Just as the human body has a skeleton that provides structure for a body, digital artists rig a character with digital bones before fully transforming it into a digital human or creature.
Rigging is a digital method in animation to create a 3D model by joining a few pairs of digital bones. Adding a skeleton makes it easier to make the model move and control and can be animated at a smooth pace.
The most common places where you can find the use of Rigging are games and movies/animated series. Imagine an animated motion series where you see your character not moving correctly, and his walking and sleeping posture looks the same.
That character lacks rigging because it lacks a skeleton. You can visualize yourself in that very situation where you would be walking around without a skeleton. Correction, you can’t even move a single muscle in your body unless you have bones.
Since I have helped you all understand the concept of 3D Rigging now, we can move to the next chapter, how 3D Rigging works.
How Does 3D Rigging Work?
If you are new to Rigging, the methods and techniques might look confusing to you at first. Even though the visual art production sector does a lot of complicated work, you have to admit they are the ones in this world who create the most creative projects for our entertainment.
It is easier to create a character and add a background, but complications start once you think of adding motion to your 3D character. The task might sound easy. You might think that adding bones in your model is as easy as clicking a button.
But, before you start dreaming about the easy ways, you should know that to add the movement, one must understand the place to input the bones. Sometimes the software automatically adds movement to the model.
Still, the artist has to determine the movement most of the time, and the entire process is very time-consuming.
Here is a short guideline tour to show you how 3D Rigging works:
Placing the Skeleton
In the software, numerous options would lead you to add a skeleton to your 3D model. Placing the skeleton is probably the easiest part of the entire rigging process.
Joints
The bones are attached to form joints which again are used for body movement. It’s like the joints of your arms which help you to move it around freely. To make 3D arms move, the artist puts joints in the places, such as wrists, to make the arms swing.
Joint Hierarchy
A joint hierarchy is made up of joint and joint chains. A parent joint is a joint which is always at the top of the bone, and the bottom ones are called the child’s joints.
A parent joint takes the lead when a motion is inserted, and once a parent joint starts to move, the child joints, along with it, move automatically. There is one joint called the root joint, which is the highest joint in a hierarchy. If you rotate the root joint, you can move or turn the entire skeleton.
Now Guess Where Your Root Joint is?
Forward Kinematics: Forward kinematics is a technique of animating a 3D arm by rotating the joints. For example, say you have created a model and need to move its arm to make it make a ‘hi’ gesture. So, you rotate the shoulder up and move the wrists to make the 3D model give a ‘hi.’
Inverse Kinematics
In FK Rigging, you have to rotate the bones individually. But in Inverse Kinematics (IK), a target bone determines the movement of a particular joint chain. It is usually placed at the end of the joint to make sure the legs are on the ground while the other parts are accessible for movement.
Skinning
Because of skinning, the joints are affecting the movement of your model. The bones and joints are bound to a 3D mesh called ‘skin’ which allows the joints to be controlled.
Constraints
Constraints are a method to control a model’s position or size automatically. In Rigging, constraints are used to manage the eyes or any part, which can be done without the help of bone hierarchies.
These are a few of the primary methods which can help you understand how Rigging works.
Software for 3D Rigging
There is a lot of software out there that can be used for 3D Rigging. All of them have features that add extra spice to your creativity. Even though 3D artists use various rigging software, the most popular ones are Photoshop, Maya, Modo, Moka Studio, Cinema 4D, Fusion 360, Houdini, etc.
But most artists prefer Maya for Rigging because of its exceptional options. And if you are a beginner, I would suggest Toon Boom is a good choice for you.
There are different kinds of software out there with other functions and options. Various artists prefer additional software to make their visualizations come to life. Rigging can be found in any visual art software since it’s a part of the project, and without it, your character won’t move.
Conclusion
We know it looks like a magical place in your head when you think about joining two bones and making a 3D model move. We won’t demolish your thoughts, but Rigging is a very long process, albeit a fun activity and a job.
So, if you are thinking about Rigging, we have provided you with the software names, methods, techniques, and things you need to know as a beginner. Best of luck!
