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Automatic Hand Rigger
Description:
Automatically rig a hand with a customizable joint size and number of children joints between the main finger tips and the thumb. This tool utilizes 3 contexts which enable the user to effectively isolate the positions of key hand joints and determine the number of intermediary joints between the main joints.
**Rig a hand with up to 50 joints in minutes. Extends Maya's current draw curve and paint weight contexts by enabling joints to be placed along curves and allowing users to indicate (using paint select) where to place joints along their hand mesh.
Loading the script:
- After downloading the script extract the .zip file to your local hard disk drive or a local directory.
- This will be the directory path where all the supporting documents and the base script will be found so ensure it is on your local machine and is visible to Maya.
- Copy the file path to wherever you saved the extracted folder on your local environment. This should look like C://FilePath.../AutoHandRig/
- When the code is executed in the Maya script editor, a file path prompt will appear.
- Paste this file path into the prompt field to ensure all images and context icons are loaded in successfully.
- Within the extracted zip folder is 3 subfolders entitled src, images and Videos.
- The src folder contains the base script itself and which will be needed to be copied to the maya script editor to execute the code.
- The images folder contains supporting images and outcomes of using the tool.
- Videos contains tutorial videos on how to use each component of the tool effectively.
Figure 1.1 Context icons loaded successfully
Figure 1.2 Unsuccessful loading of context icons
Loading the tool into a Maya session
Paint Rig Weights:
Summary:
Figure 1.3 Paint Weights in Action
Paint weights extends the native paint select context tool in maya. It allows users to select control points on their hand mesh, which is then used to interpolate joint chains between those control positions and create the hand rig. See Figure 1.3
Using Paint Weights:
Video 1.1 Paint Select Controls
Video 1.2 Painting Hand Weights
Video 1.3 Painting joints with Maya's select context
Curve Joints:
Summary:
Figure 1.4 Draw Curve Joints in Action
Figure 1.5 CV Curve Joints in Action
Curve Joints extend the native draw curve and CV curve contexts from Maya. These tools let users draw and position custom joints along a curve. Using these tools also allow users to customize the joint display size and the number of joints required along the drawn curve. See Figure 1.4 and Figure 1.5
Using Draw Curve Joints:
Video 1.1 Drawing Curve Joints
Video 1.2 CV Curve Joints
Tool-Tips:
- For the best results, ensure that the mesh viewport is not in perspective mode when using the tools. Use one of the orthographic views (recommended top view).
- Always uncheck all checkboxes whenver re-painting joints onto the mesh.
- Remember to delete all joints each time a new joint set is required.
- For extra information on either the brush window or main rigging window, press the Help->About tab to find out a bit more information about using either menu.
- Whenever switching between tools, close the previous tool window if the side context bar is not switching to the new context.
**Note**
This tool works best for polygonal type objects. NURBS and Curve
Type input meshes are unsupported and using them may cause
Maya internal errors or crashes. It is highly recommended to use
Polygons.
