Basic Rigging

 

Archer Rig

1. Created the joints for the mesh and renamed it as shown in the lecture (To allow easy retargeting for UE). I created an extra arrow joint to help with the weight paint of the arrow props:

2. Created FK controls for the joints (except arrows) and parent constrained them after match transforming to locally position them in the correct orientation and place:

3. Created a reference layer for the geometries and joints for easy access during grading; they are in reference mode when the file is opened. Final deformation test:

Extras:

1. IKFK switch:

I created an IKFK switch for the arms and legs. Usually, I would make sure the hands and feet were in world position, but since we aren't focusing on IKs this week, I let them remain in their local orientation, and later, I could add a world-local switch attribute. I'm also not fond of how the IKFK control rotates with the arms, so next time I'll limit the transforms or use a point constraint instead.

2. Stretch attribute:

The IK controls for the limbs have a stretch attribute created using matrix math nodes. They actually changed some of the math nodes in the Maya 2026 updates. For example, "addDoubleLinear" is now "addDL."

Perforce: