Beginner Rigger: Lesson 4: Joints

Lesson 4: Joints

Joints:

Joints in Autodesk Maya allow you to make skeleton like structures. These structures can be used for characters or objects. You first must build the structure separately as joint chains parented together with control structures, and then you bind it to the mesh to make your model move. We will look at how to make joints and some key points to keep in mind in this lesson.

You make joints using the Joint Tool found under the Skeleton Tab. The Joint Tool will only allow you to make joints right on the grid. If you are in the Perspective view panel, then any joint you make will be on the grid you see in the center. In order to make a joint chain upright or floating in space, you have to switch between you Front view, Side view, and Front view panels. Every joint you make is parented to the one before it. You can always tell which joint is the child because the parent always points to the child joint.

You might at some point be tempted to freeze the transformations on a joint, but you should not freeze a joint’s translational values. If you freeze the translational values, then it will go to the same place as the parent joint or the World Origin, the center of the grid. You do not want rotational values on a joint, so if you find a point where moving them is necessary, then freeze only the rotational values. You need to rotate a joint directly when you are placing joints in the places you want them, otherwise you want controllers constraining them. Controllers will be discussed in the next lesson.