertex.
Step 12
Rename the clusters as cluster_Back, cluster_Chest, cluster_ABS and cluster_Hip as shown in the following image.
3. Parenting Clusters
Step 1
Select all clusters followed by Root_jnt01 and then press P key to parent them.
Step 2
You can select and move Root_jnt01 and you will see that all clusters move with spine.
Step 3
Select Root_Control01 followed by Root_jnt01 and then go to Constrain > Parent and click on its option box.
Step 4
In the Parent Constraint Options window, turn on Maintain Offset check box and then click on Add button to apply the parent constraint.
Step 5
Select
Hip_Shake_Control01 followed by cluster_Hip and then go to Constrain
> Point and click on its option box.
Step 6
In the Point Constraint Options window, turn on Maintain Offset check box and then click on Add button to apply the point constraint.
Step 7
Select ABS_Control01 followed by cluster_ABS and then go to Constrain > Point constraint command.
Step 8
Select
Chest_Control01 followed by cluster_Chest and then
go to Constrain > Point constraint command.
Step 9
Select Back_Control01 followed by cluster_Back and then go to Constrain > Point constraint command.
4. Parenting Controls
Step 1
Select Back_Control01 followed by Chest_Control01 and then press P key to parent them.
Step 2
With Chest_Control01 selected, go to Window > General Editors > Connection Editor.
Step 3
In the Connection Editor window, you can see the Chest_Control01 attributes at left side. With Spine_IK_01 selected, click on Reload Right button.
Step 4
At the left side, select rotate Y axis of Chest_Control01 followed by Twist attribute at the right side of Spine_IK_01. Click on Close button.
Step 5
To test the connections, rotate Chest_Control01 and you will see the Spine_IK_01 rotates in the same way.
Step 6
Select Hip_Shake_Control01 followed by Root_Control01 and then press P key to parent them.
Step 7
Select ABS_Control01 followed by Root_Control01 and then press P key to parent them.
Step 8
Select Chest_Control01 followed by Root_Control01 and then press P key to parent them. It means Root_Control01 is the main parent of all controls.
Step 9
For testing connectivity of the controls, unhide all skinned body mesh with joints. Rotate some controls randomly and you will see the body deforms accordingly.
Step 10
Check Hip_Shake_Control01 also.
Step 11
You can also check Chest_Control01 for proper deformation as per the pose of the character. In this way, you have rigged all upper body parts successfully.
5. Creating Color Code
Step 1
You must apply a color code for identifying various controls curve easily. With L_Foot_Control01 selected, press Ctrl + A key to open it attributes settings. Click on Drawing Overrides tab in the Attribute Editor.
Step 2
Turn on Enable Override option and then set the Color slider to red.
Step 3
With R_Foot_Control01 selected, turn on Enable Override option and then set the Color slider to green.
Step 4
Following
the same way, change the color of L_KneeControl01 to red and R_KneeControl01
to green. It means you need to set every right side control curves to green and
left side control curves to red.
Step 5
Set the color of Root_Control01 to yellow.
Step 6
Set the color of Hip_Shake_Control01 to turquoise.
Step 7
In this way, you have changed the colors of the various control curves. This practice is required from animation point of view.
Step 8
In
this way, the upper torso rigging is completed.
Conclusion
Creating control curves is an essential part of rigging as it makes the animation process easy. In the next part of the tutorial, I will show you how to create controls for hand.
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