Creating a Magnum Mecha Character in Maya: Part 9

In this part of the tutorial, I'll show you how to create control curves and IK controls, and how to link controls to the IKs.

1. Creating Control Curves

Step 1

Open Maya. Open the file that was saved in the last part of the tutorial.

Step 2

Create a polygon cube on the perspective grid as shown in the following image.

Step 3

Go to Create > Curve Tools > CV Curve Tool and click on the option box.

Step 4

In the Tool Settings window, turn on the Curve Degree 1 linear radio button and then close it.

Step 5

With the V key pressed, click on each corner of the cube to create a curve-like polygon cube.

Step 6

In this way, you have created a cube-shaped curve according to the polygon cube's shape, as shown in the following image.

Step 7

Delete the polygon cube because we need only the curve shape for creating the control curve.

Step 8

Create a duplicate curve and snap it to the ankle joint by pressing the V key. Keep the V key pressed and then, with the curve shape selected, click and drag with the middle mouse button onto the ankle joint. Also edit the shape of the foot control curve, as shown in the following image.

Step 9

Mirror the duplicate curve for the right side foot control and place it around the right ankle joint. Rename the left foot control as Left_Foot_Control and the right foot control as Right_Foot_Control.

2. Creating Knee Control Curves

Step 1

Jump to the front view and create a circle curve on the grid as shown in the following image.

Step 2

Go to Show > Polygons and turn off its option box to hide all meshes except the joints and controls. 

Step 3

Edit the shape of the circle curve as shown in the following image. Also, make a duplicate copy of it for the opposite side. This is the same procedure as you did for the foot controls in the previous steps.

Step 4

Rename the controls as Left_Knee_Control and Right_Knee_Control respectively.

3. Creating Hip and Torso Control Curves

Step 1

Make another duplicate copy of the box curve and snap it to the root joint as shown in the following image.

Step 2

Following the previous steps, jump to the control vertex selection mode and edit the shape of the curve, as shown in the following image. 

Step 3

Go to Show > Polygon and turn on its option button to show all meshes once again. Rename the control as Hip_Control. 

Step 4

Create another circle curve and snap it to the Abs_Jnt joint. Rename it as Abs_Control.

Step 5

Create another cube curve and snap it to the Chest_Jnt as shown in the following image.

Step 6

Edit the shape of the chest control curve as shown in the following image and rename it as Chest_Control.

Step 7

Create two circle curves in the side view port as shown in the following image.

Step 8

Snap these curves to the Left_Arm_Jnt and Right_Arm_Jnt joints respectively.

Step 9

Create two more duplicate circle curves and then snap these to the left and right elbow joints respectively.

Step 10

Following the previous steps, snap the cube curve to the wrist joint for creating the hand control, as shown in the following image.

Step 11

Jump to the vertex selection mode and edit the shape of the hand control as shown in the following image.

Step 12

Create a circle curve and snap it to the wrist joint to make the wrist twist control.

Step 13

Follow the same process for the hand on the opposite side. 

Step 14

Rename all curves as Left_Arm_Control, Left_Elbow_Control, Left_Hand_Control and Left_Wrist_Control respectively. Following the same process, rename all the right side's controls also.

4. Creating the Neck and Head Control Curves

Step 1

Create a circle curve and snap it to the Head_Jnt. Rename this control as Neck_Control.

Step 2

Create another cube curve for head control. Snap it to the Head2_Jnt and then rename it as Head_Control.

5. Cleaning the History and Freezing the Control Curves

Step 1

With all the controls selected, go to Edit > Delete by Type > History to delete the history. Alternatively, you can press Alt-Shift-D.

Step 2

With all the controls selected, go to Modify > Freeze Transformations to fix the initial positions of the control curves.

Step 3

With all the control curves selected, create a layer and put all the controls into it. Rename the layer as AllControlCurves.

6. Applying IK Handles on the Joints

Step 1

Hide all the controls by hitting the visibility button on the layer, as shown in the following image.

Step 2

Go to Skeleton > Create IK Handle and click on its option box to open the settings window.

Step 3

In the Tool Settings window, choose Rotate-Plane Solver as the current solver. Close the tool settings window.

Step 4

Clicking on Left_Thigh_Jnt followed by Left_Heel_Jnt lets you see the IK handle being applied, as shown in the following image.

Step 5

Follow the same procedure to create the IK for the opposite side's leg. Rename the IKs as Left_Leg_IK_Handle and Right_Leg_IK_Handle respectively.

Step 6

In the same way, create the IKs for both hands. Rename the IKs as Left_Hand_IK_Handle and Right_Hand_IK_Handle, as shown in the following image.

7. Creating Elbow IK Controls

Step 1

Make two duplicate copies of the knee control curves and then move and place these to the back side of the elbows, as shown in the following image.

Step 2

Rename these controls as Left_Elbow_IK_Control and Right_Elbow_IK_Control respectively.

8. Linking Foot Controls

Step 1

Jump to the Rigging mode. Select Left_Foot_Control followed by Left_Leg_IK_Handle and then go to Constrain > Point and click on its option box.

Step 2

In the Point Constraint Options window, turn on the Maintain offset check box and then click on the Add button to apply the point constraint.

Step 3

For testing purposes, move the Left_Foot_Control. You can see the IK also moves according to the foot control, as shown in the following image.

Step 4

Select Left_Foot_Control followed by Left_Heel_Jnt and then go to Constrain > Orient and click on its option box to open the settings window.

Step 5

In the Orient Constraint Options window, turn on the Maintain offset check box and then click on the Add button to apply the orient constraint.

Step 6

Rotate the Left_Foot_Control. You can see the IK and Left_Heel_Jnt also rotate according to the rotation of the foot control, as shown in the following image.

9. Linking the Left Knee Controls

Step 1

Select Left_Knee_Control followed by Left_Leg_IK_Handle and then go to Constrain > Pole Vector command to apply.

Step 2

After applying the pole vector constraint, you can see the link as a green wire, as shown in the following image.

Step 3

Following the same procedure, create the link for the left side foot and knee controls also.

10. Linking the Hip, Torso and Chest Controls

Step 1

Select Hip_Control followed by Root_Jnt, and then go to Constrain > Parent and click on the option box.

Step 2

In the Parent Constraint Options window, turn on the Maintain offset check box, and then click on the Add button to apply Parent Constraint.

Step 3

For checking purposes, rotate the Hip_Control and you can see the upper spine joints orient according to the hip control, as shown in the following image.

Step 4

Select Hip_Control followed by Abs_Control and then press the P key to parent them.

Step 5

Select Chest_Control followed by Abs_Control and then press the P key to parent them.

Step 6

For checking purposes, move and rotate Hip_Control. You can see the upper Abs_Control and Chest_Controls also orient according to the hip control, as shown in the following image.

Step 7

Select Chest_Control followed by Chest_Jnt and then go to Constrain > Orient constraint.

Step 8

For checking purposes, move and rotate Chest_Control. You can see the upper neck and head joints also orient according to the chest control, as shown in the following image.

Step 9

In this way, you are done with the upper controls and linking.

Conclusion

In the next part of the tutorial, I'll show you how to create various controls for the hand and fingers.