Papa Ram's Rigging Spot

Modular Rigs

Okay so I was looking through my notes and realized what Jacob is trying to tell us.  Let me clarify as much as I can.

So referencing files was a very powerful asset when we were working on Owned.  Individual rig files were referenced into each scene, making it so every time Jeff updated the master file, it would be updated everywhere there was a reference.

Now think of that, but on a rigging level.  We build ONE facial rig that has all the controls and attributes we need. Brows, Nose, Lips, Lids, everything.  We also build ONE Leg Rig and ONE Arm rig. These rigs are not BOUND to any mesh, it's just a rig that has the movers and avars (pixar terms - avars are attributes and movers are things like joints and stuff) in place.  Those rigs are then REFERENCED into each of the character rigs and MODIFIED to fit the proportions and mesh of the character.  When we go in and add a control to the face of the referenced rig, the controls and functions will then be dispersed to EACH CHARACTER RIG!  It speeds up SO much time because we don't have to do the same job 3 times over!  Once we build ONE functional leg, we can use that bone and control setup for all 10 of the legs we will eventually have to rig!

I hope that makes sense because it should be blowing your mind right now.  It is exactly how I built my Snake at Pixar!  The movers and avars were referenced into my scene and I was able to customize them to fit my character and subsequently to the point weighting and everything.

I don't know how to do this in Maya, but we've GOT to figure it out.  This is HOW Jacob got his job at Pixar, by the way, is working with a modular system like this.  Until then - find information about how to implement this idea!

Thanks

Landon G.