IDeATe: Animation Rigging

Catalog description

Animation Rigging explores processes for building digital skeletons and control systems to drive computer animated forms. This course investigates vital techniques and concepts to create expressive, fully articulated characters for computer animation, film, and game production. Beginning with rigging fundamentals, coursework will advance through various systems and methods that are needed to convey motivated movement and expression in a variety of character forms. Certain key topics include kinematics, joint orientations, driven keys, direct connections, space switching, corrective blend-shapes, custom attributes and graphic user interfaces (GUIs), skinning and deformation. Additionally, coursework provides an introduction to scripting methods for rig creation, including expressions, Python, and MEL. Students will be provided a valuable range of tools that meet production standards for animated film and game creation, as well as a necessary conceptual framework to enable complex problem solving at all levels of rig creation. Anyone interested in the artistic and technical sides of computer animation are encouraged to enroll. Previous experience with Autodesk Maya/3D animation is preferred.