WEBVTT 00:00.960 --> 00:06.520 Welcome to the Humane Rigging DVD. My name is Nathan Vegedal, and on this DVD, 00:06.800 --> 00:09.093 I'm going to pretend to know something about 00:09.105 --> 00:11.200 rigging. So let's get started, shall we? 00:12.320 --> 00:15.740 The first thing I want to do is just look at rigging from a bird's eye view. 00:16.420 --> 00:19.018 Broadly speaking, when we build a rig, we're 00:19.030 --> 00:21.640 actually building a tool for someone to use. 00:22.320 --> 00:26.100 And because of that, usability is one of our primary concerns as riggers. 00:26.840 --> 00:29.980 It's much like how software developers ought to keep usability in mind. 00:30.160 --> 00:32.856 They could write an amazingly powerful piece of 00:32.868 --> 00:35.460 software, but if it's a complete pain to use, 00:35.820 --> 00:40.920 it's not really that useful to most people. Rigs are the same way. You could create 00:40.921 --> 00:46.000 the most amazingly clever rig with perfect deformations and simulation, but 00:46.001 --> 00:48.694 if it's hard for animators to use, it's nothing but 00:48.706 --> 00:51.600 an exercise. It's not actually useful for real 00:51.601 --> 00:58.640 animations. So remember, rigs are tools for people to use. Rigs are a means to an end, 00:58.641 --> 01:01.593 they are not an end in themselves. Because of 01:01.605 --> 01:04.700 that, I highly recommend that if you're serious 01:04.701 --> 01:06.955 about rigging, that you take up animation as 01:06.967 --> 01:09.440 well. You can still become a good rigger without 01:09.441 --> 01:13.780 doing that, especially if you work closely with the animators that do use your rigs, 01:13.781 --> 01:17.360 but it's going to be a lot trickier. If you do animation yourself, 01:17.640 --> 01:22.440 it's a lot easier to immediately understand why some rigs suck and some rigs rock. 01:23.840 --> 01:27.460 So with that out of the way, what can you expect from this DVD? 01:28.100 --> 01:30.702 Well, this DVD focuses almost entirely on 01:30.714 --> 01:33.520 building good control schemes for animators. 01:34.220 --> 01:36.004 If you're looking for material on creating 01:36.016 --> 01:37.940 great deformations or setting up simulations, 01:38.820 --> 01:41.148 well, you've got the wrong DVD. But wait, 01:41.160 --> 01:43.900 please don't throw this in the trash, seriously. 01:44.400 --> 01:46.823 Even if you just want to learn deformations, 01:46.835 --> 01:49.380 this DVD covers a lot of prerequisite material 01:49.381 --> 01:51.927 for that, and that's because this DVD does 01:51.939 --> 01:54.740 not approach things from a purely step-by-step 01:54.741 --> 01:57.141 vantage point. Instead, I've put a lot of 01:57.153 --> 01:59.800 effort into teaching the fundamental concepts 01:59.801 --> 02:03.760 behind rigging and how to use them to do your own problem solving. 02:04.700 --> 02:08.620 Imagine, if you will, a book on computer programming that tries to teach you how 02:08.621 --> 02:13.800 to write every possible piece of software you will ever want to write step-by-step. 02:14.220 --> 02:18.420 It would be ridiculous. It's not possible. There's too many things a person might want 02:18.421 --> 02:23.400 to write. Instead, a good programming book will teach you concepts that you can use 02:23.401 --> 02:26.481 to solve a lot of problems. The same applies to 02:26.493 --> 02:29.520 any skill, in fact. Step-by-step drawing books 02:29.521 --> 02:31.380 aren't that useful either, except perhaps 02:31.392 --> 02:33.400 if you're just taking your first baby steps, 02:33.740 --> 02:37.320 but ultimately you'll need to learn how to think about and approach drawing. 02:37.860 --> 02:40.320 And a good drawing manual will try to teach that. 02:41.260 --> 02:45.760 I am taking that same approach here. A lot of the material on this DVD isn't 02:45.761 --> 02:50.120 even specific to Blender. I will be using lots of examples, of course, 02:50.121 --> 02:52.254 but they are all in the service of trying to 02:52.266 --> 02:54.460 teach concepts and teach you how to think for 02:54.461 --> 02:59.320 yourself and solve your own problems. And I hope that you will approach this DVD 02:59.321 --> 03:04.520 in that same spirit. If there is a rig that you want to build but which is not covered 03:04.521 --> 03:07.278 on this DVD, I really encourage you to approach 03:07.290 --> 03:10.000 it as a learning opportunity and try to figure 03:10.001 --> 03:15.300 it out for yourself. That is how you will really learn rigging. Rigging is a lot 03:15.301 --> 03:19.080 more about creative problem solving than it is about setting up specific rigs. 03:20.600 --> 03:25.740 This DVD has been a project of passion for me, and I hope you get a lot out of it. 03:26.160 --> 03:28.568 And since it's released under Creative Commons, 03:28.580 --> 03:31.000 I really encourage you to make copies of it and 03:31.001 --> 03:33.462 share it with other people. Don't just keep 03:33.474 --> 03:36.120 it to yourself. Although it would of course be 03:36.121 --> 03:38.394 nice for people to support the DVD too, if 03:38.406 --> 03:40.800 they can, but don't worry too much about it. 03:41.500 --> 03:43.620 So anyway, let's get on to the rigging now.