Creating a Jurassic World Dinosaur Character in Maya: Part 12

Final product image — What You'll Be Creating

1. Creating Leg Joints

Step 1

Start Maya and open the file which was saved in the last part of the tutorial.

Step 2

With the dino mesh selected, go to Shading menu and turn on Wireframe on shaded and X-Ray options as shown in the following image.

Step 3

Switch to Rigging mode to use the rigging tools.

Step 4

Go to Skeleton > Create Joints tool.

Step 5

With Create Joints tool, draw four joints in sequence under the leg area as shown in the following image.

Step 6

Jump in the front view and adjust the joints as shown in the following image.

Step 7

Rename all created leg joints as Left_Pelvis_Jnt01, Left_Tibia_Jnt01, Left_Tarsal_Jnt01 and Left_Ankle_Jnt01 as shown in the following image.

Step 8

Create three joints inside the leg finger.

Step 9

Rename the joints as Left_Middle_Finger01_Jnt01, Left_Middle_Finger02_Jnt01, and Left_Middle_FingerTip01_Jnt01.

Step 10

Make two duplicate joints chains and place theme inside the rest of the fingers.

Step 11

Select all 3 finder joints followed by Left_Ankle_Jnt01 and press P key to parent them.

Rename the joints as Left_left_Finger01_Jnt01, Left_Left_Finger02_Jnt01, Left_Left_FingerTip01_Jnt01 and Left_Right_Finger01_Jnt01, Left_Right_Finger02_Jnt01, Left_Right_FingerTip01_Jnt01.

Step 12

In this way, the left leg joints chain is completed.

2. Mirroring Leg Joints Chain

Step 1

With Left_Pelvis_Jnt01 selected, go to Skeleton menu and click on Mirror Joints option box.

Step 2

In the Mirror Joint Options window, turn on YZ radio button, write Left_ in Search for and Right_ in Replace with boxes. Click on Mirror button to apply.

Step 3

Now you'll see the mirrored joint chain for the right side leg. The mirrored joints get auto renamed.

Now you can see the mirrored joint chain

3. Creating Spine and Tail Joints Chain

Step 1

Draw seven more joints from lower back to neck as shown in the following image.

Step 2

Also create ten more joints from lower back to tail as shown in the following image.

Step 3

Rename all spinal joints as Spine01_Jnt01, Spine02_Jnt01, Spine03_Jnt01, Spine04_Jnt01, Neck01_Jnt01, Neck02_Jnt01 and Head01_Jnt01 as shown in the following image.

Step 4

In this way, rename all tail joints also as Tail01_Jnt01, Tail02_Jnt01, Tail03_Jnt01, Tail04_Jnt01, Tail05_Jnt01, Tail06_Jnt01, Tail07_Jnt01, Tail08_Jnt01 and TailTip01_Jnt01.

4. Creating Head and Jaw Joints

Step 1

Create the head and jaw joints and rename them as Head02_Jnt01 and HeadTip01_Jnt01 for head and Jaw01_Jnt01 and JawTip01_Jnt01 for jaw.

Step 2

Select Head02_Jnt01 and Jaw01_Jnt01 followed by Head01_Jnt01 and then press P key to parent.

Step 3

In this way, head and jaw joints are completed.

5. Creating the Root Joint

Step 1

Create a joint under pelvis area and rename it as Root01_Joint01 as shown in the following image.

Step 2

Select Left_Pelvis_Jnt01, Right_Pelvis_Jnt01 followed by Root01_Joint01 and then press P key to parent.

Step 3

Select Spine01_Jnt01 followed by Root01_Jnt01 and then press P key to parent.

Step 4

In this way, creation of joints skeleton as per body and legs is completed. Create the hand's joints chain.

Step 5

With the help of Create joint tool, create four joints chain according to the hand mesh and as shown in the following image.

Step 6

Create two more joints for fingers. Rename all joints as Left_Arm01_Jnt01, Left_Elbow01_Jnt01, Left_Finger01_Jnt01, Left_FingerTip01_Jnt01, Left_Finger02_Jnt01 and Left_FingerTip02_Jnt01 as shown in the following image.

Step 7

In this way, creating the left hand and fingers joint chain is completed.

Step 8

With Left_Arm01_Jnt01 selected go to Skeleton menu and click on Mirror Joints option box.

Step 9

In the Mirror Joint Options window, turn on YZ radio button, write Left_ in Search for and Right_ in Replace with boxes. Click on Mirror button to apply.