| With the rigging of the limbs for both characters completed, we can now move on to implement the main body controls. These will enable easier manipulation of Kila's hips, spine, and waist. Then we'll do similar work on Grae's body. Hips and Spine Moving the main upper body of the characters will be done using the hips as the main control point. We simply need to create an icon to represent the hips' position and rotation. 1. | Working in the Kila_LegRig.mb file again, create a third NURBS circle. | 2. | Snap the circle to the main Root joint of the hips. Then scale the circle as shown in Figure 12.54, so it lies outside the geometry of the character. Figure 12.54. Manipulate the circle so it lies outside Kila's hips. | 3. | Freeze the transforms and delete the history before renaming the circle to Root_Control. Before we connect this icon to the root joint, we need to create two groups; these will help us add further control to the waist later. | 4. | Select the main root joint and group it twice. Call the first group WaistControl, and the second one RootControl. Make sure the pivot for RootControl lies over the root joint, and the pivot for WaistControl lies over the first joint of the spine. | 5. | Select the circle and, holding Shift, select the RootControl group (using Hypergraph or Outliner). Apply a point constraint followed by an orient constraint; for both, make sure that Maintain Offset is turned off. |
Now the main root of the character can be translated and rotated via the Root_Control icon. The spine is made of very few joints, so we don't need any fancy controls to animate it. All we need is to create some iconic representation that we can use to pose it. 1. | Import Icon_Arrow.mb, and point-snap it to the first joint on the spine (Figure 12.55, left). You may also need to adjust the arrow's scale so it is clearly visible. Figure 12.55. Adjust the arrow so it points toward the joint it will control. | 2. | Move the arrow back so that it exists outside the geometry, rotating it to point toward the joint it will be controlling (Figure 12.55, right). When you're done, freeze the transforms. | 3. | So the arrow will rotate around the correct pivot, snap its pivot back to the lower spine joint. | 4. | To connect the arrow and the spine joint, select the arrow first and then, holding Shift, the spine joint; perform an orient constraint on them. | 5. | Rename the arrow to Lower_Spine. | 6. | Repeat this procedure to create arrows for the other two spine joints, calling the arrows Middle_Spine and Upper_Spine and positioning them as seen in Figure 12.56. Figure 12.56. Position all three control icons for the spine joints. In the current arrangement, if we rotate one of the lower arrows, the pivots for the others become misalignedwhen we animate them, they won't be moving around the correct pivots (Figure 12.57, left). We want them to stay locked to the joints they are controlling. We could use a point constraint to make this happen, but the spine will still animate unrealistically. Instead, we take a simpler approach. Figure 12.57. Parent the arrows to maintain proper rotations. | 7. | Parent the Upper_Spine arrow to the Middle_Spine arrow, and then the Middle_Spine arrow to the Lower_Spine arrow. Finally, parent the Lower_Spine arrow to the main Root_Control icon. This ensures that the spine will animate correctly while keeping the controls in their correct positions (Figure 12.57, right). | 8. | One last thing to do: Make sure all the new icons are placed in the Rig_Controls layer. |
Waist Control Another icon to be added next will give us control of the pelvic area, independently of the upper body. We will use the WaistControl group created earlier. 1. | For the icon to represent this control, create another NURBS circle and name it Waist_Control. | 2. | Position and scale the circle as shown in Figure 12.58 (left), so it lies just above the Root_Control icon. Remember to freeze the transforms and delete the history afterward. Figure 12.58. Position the circle above the root control and snap its pivot to the lower spine joint. | 3. | Point-snap the pivot for the circle to the lower spine joint (Figure 12.58, right). | 4. | So that you can control the waist with the circle, select the Waist_Control icon and then the WaistControl group and apply an orient constraint. |
As demonstrated in Figure 12.59, the waist will rotate without affecting the spineperfect for adding a feminine touch to Kila's walk and allowing her to dance if she is shown at work during the game (we know from the back story that she's a professional dancer). 5. | Parent the Waist_Control to the Root_Control so that the icon stays in its correct position. |
Figure 12.59. Kila's waist now rotates free from the spine. Kila's spine and waist are now fully rigged; this is a good place to save the scene, as Kila_TorsoRig.mb. Go ahead and implement the same spine and waist rig into Graeit's a good idea to add the same waist controls to all your characters, as it adds further freedom to their movements. Save this scene as Grae_TorsoRig.mb. |