Rig it Right, third edition—now available!

Rig it Right is now available and I have to tell you two things:

Thank you to those who helped this book get there.What is so special about this third edition? New chapters!You can get the new edition of Rig it Right here: https://www.amazon.com/Rig-Right-Tina-OHailey/dp/1032555238The full companion data can be found here: https://rigitright.gumroad.com/

Special thanks to those that helped with the new chapters for the third edition:

Jayme Wilkinson, profiler and evaluation toolkit museJoseph O’Hailey, hard-core tech editing while working on a thesisLluis Llobera and Javier Solsona, rig101wireControllers scriptJason Bickerstaff, modeling techniquesMarty Altman, manageSuffix and extractFaces scripts, and always proofing my math.*Eric Allen, edgeloop rulesAshwin Inamdar, modeling techniques, https://www.iashwin.net/rigsMia Pray, Rijah Kazuo, Sagar Arun, Aang model with excellent edgeloops, https://rigstation.gumroad.com/l/CFLLUThe additional chapters for the third edition of this book were funded (in part) through a Savannah College of Art and Design Faculty Sabbatical Award

The new pages in Rig it Right’s third edition are:

Edgeloop for Good – an additional insert for Chapter Two covering the rules of edgelooping and why it is so important. To quote Jason Bickerstaff (Pixar), “solving the quad problem” is fundamental to everything else. I had to add in some pages for proper topology. I could write a whole book on the subject – but kept it to an insert.

2. Rigging for a Parallel World: Rig it right, then rig it fast. In this chapter, I dive into some advanced topics. It is an overview of Maya’s memory management to help you get a start into this next level of rigging. We cover using Parent Offset Matrixes instead of constraints, using the scene profiler and evaluation toolkit in Maya to see where slow points occur in the rig, and utilize scripts to dial into the profiler even closer. The chapter ends with links for amazing resources to continue your journey into parallel in Maya.

We (the tech editor and I ) went through the rest of the book updating all of the maya files to be .ma(s), making sure everything still worked, adjusting for any newer tools or buttons, and simplifying any images.

Sadly, the AR solution I had for the second edition did not last. HP bought out the company I had used and killed that solution off. (https://coffeediem.wordpress.com/2019/12/31/rig-it-right-ii-ar-feature-has-been-hp-ed/) Pity. I really liked that solution for seeing the images better. I only get so many pages and have to squeeze the images in.

I’m teaching modeling more than I am rigging now-a-days. Though, I do consult on a lot of senior and thesis films for rig problem solving. This update let me put in more on modeling and stretch my brain into the more advanced things I had been curious about.

Hope this book helps you out on your journey to Rig it Right. Happy Rigging!!

….tina

–if I missed anyone, please forgive me. Last summer feels like 5 years ago.

* Marty has been gone from us many years, but he would often gift me with tar balls of scripts and tools for my enjoyment. I opened one last summer to find the exact script I needed for that exact moment. Years later, he is still helping me be a better problem solver. *hugs*