Post 05 - Reconstructing the Rig for Human IK

I wanted to use the Maya rig I created for my NSD module, however, as it is an already established rig with IK solvers and other effectors etc, I was unable to use the Human IK solver. In light of this, I made an executive decision and felt that the ability to use the Human IK solver would be extremely helpful; so any effort and time spent making this a possibility would be well spent. As a result of this, I quickly researched the skeleton generator (I tool I knew nothing about during my NSD rigging module) and deleted all but the head of the original skeleton. I will be using the same mesh as it still contains the facial blend shapes as well as the Face UI.

I created a new skeleton, lined it up with the mesh and then began the skinning process all over again. I then created the independent finger and toe set driven key controls so that these would function in the same way as in the original rig. The original head joints were then combined with the hierarchy of the recently generated skeleton. Once this was established, I began to box model some accessories (at this stage shorts and some knee pads). I intend to make a few more additions but these can be done along the way. I feel that it would be beneficial to have the characters in clothing as it would make a scene or animation clearer when more than one character was present in the shot and is better than having a simple anatomical rig. I plan on modelling a couple of weapons and possibly some light armour.


I have now applied the Human IK solver to the rig and created a control rig from it. This allows for IK and FK blending as well as many offer useful tools such as auxiliary effectors for object interaction and joint pinning. One thing which I didn't like about the Human Ik solver is the finger and toe controls. By default, these act as mini IK/FK controlled elements. When solved, my custom controls can no longer be used for digit control. To compensate for this, I configured the human IK solver to not include the digit joints. This resulted in the figure being able to construct a series of controllers which are not dependent of the main rig; therefore, the rig can be controlled up to the wrists and feet. The digits can still be controlled using the custom attributes. I have been testing this rig during each stage of development and so far has responded well.