Robot model

This is an early picture of my robot model

I read the book

Body Language: Advanced 3D Character Rigging

 By Eric Allen, Kelly L. Murdock

"Rigging is the process of endowing a character with a set of controls that make it easy to animate. These controls can consist of simple joints, handles, or even separate character selection windows. A character's animation is going to be only as good as the rig that controls it.

As you approach the rigging process, you will find that there are different ways to rig each different body part. Some are simple, some are rather complex. The rigging method you choose depends on the type of motion you want to convey with your character."

 

Before rigging my character to research the best way to rig it at first I looked at the applications and approaches it states that the process you should go by to make a functional rig for your character would be;

. Planning your rig
. Considering your time and needs
. Choosing an application
. Preparing for character creation
. Making your wish list
. Discovering what you need for the animation

 Planning your rig

Spending time planning the rig will overall save a lot of time finishing the process of rigging the character. During the planning phase you should identify the types of movement the character needs to perform, the look of the character, the body parts that need to move and any other specialized body parts. Be sure to consider other additions such as;

. Stretchy spline IK spine
. FKIK stretchable arms
. FKIK stretchable legs
. Advanced arm and leg with rivet based deformation
. Facial deformation with influence objects
. Hand based finger controls
. World and figure orient switch for feet, hands, pole vectors and focus points
. Making it so controls are the only thing visible and can even be turned off. 

 One way to improve efficiency when making rigs is prioritize rigging tasks, this is finding out what you need to do and what you can achieve in the given time. If you have a good plan, it will be easy to determine which rigging procedures are most important and which would be nice, if you have the time. You can then prioritize and start working on the most important tasks first.
Another way is to re-use rigs but only if the character is fairly similar, you can save time by using the same rig with slight modifications.
Scripting is the best way to save time building a rig. Scripts will save you countless hours, once you learn how to control Maya Embedded Language (MEL) which I will cover in another post. Scripting may take a little more time than rigging the first time but in the end will save time and be more efficient.