How to Animate a Rigged Character in 3ds Max

How to Animate a Rigged Character in 3ds Max

Rigging Mechanical Objects in 3ds Max

By George Maestri for Autodesk University

Many people normally employ 3ds Max software'due south rigging tools for characters, just you can too use them to rig things such as vehicles, motors, pistons, assemblies, conveyor belts, and more. This article demonstrates practical applications of 3ds Max software's extensive rigging tools to automate the animation of a diverseness of mechanical objects and systems.

Mechanical Rigging in 3ds Max

What Is Rigging?
Rigging is a process that makes complex assemblies of objects easier to breathing and manage. Rigging is virtually commonly associated with character animation, but the same tools directly apply to complex mechanical objects and assemblies. A good rig will practise the following:

• Automate as much as possible
  If parts of the associates always motion in relation to other parts, then these tin can be automated to cutting down on animator overhead. Gears in a clock can be rigged to turn in relation to each other, pistons can automatically compress/expand, and so on.
• Create realistic move
  Parts in an associates should motility realistically and stay in proper alignment.
• Be animator-friendly
  A good rig will abstract the animation to a drove of controls that the animator volition manipulate. The goal is to have the animator work the controls and never have to touch on the mesh.
• Be easy to understand
  Rigging is substantially a figurer interface, so expert interface guidelines should utilise. Make controls clear and like shooting fish in a barrel to understand, provide labels if needed, and color code key parts of the rig.

Designing and Creating a Rig

Designing and creating a rig is like to creating a user interface. When considering how to rig an assembly, you demand to become through a general iterative blueprint procedure:

Understand How the Object Moves
When creating a rig for a mechanical object, you demand to know how it should motility. You lot need to know exactly how the parts are connected and how they interact. This may require research most the mechanics of the object, and you may have to talk to engineers or designers. You also need to know limitations of the object'due south move — how far is it supposed to bend? Does the dial get in increments or is it continuous? Finally, you should also consider how the object will be presented. If a particular action is never shown in the presentation, you may not need to rig it.

Decide What Needs to Be Controlled
As the rigger, you need to make decisions nearly what can and cannot be animated in an object or assembly. A hydraulic arm may merely need to exist positioned in space, and so yous can give the animator a single position command and rig the rest. Something more circuitous, such an airplane, may need additional controls for things like landing gear and propeller rotation.

Determine What Tin Be Automated
The rig is supposed to make life easier for the animator. This ways the rig should control much of the behavior of the assembly. Hydraulic pistons can automatically expand/contract, hoses can bend automatically, gear assemblies can rotate in sync, and then on. Automating these things is where rigging really matters to an animator. Be sure to empathise the animator's part and what needs to be controlled before rigging.

Make Information technology Animator Friendly
Your rig is the user interface for the scene and the objects being blithe. Make that interface easy to use. Observe adept interface design practices with your rigs. Make controls easy to spot, utilize shapes to define part, utilise colour equally a guide, and be sure to add labels, if needed.

Go on It Simple
Equally with whatsoever good interface blueprint, simpler is nigh e'er better. Keep the controls direct and easy to empathise. Don't add controls for things that do not demand to exist animated. Brand the resulting blitheness elementary to control equally well. You don't want a spaghetti bowl of blitheness curves for the animator to wade through.

Test until Information technology Doesn't Interruption
Recollect of every possible mode to motion the rig and run it through its paces before handing it over to the animator. Brand sure the rig is rock solid.

Creating Controls

When edifice a rig, we need to create controls that are animator-friendly. These controls are typically created using non-renderable objects such equally curves and text objects. Proxy objects can also be used equally controls. These controls should be easy to sympathise and placed where they are easy to access. Naming schemes and color schemes tin can besides help with readability.

On-Object Controls
These are controls that are placed on/well-nigh the objects being controlled. The scoop of a earthworks motorcar may have a rotational control directly above the scoop.

Multi-Purpose Controls
Some controls may be easier to utilize if they control more than 1 parameter. In the in a higher place example, the rotational control for the scoop could be used to decide the position of the digger'south arm.

Control Panels
Y'all may need to abstract and/or consolidate controls into a single control panel. This is often useful for assemblies where there are a lot of parameters to manage. In general, the animator should always be operating the controls and not the object itself. This enables the mesh of the object to be frozen so that is not tampered with, moved out of alignment, deleted, and then on.

Rigging Tools

3ds Max has a number of rigging tools. Some are very easy to use, others are more than complex. Typically, we start with the simpler tools and work towards the more circuitous ones in the rig. Mostly, the goal is to go along the rig equally simple equally possible, so simpler tools tend to fit this goal. Don't make things more than complicated than necessary just because you have a lot of really cool tools in your arsenal. Other people may take to sue/debug your rigs, and so easier to understand rigs make sense. That said, more circuitous tools can provide a lot of functionality and they should absolutely be used when needed.

Basic Four Rigging Tools

These rigging tools are the simplest, simply many times, they are all y'all demand. If yous learn these, you'll be able to do a lot of basic rigging.

Pivots
These simply ascertain the axis of rotation and scale for whatsoever object. Placement of this axis is critical for anything involving rotation. Centering the pivot may not align direct to the volumetric center of the object. If you lot demand multiple pivots, then you must create helper objects such as a dummy or bespeak to position the other axis of rotation.

Links/Hierarchies
This simply connects objects together in a hierarchy. The structure of the hierarchy usually reflects how the object will be animated, but novel hierarchies can also be used. Many times, we may link helper objects or animation controls into a bureaucracy to make it easier to breathing.

Inverse Kinematics
Allows objects to rotate automatically to meet a goal object. Traditionally used in character animation, it can be used for all sorts of mechanical assemblies, from robotic armatures to pistons. Several types of IK are bachelor:

• Howdy (History-Independent) — Normally used for characters and longer sequences, it allows for the IK solution to be calculated on every frame. Information technology does basic articulation rotation but no sliding joints.
• HI (History-Dependent) — The Hard disk Solver is a solver well-suited to use for animating machines, particularly ones with sliding parts that require IK animation. It lets you ready joint limits and precedence. It has performance issues on long sequences, so ideally use it on brusque animation sequences. It is good for animating machines, especially ones with sliding parts.
• IK Limb — Only works for two-os chains. Fast to utilize, but limited in application.
• Spline IK — Allows a spline curve to control the orientation of the joints/objects. Information technology is expert for hoses, springs, and other flexible objects.

Constraints
A method of connecting parameters together outside of traditional hierarchies. Constraints can be used to align an object'southward position, rotation, or calibration to another. They can also exist used to point objects at ane some other, and attach them to paths or surfaces.

Extended Rigging Tools/Concepts
3ds Max has a number of sophisticated rigging tools that go across the standard 4. These can innovate a effectively degree of command over your rigs and add much more sophisticated behaviors.

Animation Controllers
These are modules that control an object's movement, and are actually the foundation of all animation in 3ds Max. Controllers can use standard keyframing techniques to create motion, but they can also be used to connect objects together using algorithms, procedures, or other processes.

Morphs — Morphs are used to control shape. They tin can exist used for flexible objects such as springs and hoses.

Wire Parameters
Wire Parameters lets you link whatsoever two object parameters in the viewport, so that adjusting 1 parameter changes the other automatically. This enables y'all to fix up 1- and two-way connections betwixt specified object parameters, or to command whatever number of objects with a dummy object containing the desired parameters. By wiring parameters, you can fix custom constraints directly without having to go to Track View and assign controllers. You can also add expressions to Wired Parameters to innovate mathematics and logic to object connections.

Expressions
If you want to dig fifty-fifty deeper, you can use the Expression Controller to more discretely control objects using math, logic, and bones coding.

George Maestri is an animation industry professional with extensive experience as a writer, manager, and producer, working on a number of hitting boob tube shows, including South Park and Rocko's Modern Life. Every bit an entrepreneur, he built a successful studio that produced several hundred cartoons for broadcast, instruction, and motion picture. George has written over a dozen books on figurer graphics. As an educator, he has taught at several top animation schools, including California Institute of the Arts. He currently authors and develops CAD and 3D content for LinkedIn Learning and Lynda.com.

Learn more than with the full course at AU online: Rigging Mechanical Objects in 3ds Max.

How to Animate a Rigged Character in 3ds Max

Source: https://medium.com/autodesk-university/rigging-mechanical-objects-in-3ds-max-678fc8e22bce