Now that we've rigged some simple humanoid characters with Duik, let's rig
something completely absurd to show that you can rig anything your mind can
imagine in Duik. The first thing is to import our character file. Go to file
import, file. Select your multi layer Photoshop file and import it as
Composition Retain Layer Sizes. Double click on the composition. Here we have
our composition this is a coconut, some fried chicken, a weird fish thing and
some frog legs. Let's rig this with Duik. The first thing to do is to solo one of
the layers. I'm going to start with this leg which is the characters right leg.
In Duik we have many different structures that we can create. If I click this
button I can choose instead of a humanoid leg I can get a digitigrade
leg. This is better for what we are doing so I'm gonna click create. Here you can
see the similarities between the leg that Duik created and our frog leg but
first we need to add bones to the frog leg. Click the leg layer, then the
puppet pin tool. Here we need a pin for the thigh, a pin for the calf, a pin for
the foot, a pin for the claws and a pin for the tiptoe. Now under the puppet tool
twirl out the mesh, twirl out deform. Press ENTER to rename the pins. This will
be tiptoe. Puppet pin 4 will be Claws, foot, calf and thigh.
Select all of the puppet pins then in the Duik links and constraints panel
click Add Bones. Now we can move this structure on top of
the bones it is a good idea to make sure that you lock all of your artwork layers
because we don't want to accidentally move them so I'm going to do that now.
I will move each of the the structures above our character. Notice with this
structure there is no heal because it is not used. Now I can hide the visibility
of all those structures and bones so it's not confusing. Next let's do the
second leg. Unlock the layer and solo it. Select the puppet pin tool. We need one
pin for thigh, one pin for calf, one pin for foot, one pin for claws and one pin
for tiptoe. Twirl out the puppet pin layer and under deform label the puppet
pins. This will be tiptoe 2, claws 2 foot 2, calf 2 and thigh 2. Then select all
of the puppet pins. In the Links and Constraints select Add Bones. now we can
lock our artwork layer so it doesn't move and create a new structure. Make
sure we click Digitigrade and then we can move it into position. Put all the
pivot points where the bones are. Now we can hide the visibility of these
structures as well as these bones and then unsolo the leg layer. Now let's move
on to the arms. Unlock the first arm and click solo. Remember even for tasty fried
chicken arms you need four puppet pins for an arm. Select the puppet pin tool.
Click one for arm, one for forearm, one for hand, and one for armtip. Twirl out
the Puppet Pin Deform mesh and label the puppet pins. Armtip, Hand,
Forearm and Arm. Select all of the puppet pins then under Links and Constraints
Add Bones. Under the robot arm create an arm structure make sure to lock our
artwork. Move the structure into position above the puppet pins. We can hide the
visibility of those structures and hide the visibility of these bones. Unsolo the
arm layer. Now let's do arm 2 unlock arm 2 and solo it. Go to the puppet pin tool.
One pin for Arm, one pin for Forearm, one pin for Hand and one pin for Armtip.
Twirl out the puppet pins in the deform panel and label them.
Armtip 2, Hand 2,
Forearm 2 and Arm 1. Select all of the puppet pins
Then in Links and Constraints, click Add Bones. Back at robot arm add
another arm structure. Make sure to lock our artwork then move the pieces into
position.We can hide the visibility of these structures and hide the visibility
of the bones. Next let's rig up the body before we do that though we want to
pre-compose parts of the face. I'm gonna press the tilde key to make the timeline
fullscreen. Here I have eye 2, eye, nose, mouth and coconut. I'm going to unlock these
layers and pre-compose them and call this layer Face. I'm going to unlock
Coconut select Face and Coconut, right-click, pre-compose and label this
Body. That way I can animate different attributes of the face and body
separately at a later time. Now I will solo the body layer press the tilde key
again and now I will add pins for the body.
Select the puppet pin tool. Add a pin for hips, a pin for spine, a pin for spine 2,
a pin for neck, a pin for head and a pin for spine tip. Twirl out the mesh
Label the puppet pins. Spinetip, Head, Neck, spine 2, Spine and Hips.
Select all the puppet pins. Then in Links and Constraints, Add Bones. Under the
robot arm create a spine and then move it into position. Remember to lock the
layer that way it does not move around while you're positioning the structure.
Now we can hide the visibility of these structure, hide the visibility of the
bones and unsolo the layer. The last thing we need to do is add puppet pins
for the tail. Unlock the tail and solo it for the tail we can add a puppet pin for
Tail, Tail 2, Tail 3, Tail 4 and Tailtip. Twirl out the puppet pins and
label them. Tailtip, Tail 4, Tail 3, Tail 2
and Tail. Select all the puppet pins then in Links and Constraints, Add Bones.
Now, let's create a structure for the tail. Click on the tail and decide how many
layers your tail has then move the tail into position.
Now we can hide the visibility of the tail structure and we can hide the
visibility of these bones. Un-solo the tail. Now we need to parent the layers
together. To do this I will press the tilde key. I'm going to start with the
first leg. The bone leg goes to the structure leg. so I will use the pick whip
to drag it there. The bone tiptoe goes to the structure tiptoe.
It is convenient to begin shying layers away click the shy guy and the layer
will disappear. Then Claws goes to structure Claws, shy. Foot goes to
structure Foot, shy. Calf goes to structure Calf, shy. Thigh goes to structure
Thigh, shy. Armtip goes to structure Armtip. I will
now speed this up. You just parent each bone to its appropriate structure
Now I'm ready to select all of my structure layers and auto rig them.
With all of the structures selected click Auto Rig.
Duik will now create controllers for each of the layers.
When Duik is done Auto rigging it tends to have the controller layers twirled
open. To clean up your timeline twirl them shut. Now we can click shy. The only
things I have left on my timeline are the Duik controllers and my artwork
layers. I want to make sure my artwork layers are locked so I do not
accidentally move them. Now if I highlight all of the controllers and
press P shift R, I can see where all of my keyframes are. Notice that these
numbers are very hard to remember. If I click Zero, Duik will create null objects
where each of the controllers are and then parent them to those null objects.
That way I can remember where the zero is. I'm going to close the layers.
Now, it's important to check to see if Duik is working properly. Let's start with the
leg. So, if I move the leg now I have this great action happening with Duik. Press
Command-Z. Let's check the arms, oh yes, the arms seem to be working. This arm is
backwards so I will reverse it. In the next video I will show you how to make a
walk cycle with a four-legged character like this. Stay tuned.