Special Courses: Prop rigging

Now an On-Demand video course you can take anytime.

Special Courses: Prop rigging with Jeff Brodsky:

Rigging Dojo Props Course Teaser from Rigging Dojo on Vimeo.

Taught by ex- Blue Sky and Disney Feature Animation character TD, Jeff Brodsky, our  Prop rigging with  is a fantastic way to learn some new ways to think and apply rigging experience to setting up environmental and prop interaction with characters.
Check out his “trunk rig” tutorial in our blog post from Jeff,one of the coolest trunk or tentacle  rigs we have seen.
Rigging Tips and Tricks : Variable FK rigging with Mentor Jeff Brodsky

Jeff Brodsky’s trunk rig demo from Jeff Brodsky on Vimeo.

Course outline:

Week 1:
Rigging beyond the character
Theory and foundations covers the differences between prop and character rigging. With a look at how to  refer to story reels and check with the anim supervisor as to performance requirements keeping it simple, light and fast

Week 2:
Environment interactions: Rope bridge project part 1
Bridge rigs – Like the one Jeff rigged in “Horton Hears a Who” from Blue Sky Studios.

Week 3:
Environment interactions: Rope bridge project part 2
Continue to setup the bridge system and add control needed for animator control.

Week 4:
Prop management Tools: In-shot constraint tools for managing character/prop constraint setups like weapons and other systems.

Prerequisites

• Maya and basic rigging (constraints, ik, bones, skinning) required.
• Basic scripting knowledge as well since a rig like that has to be scripted. Nothing crazy just a basic understanding of variables, loops and functions.