Tutorials

rigTip on Transformation Rigs

Recently I worked on a transformation rig (organic) where a guy
little cartoon character transforms into a big cartoon hulk like
character. The character I was setting up was not a creature but a very toony cartoon rig with a lot of cartoon like deformation functionality for body and facial system. After spending some time on R&D and brainstorming,”EUREKA”!

The technique lies in building 2 separate rigs, one for the small guy and the
other for the bigger guy. Both of these rigs (each of these rigs are laid out with all the features and deformation controls needed for a cartoony articulation) are controlled by a master rig. Think about it as a sort of IK-FK blending where we can intuitively blend from IK to FK and vice-versa. The target character model is then connected through blendshape from the 2 models (small guy & hulk) each controlled by separate rigs! Finally the new
model can now be transformed from a small guy to a big guy, seamlessly through a custom attribute 🙂

You can use this tip to transform a character into any other
character; biped to quadruped; cat to dog; man to hulk!
Hope this helps…

Animation Resource ~ Walk-Cycle

Some of the wonderful resources on  animating a Character Walk-Cycle. Feel free to browse through all of them before you get started! Great stuff 🙂


A real time demo of how to approach animating a basic 3D walk cycle using Maya!   
Walk-Cycle tutorial at Angry Animator:

In-depth Walk Cycle tutorial by Francis Jasmin:
First step guides on creating a Walk-Cycle emphasizing on walks, runs, animation principles like Anticipation, use of the right tools, work flow by Michael Berenstein: