Finger Auto Rig Tool

This tool automates the rigging process for an fk/ik finger

Features

  • Assisted joint placement - Using a joint at the base and a joint at the tip of the finger, this tool creates a guide for orienting the up direction of the finger and placing coplanar middle joints.

  • Manual and automatic bend control - While set to ik, the rotations of the middle joints are automated using a spring ik. On top of the automated rotation, a second control at the finger tip allows manual adjustment to the middle joint rotations and has an attribute setting to change the behavior of the automatic rotation.

  • Reversable bend direction - An attribute on the ik finger tip control changes the preferred bend angle of the ik joints. This allows the ik finger to bend both forwards or backwards.

  • Return to bind pose - Upon construction, the 0,0,0 translation and rotation of the finger controls will straighten the joints into a line. For fingers where the original joint placement is not a straight line, the Bind Pose attribute on the fk/ik switch control returns the rig to the original bind position.

Finger Auto Rig demo

Tip Joint - designates the joint at the tip of the finger

Place Joints - creates guide to help place coplanar middle joints

Naming Prefix - prefix applied to objects constructed by the auto rig

Control Color and Control Scale - sets the color and size of rig controls

Aim and Up axis - sets the local aim and up axis orientation of joints and controls

Space Switch Blender

This tool constructs a node network to blend between targets of a constraint. This allows for seamless switching between multiple subspaces.

Space Switch Tool demo

Attribute Name - Attribute that will control a 0 - 1 weight between two designated target spaces

Constrained Object - Object that the constraint will be added

Control Object - Object that the control attributes will be added to

Constraint Type - Selects the constraint type that will be used

Target Objects - Subspaces that will influence the constraint

Add Constraint - Opens the constraint options menu for the selected constraint type

Add Blend Attributes - Adds the control attributes and constructs the node network

Lock and Hide Tool demo

Lock and Hide Tool

This is a tool designed to streamline rigging workflow in Autodesk Maya. It allows the user to quickly and easily lock/unlock and hide/unhide attributes. It provides an efficient and interactive way to manage attributes without the need to navigate multiple windows and menus.

Use Selected Objects - applies the selected function to the selected objects

Use Object Name - applies the selected function to objects matching the name given by the user. Names can start with, end with, contain, or exactly match the name given by the user

Select Attributes - selector for attributes that the function will be applied

Lock/Unlock and Hide/Unhide - selector for the function that will be applied to the selected attributes

Color Shapes Tool Demo

Color Shapes Tool

This tool allows the user to set the override color of shape nodes. With the option to use a selection or object names, this tool provides a quick and easy way to color rig controls without the need to navigate multiple windows and menus.

Use Selected Objects - applies the selected function to the selected objects
Use Object Name - applies the selected function to objects matching the name given by the user. Names can start with, end with, contain, or exactly match the name given by the user
Index Colors - selector for Maya's built in color index
Selected Color - displays the currently selected color and allows the user to create a custom color

Misc Scripts

Script creating a node network that uses matrix and vector calculations to limit the maximum distance of an object from another object. In this example, it is used to pull the shoulder if the arm is pulled straight.

Ribbon rig script. Builds hybrid fk and ik controls and adds a blendshape target driven by a sine deformer.

Script to rig CVs of a curve. CV positions use matrix calculations such that transformations of the curve’s transform node does not change CV positions.