Then the issues

So this worked initially.

The bake layer kept the mocap from constantly driving (and therefore constantly destroying the physical parenting of the IK and skin controls).

There were, however, two control rigs.
This posed a problem with which to use and when, as they surely couldn't be used in tandem.

Another issue arose when I added foot roll to the IK. This wasn't constrained effectively to the offset rig at all, and really messed up the translation and/or orientation.

So going back through my notes I started to see WHY my earlier method worked.
It was all down to the baking.
I was also over-complicating things.

This video shows the cleaner version of my initial rig setup (also skinned to a character).

Cams from Joshua Griffin on Vimeo.


The movement works, but there's no additional controls other than the feet. They work, but are also in the 'wrong places' and would have to be altered off from the character.


This next video shows the development of this rig.

20121011 1408 38 from Joshua Griffin on Vimeo.


The video shows two control rigs, one for IK and one for FK, each affecting a different skeleton with driven orientation and parenting between the two.
It's quite messy in it's methodology, and possibly quite confusing for the animators.

As I had made this rig from scratch I was quite reluctant to make another from scratch. That is, until I started to think about 'what if it can just use a single rig'.

This is at the point I went through my past notes and started to get the method.
The baking was the key, and it didn't need to span both of the rigs.
If I could script all of the functions in a single shelf button, so that the order of creation was correct, then I could (brace yourself):

• Snap the rig controls to the rig (this means the rig can be in unique placement - meaning multiple characters)
• Create the IK and parent it to the correct folders
• Drive the Groups of the controls by the mocap locators
• Bake these groups
• Drive the skeleton with the controls (that are within the baked groups)

With the baking it's so simple!! No need to even THINK about infinite loops :/ 

There are also shelf buttons to undo this (though one requires a little extra action).

20121011 1412 47 from Joshua Griffin on Vimeo.

I think this is as far as it's going to get in terms of rigging. There will be a few additions - but none that directly address the pipeline between the mocap and the rig. 

Additions will include:

• Facial Rig for the guards
• SDKs for the fingers
• Testing on referencing

That last point allures to me referencing the rig into a clean scene. However, as my scripts are name-based this has a high chance of not working. I Will likely copy the rig (save as a new name) and import the model. I can then later reference in multiple finished characters and control them via the new referenced scene.