Learning Maya 6: Character Rigging will teach you everything you need to achieve effective character set-up and animation in Maya. Learn what you need to become a true puppet master! Get hands-on experience with the innovative tools and powerful techniques available in Maya as you learn to make your rigs more customizable and easier for artists to work with.

Learning Maya 6: Character Rigging will allow you to explore character rigging based on a human character - walking you through the process as you rig arms, legs, a face and more. You'll learn the fundamentals of properly setting up a character to avoid pitfalls as you animate. Working with a low-count polygonal model, you'll learn to work with complex joints such as shoulders and hands. Learning Maya 6 | Character Rigging teaches you to make the right decisions in the planning stages so that you can save time and frustration at the animation stage.

Each chapter includes a theoretical discussion to help you understand the concepts at play, as well as easy to follow step-by-step tutorials so that you can start working right away. The book also includes an accompanying DVD-ROM featuring chapter-by-chapter overviews offered by Alias Certified Instructors. Gain additional insight and assistance from these valuable bonus discussions. You'll also take advantage of Maya Beginner's Guide: Animation to help you get started right away!
With this book you will:
* Use layers to organize your work
* Create Skeleton Chains and edit joint orientation
* Set up Single Chain, Rotation Plane, and Spline IK Solvers
* Use Set Driven Key to create powerful yet simple control systems
* Understand and use of both Forward and Inverse Kinematics.
* Simulate the deformation of clothing using Wire Deformers and Set Driven Key
* Drive joint rotation with a Blendshape Slider to help consolidate your control windows
* Understand the difference between Smooth and Rigid binding.
* Use Pole Vector constraints as a fast and easy way of achieving realistic motion in arms and legs.
* Create complex and subtle character deformations through the use of Clusters and Lattices.

What you need to use this book
Maya Complete 6, Maya Unlimited 6, or Maya Personal Learning Edition.
A DVD-ROM drive or set top player.