Python wing rig build script
Robin wing rig
I built a Maya film rig for a robin model that had previously been rigged in Cinema 4D. I wrote a Python wing build script that adapts to any number of feathers and to their position, direction and shape, so it could be reused on future birds. The robin's shots were cut before the first animation pass, but the script became the wing rig plugin I still use.
- Role
- Python wing rig build script
- Tech
- Maya, Python
The challenge
The brief was to take a robin model that had been rigged in Cinema 4D and build a film rig for it in Maya. Birds are hard to rig well because of the feathers: their number, position, direction and shape are very unlikely to be the same from one model to the next. I wanted the wing build to cope with that, so it could be used on future birds and not just this one.
What I did
I wrote a Python build script for the wings that handled those variables dynamically. Instead of hard-coding a feather layout, the code builds the wing from whatever number of feathers it is given and however those feathers are shaped and placed.
- Wing build script that reads the feathers and builds the wing rig around them.
- Wing and feather controls, shown in the Maya views with the wings spread, raised and folded.
- A full Maya rig for the robin, replacing the model's earlier Cinema 4D setup.
The advert images in the gallery are renders of the model from its previous Cinema 4D rig, not from the rig I made.
The outcome
The film was due out in 2017, but the robin's shots were cut before the first animation pass. The ideas behind the script lived on: they became the fully autonomous wing rig plugin I use today.
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