Autorig 2.0

Modular Autorig from Guillaume FERRACHAT on Vimeo.
Watch on Youtube

Introduction

Here's my third automatic rigging script, written it in Python. I made it because I needed something that could let me rig absolutely every kind of character. That's why this new script is not a basic autorig for bipedal character, but more like a big rigging toolbox that I will enhance whenever I need something new. The idea is that I don't click one button to generate a full body, but that I use different modules to build differents parts and attach them together.

Step 1 - Initialization 00:00


The first step is to initialize the rig. It begins with the name of the character, then the scale and whether I want to use the character's name as a prefix or not.

This first step creates the World controller, the main group and the sub groups

Then, as you can see at 00:07, I create the root controller. For that I use the Controllers module. It's a module that creates different kinds of controllers, with several options like the size, color, axis, etc...

If there's an active selection of components, it will snap the the controller to the center of the selection.
If there's several objects selected and the "&" symbol in the name, it will create one controller per object and replace the "&" by a number.
Finally, if a mesh is selected, a shift + click on the button will launch a special tool (called dragger context, for those who are familiar with maya scripting) made with API that let's the user create controllers and move them on the surface. It's quite useful to quickly create the controllers I use for facial rigs.

Step 2 - Torso, Neck & Head 00:20

The second step is to build the torso because on my character, all the other parts are attached to this one. For that I use the IK Spline module and set the root controller as the parent of the torso.
First, the tool creates a curve with several CVs according to the set number. There's one CV per controller. The ik spline can be in IK, FK or both. For the torso I usually use both, with 2 division on a standard human, and only one division in FK for the neck.

Step 3 - Limbs 01:02

Now that the torso is done, I can attach the limbs. The clavicle is optional and has an autoRotate mode for quadruped legs, but that can also be useful for human arms and even legs to have an automatic shoulder and hip rotation, I'll show that in my demoreel soon.
The limbs have several options such as non roll and bendy limbs. The hands and feet are made with a different module.

To build the other side, I use the mirror module to mirror the locators, then I load the new locators into the corresponding modules to build the mirrored limbs.

Step 4 - Eyes 04:39

The eyes are made with the look At module. It simply creates a set amount of joints aiming at their controllers, with an optional master controller

Step 5 - Space Switches 05:00

Now, once all the part are rigged, I finish the rig with the space switches. It creates constraints (parent, orient or point) with multiple targets, and an enum attributeto switch between them


Conclusion

It is obviously longer to build a standard human rig with my new modular autorig than with my old one, but the good thing is that this autorig is much more flexible, I can rig pretty much anything.

I'm currently working on a new module for facial rig, and I will also add some of my external tools to this autorig (like my dynamic bones rigging script)

PS : don't forget to check my scripts available for download : http://the-rigging-clown.blogspot.fr/p/download.html