Basic Robot Arm Rig Part 2 of 2

Basic rigging tutorial for a mechanical joint setup of a robotic arm. Enjoy, and please leave any comments of questions.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• +Maya
• +Rigging
• +Robot
• +Mechanical
• +3D
• +CGI
• +Tutorial

[UnEmployedGnome]

Using the MCC ik solver and setting the degrees of freedom and rotation limits per joint would make all this much easier, it would eliminate the need for the set driven key and only require one set of bones. Also doesn't need a Pole vector. Just remember to orient each bone along the rotation axis of the mechanism it corresponds too.

[TheDamagedDesign]

@UnEmployedGnome Hi, I must admit I am not familiar with the MCC solver. However I do find that all the studios I have worked at and rigs I have used still need a pole-vector to animate, this still is a necessity of animation and can not be removed. Plus the aim of the tutorial is not just the simplest way to do this but also to educate people about joint axis and rotation order.

[TheDamagedDesign]

@UnEmployedGnome The reason a set-driven setup was added is because invariably any set of deform joints is always used in connection with at least 2 setups or more. The tutorial must be educational about how this can be done, I chose set driven, but there are also many other ways to do this.This process is much more helpful than just locking joint axis and applying IK to the same joints. What you suggest as a workflow might be simple but wont be a very educational or studio production friendly.

[TheDamagedDesign]

@TheDamagedDesign EDIT: I didn't use set driven, used connection editor.

[soaringchicken]

This is amazing, so much education in so little time! Unfortunately the only part I was hoping you would go into was the part you said was "simple and not worth going into".... How do you break a solid object such as your arm into sections that relate to certain bones? When I try to do this with smoothskinning and painting it glitches out like hell!

Thanks!

[TheDamagedDesign]

@soaringchicken , Thanks for checking out the tutorial. What I will do is cover this question in another video. Its a simple enough process. I'm just working on a small web design project at the moment, once its complete I will work on a few more vids. Glad you enjoyed the tutorial.

[UnEmployedGnome]

I see what your saying about trying to be educational and pack a few different techniques in to learn one video. All that aside I was just trying to point out that for a purely "mechanical rig" there is a better solution( like parenting to the bone rather than skinning) that is both quick to setup and easy to animate.

[UnEmployedGnome]

@TheDamagedDesign The MCC solver eliminates the pole vector because the degrees of freedom and rotation limits determine witch way the "elbow" points. A pole vetor is useful when the root is a ball joint, like the human shoulder, and it could spin in any direction.

[karandasiceman]

Awesome tut. Hope to see more of ya :)

[vmsoni]

thanks bro.



[TheDamagedDesign]

@Angelbladecobus Thankyou, I will be posting the torso and leg tutorials in a short while. Glad this helped :)