Post 28 - Hips, jaw and master controls

The rig is now technically fully established, the last process to take care of is to create the final manipulators and to colour coordinate it (same as 3ds Max, green for the right and red for the left).

Hip & Hip Override Manipulators

Very quick and simple, first up are the hip manipulators. These (also like 3ds Max) are circle 'hoops'. Their pivot points are snapped and aligned to the hip joint and then the hip joint is parented to the hip manipulator. This one controls the upper body and when lowered effects the bend of the legs. a smaller circle is next, the hip override joint is parented to this one. This will control the rotation of just the hip and so will not effect the upper body.

Jaw Manipulator

Next up is a control for the jaw. For facial rigging, which will be covered a a few weeks time, blend shapes tend to be favourable, but for the purpose of rigging, I shall rig a simple jaw also. A custom controller is made, then its pivot point is aligned with the jaw pivot point. The jaw is then given a parent constraint. This means that the jaw will 'look at' where ever the jaw manipulator is (look at constraint in 3ds Max). All but the jaw manipulator's translation attributes are then locked and hidden to avoid unwanted transforms.

Master Manipulator

The final control is the master control. This is a NURBS curve, which has been used to create a N,S,E,W, arrow controller. This is placed at the center, under the rig. Then ,all of the rig items are then grouped to it. This means that the whole rig and its controllers will move with the master control. 

 

Here is a breakdown of the rig so far.

Progress status...

Coords X,Y,Z, 0,0,0,

"1"(         
(Toes_Left&Right:CustAttributes_SetDrivenKeys)
(Foot_Left&Right:IKSCSolver_CustAttributes+MinMax_ConnectionEditor)
(Leg_Left&Right:IKRPSolver_CustAttributes_ConnectionEditor_IKFKBlend)
(Hip)
(Hip Override)
(Arm_Left&Right:IKRPSolver_CustAttributes_ConnectionEditor_IKFKBlend)
(Hand_Left&Right)
(Fingers_Left&Right:CustAttributes_SetDrivenKeys)
(Spine:IKSplineTool_VertToCluster_CustControl_IKFKBlend)
(Neck&Head:IKSplineTool_VertToCluster_CustControl_IKFKBlend)
(ParentManipToJoint/s)

(Group)

) 

"2" (

(Manipulators:_Toes_Foot_Knee_Hip_HipOveride_Clavicle_Elbow_ArmWrist_Fingers_Spine_

Neck_Jaw_Master)

)

In Addition to this breakdown, many other common procedures and tools were used such as: Freeze Transformations, Channel Controls (Lock and Hide), Mirroring items and joints (many IK systems cannot simply be mirrored over so the process had to be repeated for left to right).

Colour Coordinated with All controls

Here is a clip of the controls being used.

Main control usage clip - LINK