VFX Academy of Design

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Rigging

Learn the complexities of mechanical rigs

This course is an exploration of solving various mechanical rigging challenges in Maya. Topics include model preparation, rig organization, joint hierarchies, rig controls, dynamic rigging setups, and much more! Students will work with 3D assets provided by the instructor and put everything together in a final project, and will have the chance to learn this key aspect of VFX from a long-time industry professional.

Registration Now Open

Registration Period

Oct 09, 2024 - Jan 28, 2025

Course Start

Jan 23, 2025

Course Format

Standard

Skills Level

Intermediate

Duration

8 weeks

Q&A

Once a week

Feedback

Individually recorded

Lecture Type

Pre-recorded

Assignment

Due each week. Expect to spend 10-20 hrs/wk viewing lectures, Q&A, and time on assignments.

PREREQUISITES

Intro to Rigging ; a working beginner's knowledge of how to rig

MATERIALS

Lectures created in Maya 2018.4. Student software requirement: Maya 2017 or later

The more you know, the better.

Week #1

Introduction and Course Overview | Mechanical Rigging Foundations 1

Inspiration and reference

Week #2

Mechanical Rigging Foundations 2

Questions to ask before you start rigging | Model review and preparation (clean model, handling model changes) | Rig organization (model, anim controls, and rig nodes) | Transforms, joints and hierarchies (world/obj/local spaces) | Pivot point strategies (ways to find pivot points) | Creating pivot utility scripts and your own tool script library | Working with joints (orients, euler/gimbal, rotation order)

Week #3

Industrial Robot Arm Rig 1

Week #4

Industrial Robot Arm Rig 2

Week #5

Industrial Robot Arm Rig 3

Week #6

Mechanical Rigging Scripts/Tools | Cambot Rig 1

Head and neck skeleton and rig controls | Leg skeleton and rig controls | Replicating the leg rig | Attaching geometry

Week #7

Cambot Rig 2

Week #8

Cambot Rig 3 | Class Wrap Up

Final rigs

Real heroes don't wear capes they teach.

Martin L'Anton

Rigging TD/Rigging Architect

LECTURES BY Tim Coleman

Course Start: Jan 23, 2025

Martin L'Anton is a rigging artist and pipeline technical director with a decade of experience in the entertainment industry. He has always been drawn towards animation and video games. Later, while studying all aspects of animated movies and visual effects, he decided to settle for the puzzles and problem-solving challenges posed by rigging and technical art in general, leading to a focused interest in comparative anatomy, mechanics, and software development. His favorite part of production is finding elegant and efficient ways to simplify workflows and rigs, to "Keep It Simple Stupid", in order to make for more intuitive tools, rigs, and workflows.

Martin has worked on a wide range of projects, from animated TV shows like Angry Bird Stella, to video games like Luigi's Mansion 3, visual effects movies like Guardians of the Galaxy or Okja, and to animated feature films like Adams Family, Superpets, and many other projects.

Instructor's Gallery

PRICING SCHEDULE

Even though our courses are the most affordable for the quality of education, these finance options allow you to focus on your goals instead of the barriers that keep you from reaching them.

3x Payments

$233

2x Payments

$349.50

Full payment

$699

Winter TERM REGISTRATION Now Open

Oct 09, 2024 - Jan 27, 2025

COURSE BEGINS on Jan 23, 2025

What makes this learning experience unique?

PERSONALIZED FEEDBACK

Receive personalized feedback on all assignments from the industry’s top professionals.

LIFETIME ACCESS

Enjoy lifetime access to the spectrum of course content, including lectures, live Q&As, and feedback sessions.

CERTIFICATION

Show off your Certification of Completion when you turn in 80% of course assignments.

FLEXIBLE LEARNING

Learn anywhere, anytime, and at your own pace with flexible, online course scheduling.

Tim Coleman is the best instructor I had so far at CGMA. Actually he is something more than just an instructor. He is a mentor.

Chris

Tim is easily the best online instructor I’ve had. Maybe even the best teacher I’ve ever had. He is knowledgeable, patient, thorough in his explanations and takes an interest in the students.

Ricardo

Tim is an amazing teacher, and I’m so glad I took this class. He does a fantastic job of explaining Python, which is something I’ve struggled with in the past.

Brett

Extremely quick and thoughtful in his responses to forum and QA questions. Almost invariably going beyond the scope of each question to give further insight.

Aaron

The course content was very clear, with explanations of the workflow that were easy to understand. The content was paced very well and provided plenty of challenges to help learn the methodological and analytical skills required in this occupation.

Andrew

What the course description doesn’t mention is that Tim also focuses on how to rig in a far more Professional Manner throughout the course. He does this by sharing tools he’s developed in his day-to-day use and breaks them down for those interested in becoming professional riggers.

Eric

In this course, I had 2 different instructors: the one in the lecture videos and another one during the Q&A. They both complemented each other and gave me different ways of doing things or point of views, which is very good.

Diana

Mechanical Rigging