Beginning Rigging, Questions
 

Hey guys.

I’m currently in a study group, studying at University of Aalborg in Denmark. We are currently in the process of creating a script/plugin for easing the rigging process for beginners.

In order to create the best possible product, we need information of users and their needs. We hope that you guys will help us by answering a couple of questions regarding when you rig, and your general thoughts on the process.

As mentioned, the product will be targeted beginners, but we would love answers from everyone. :)

The questions are as follows:
Describe your normal approach to the process of rigging?
Which stages do you go through?
Which tasks does it normally include?
What tools are used for the tasks?
Which tasks do you see yourself (with regards to rigging) doing most often? (and least?)
Do you have any annoyances about your current work flow?
What are the most common problems you encounter?
Why do they occur?
How do you go about solving these?
Which functions would you like a rigging plugin to be capable of?
Which procedures would you want could be done faster, eased or perhaps even automated?

Feel free to comment and post your general thoughts on the topic as well.

Hope to hear from you :)
Thanks,
Jacob

Not the direct answer your after but remember to check out all the free rigs and rigging scripts/plug-ins out there already to see the most commonly used techniques and biggest problems that are faced.

Chris

Hmmm, not really beginners but,
..a script to generate a follicle spine would be a time saver.
Something that can collate all the orient constraints on the rig neatly and consistantly.
A script that would add the inbetween rotation expression to eyelids and forearms.
A script for making a selection of inbetweened blendshapes driven by one attribue more intuatively (perhaps even with its own animation graph.
A joint tool that helps you intuatively set orientation correctly.
Something that can help with naming conventions or placing rig controlls correctly within the hierachy.

Thanks for the input guys.

bendingiscool: We have been checking out various rigging scripts and plugins, trying to figure out what to do different (or in an alternative way).

LauriePriest: Thansk for the suggestions. There are definately something there we haven't considered :)