An animator can then manipulate the controls of the rig, much like moving and posing a digital puppet. When using 3D software like Maya, Blender, or 3ds Max, a rigging artist can create different types of rigs for animation. This allows for posing and custom tailored deformation of the model. “Skeletons,” joints,” and other “deformers” may be used to change the way geometry looks. Those changes can be as simple as translations or rotations, but may grow to include the automation of complex behaviors and motions.įor characters, animators will use more complex rigging techniques. The rig can be anything, but typically, there are one or more “controls” that have been set up to allow different types of movement or changes in the object. This is a rig, and the object is driven by that rig. Instead of acting on the object directly, they create a hierarchical structure that is capable of the desired movement or change. Rigs help control the manipulation of that character or object.
Animators use rigging to pose and animate a character or object through a network of movements.
