Tutorial: FK/Ik matching

Oh my, what's this!?!?! Another post in the month of July! That makes for a total of 3 whole posts this month (a loud gasp is heard from the masses)! Yeah yeah yeah, I'm as surprised as the rest of you;) Who knows, maybe I'll become a "good" blogger after all. Hah! I doubt that very much...

Anyway, I just finished a tutorial that I have been meaning to write for a while now. It's a tutorial on how I do the fk/ik matching in my rigs. It's about 7 or so pages long. I quickly cover how I create my arm rigs as well as the MEL code that I use to match one rig to the other. Hopefully, it is clear enough (and not too boring) to follow along. Of course this is just one way to do this task. But, it seems to work well for me. It also seems to be very quick for Maya to evaluate.

The download consists of:
1) A Maya scene (created in Maya 7.0.1, but should work in Maya 7-2008)
2) the tutorial (".pdf" style)
3) the MEL scripts

Go ahead, sit back with a big, hot cup of (strong) coffee and read on...

Here is the direct link:
Tim's fkik_snapping/matching_tutorial

Cheers and enjoy!
Tim

Tutorial #1: Basic Guy Dress up

While putting the finishing touches on Basic Guy v3.0 (not pictured... the one pictured is the "old" version), I decided to finally start a tutorial section on my site. The first tutorial that I've done is rather basic in nature. I have received a few emails asking me how to change Basic Guys geometry so it appears that he is wearing clothes. Some people have already figured out how to "dress" him for their animations, and in doing so have inspired others around the world. I felt that this would be a great place for me to share some of my knowledge and also play with some other software other than Maya.

I have never laid out the uvs for him, but instead I apply different colors to different geometry faces. Sure, this isn't anywhere near as cool or powerful as an actual texture, but it does help change basic guy's appearance. He is after all... Basic Guy;)

I actually had quite a bit of fun creating this video tutorial. I plan on finding the time to create more in the future (unless the masses tell me to never make another one!). God knows that there is TONS of better material out there to teach you Maya, animation, modeling, or whatever. But, I also love to share the knowledge that I have learned over the years. Maybe someone will learn something while watching my videos. It's also a fun way for me to document things that I can look back on years later and laugh at!

Anyway, I'm sorry that this isn't the post announcing BG 3.0, but I do promise that it will be very soon. He is actually about 99% done. I am just making sure that everything is as clean as can be before I release him to the world.

Here is the link to the tutorial section of my site:
BasicGuy Dressup Tutorial

Cheers and happy animating!