Learn the same techniques, technology, and approaches used to create advanced character setups such as skin and muscle deformation and intuitive animation controls just like those used in big-budget Hollywood films. This book skillfully addresses advanced techniques for character rigging and deforming without regard to a particular software package, which should increase readership by including users of all digital effects programs. This book is a great companion/follow-up to "Inspired 3D Character Setup" (1-931841-51-9), which introduces the concepts of this craft. "Inspired 3D Advanced Rigging and Deformations" takes this difficult and sought-after skill and provides deeper explanations and techniques.

Learn the same techniques, technology, and approaches used to create advanced character setups such as skin and muscle deformation and intuitive animation controls just like those used in big-budget Hollywood films. This book skillfully addresses advanced techniques for character rigging and deforming without regard to a particular software package, which should increase readership by including users of all digital effects programs. This book is a great companion/follow-up to "Inspired 3D Character Setup" (1-931841-51-9), which introduces the concepts of this craft. "Inspired 3D Advanced Rigging and Deformations" takes this difficult and sought-after skill and provides deeper explanations and techniques.

More than just a step-by-step tutorial on rigging in Maya, "Inspired 3D Advanced Rigging and Deformations" helps you develop the skills you need to successfully manage your rigging process from start to finish. You’ll learn the reasons behind each step in developing a character rig and learn how that rig fits into the entire pipeline process The authors provide a unique glimpse at the real-world problems and choices that professional Character Technical Directors face, as well as the solutions they have developed for dealing with high-end digital characters. A follow-up to "Inspired 3D Character Setup", this book takes this difficult and sought-after skill and provides in-depth explanations and techniques.

Updated book info- New blog


We have a new blog setup for support on the book and to provide updated tips and tricks and extras when time permits.

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We are grateful for all the positive feedback as well as the error catches, I have found our book in many studios over the last few years and it is always a nice surprise.

Stop by the blog and check out the new tips and or comment /email etc. as always we are happy to hear feedback or field questions on the book content.

Brad Clark

They’re not kidding when they say its "advanced" rigging.

This is definitely not a book for beginners. My biggest issue with the book is that it gives you a bunch of step by step instructions without explaining why you’re doing what you’re doing. The books gives complex rigging examples without giving the main concepts behind them. The instructions are often times unclear and the pictures, which would probably explain things better than the text, are too small to be of any use. I guess since the title specifically says it’s "advanced rigging" I shouldn’t complain, but it seems like the only people who can follow this book are people who already know how to do this stuff.

Poor Presentation

I will second doodler’s review; the content is in there somewhere, but the presentation is horrible. Pictures are unable to convey any information whatsoever do to their tiny size. Adding to the difficulty in following the instruction are the seemingly endless typos on node names, such as a dropped suffix or a dropped prefix. Whole steps seem to left out of other areas and the errata from the Course Tech website seems to contain only a fraction of the mistakes. This makes actually learning anything in a reasonable amount of time utterly impossible since you will spend most of your time trying to decipher what is a typo and what is not.

warning

The main rigging tutorial in this book is very poorly written. What should be a great learning experience becomes a lesson in silly extra long naming pratices that will obscure all the intellegence of the actual rigging process.....the physical size of the book limits the pictures to a decorative effect. No real information is passed by the pictures and they are not included in any of the download data available. The main structure of his rig gets lost in a series of asides and remarks that make following the authors rigging tutorial into a joke. Bearly 3 steps can be included before a page change. This makes checking your work very hard and tedious. The real content just gets lost as every description includes a joint name that borders on 5 prefixes followed by 5 suffixs. By the time you select the right joint you have lost the process he is trying to teach you. So the first 170 odd pages are an exercise in translating his verbose descriptions into something logical. The content is there, it is just poorly presented.


Luckily, there is more then just the one author on this one!

Surprisingly deep for its broadness

I got this book specifically to assist in shoulder/arm rigging difficulties i’ve had with an animation that needed to be anatomically correct, and i wasn’t disappointed. The book quickly asserts the scope of the problem, and makes it clear that a good solution requires a careful study of the model geometry, and supplies you with a realistic and powerful idea for a setup. It doesn’t provide you with an ultimate solution, but rather suggests very helpfully approaches to specific problems, often supplying MEL scripts to assist, as well as downloadable example files demonstrating theory in practise.

The writing style is fluid and doesn’t take you for a fool, and the included interviews with veteran TD’s are all interesting. I wish there were more details on weighting and weighting practises aside from a suggestion to weight "backwards" (reducing weight from 1 instead of increasing from 0). In addition, the book attempts to include 3ds MAX in its teaching process, but largely fails, putting 90% emphasis on Maya (good for me!)

I’ll recommend it to any novice/intermediate TD. I’d also recommend it to anyone wanting a better understanding of how a rig works, perhaps a modeller seeking to understand how to mend his geometry to best suit rigging.

An excellent guide for Maya users

Maya users might already be familiar with the concept of rigging - but any needing a ’course in a book’ to develop skills in Maya rigging will find this insider’s look at real-world problems to be invaluable, especially if you’re already learned from the prior Inspired 3D Character Setup. In-depth explanations and plenty of real-world examples of character rigs, high-res models and more pack in color screen shot samples and illustration. Scripts, functions and polishing results fine-tune an excellent guide for Maya users.

A continuation of inspiration!

First of all, if you don’t have the Inspired 3D Character Set-up book go get that first!

This book picks up from where the above book leaves. It covers some really neat stuff and is worth going through for anyone interested in character set up. It includes a few tips and tricks, and adds more detail and features to the set-ups that were outlined in the first inspired book!

A continuation of inspiration!

First of all, if you don’t have the Inspired 3D Character Set-up book go get that first!

This book picks up from where the above book leaves. It covers some really neat stuff and is worth going through for anyone interested in character set up. It includes a few tips and tricks, and adds more detail and features to the set-ups that were outlined in the first inspired book!

Finally we skip the nonsense ang right to the meat!

This book not only re-affirms my workflow, but offers distinct perspectives and techniques that help those who may have their own alternative to rigging. Pipeline issues are the most important element of rigging once you hit a certain level, and this book explains possible things to look out for and prepare for no matter what size of the production. Although skipping the book previous to this, I felt right at home while reading and it fit my ’style’ of professionalism when discussing things thoroughly and not avoiding any part of the process no matter how small. The other part I loved that the tutorials and examples given don’t hold your hand and treat you like you are just getting acquainted with 3D or a computer for that matter. There are subtleties that get mentioned that the experienced TD can learn to appreciate, but may be ignored by the beginner/novice. If you are a beginner a lot of those subtleties or other discussions throughout may confuse you and while you can pretend you understand you may need the 1st book or other hands on rigging experience to fully grasp it enough to be able to apply the knowledge how you want or see fit. THAT is the most important thing about this book.

Finally an advanced book for the aspiring character TD

Covering some very tough to tackle issues with an elegance of an angel, I find this book one of the best books in cg written ever!
I have been waiting for this book for a long time, knowing I will finally find answers and new ideas and directions for me to try.
The book is well written both on the practical side, very advanced issues, and on the educational side, it is very clear and straightforward, while still stimulating your mind to think and evolve.
A job well done. If I could give it more than 5 i would have

A must have for any serious creature TD.

Finally a well thought, well structured book catered to the advanced creature TDs out there.

The kind of knowledge you’ll get from this book would take years and years to master and now you can easily learn about them over the many pages of priceless info.

It’s good to see a book not forgetting about riggers in games since it talks about both games and film rigging alike.

There are only a few true gems available and this is certainly one of them.

Javier Solsona
Creature TD - Propaganda Games

A wealth of knowledge for character TDs!

This book is fantastic. Its structure and layout are well thought out and executed. The information is for any creature TD looking to improve their skillset and learn new approaches to common creature setup problems.

The book is a gateway to the knowledge base for the industry when it come to rigging concepts and approaches. There is so little information on rigging and this book fills the gap in a professional way.

Timothy Naylor
Creature TD - Industrial Light & Magic

Excellent. A must for any Character TD.

I would have given more stars but 5 is the max. This has been a long awaited book that has been so needed for the Character TD community. This is more than a tutorial book, it’s a step-by-step look into taking these principles and incorporating them into an already existing pipeline or creating a new robust one. This book is not for the faint at heart; this is an advanced book for sure. However, if you have a good working knowledge of Maya and Character setup, you will reap the rewards from this little gem. Great Job Brad, Joe and John.