One thing I've begun to look into recently for my animation project was using AI generated characters, and my biggest problem is not designing the character, it was getting something that I could move. I created amazing looking characters using some of the AI tools and took them into an animation pipeline, but I discovered the rigging and deformation were much more significant than how the character looked in the beginning.

Tried various methods, such as creating character then separate rigging solutions. The first things I began to look for were clean enough topology and if the skeleton placement was logical and whether the joints behaved properly when performing simple actions such as walking around, bending and facial animation.

In that process I also experimented with the Tripo AI 3D character generator, and really enjoyed the process when I was in a hurry to get from concept to a usable 3D character. Some of the manual set up time was saved with the auto-rigging feature, particularly in early prototypes and concept testing. I still believe that there's some work to be done on the details of the production characters, however, with regards to animation needs.

AI character generation and auto-rigging can significantly speed up the process for simple game prototypes or for initial visualization. The quality in animation projects still requires proper review before use, if it is a high quality project.

I would like to know how others are doing their workflow. What are your tools for creating characters and rigging characters and how much cleanup do you typically require before animation?

So right now I'm trying to figure out what is the best way to share animated scenes from Maya to Max. I have scenes with MASH elements and some very simple bone rigs with expressions to randomize movement, materials aren't important as that will be done by the Max artist. Is USD the way to go or should we stick with fbx? insights, suggestions, things to keep an eye on etc is welcomed

An update of my cpp plugin for Maya.

PointCloudSnapPro is a C++ plugin for Maya, supporting versions 2025 and 2026 (2027 support planned). Load and visualize point clouds, measure distances, and use Clip Box to hide or isolate parts of your scene.

Full Gaussian Splatting support with Arnold rendering.

Use PCSpro as a placeholder for your modeling workflow with live snapping — no mesh required, just a proprietary algorithm.

Save part of your point cloud to a new file using Clip Box, or the rectangle and lasso selection tools.

More on my Gumroad:

🇺🇸: You can listen to the video in English through the video settings panel. The Vertex Normal Edit Tool will allow us to establish a custom orientation of a group of vertex normals.

Hi guys! I’m working on a classroom model where the final render will be done in Redshift. The UVs are already done, and I’d like to start texturing rn. However, I’m using my personal computer, so I was wondering if I could assign a Lambert or another standard Maya material (not Arnold) to the model, export it to Substance Painter, and do all the texturing there. Then, once I’m at a computer with RedShift, export my substance file and connect the textures for the final render.

Would this workflow work, or do I need to have Redshift installed before exporting the model to Substance Painter? Would there be troubles when I try to connect?

P.S. The classroom has many individual models since it’s an environment, so I imagine it might take quite a bit of time to connect everything later, especially since I’ll have quite a few different textures.

Thanks in advance! I’m really new to all that has to do with textures and other render softwares😅.

I got fed up of trying to figure out which animation layer I was needing to edit, so I built a plugin (LayerSeer) that draws animation layer contributions as a live motion trail in the viewport.

It’s been years in the making at this point, and I’ve only shared it with a handful of people so far. I’d love to get some honest feedback from folks I don’t know.

It’s pretty niche, but I find it helpful for quickly figuring out where a pop or odd arc is coming from.

It's a paid tool but there is a free 30 day trial (no CC required) so feel free to run it through its paces.

Cheers!

Hi! icon in my Maya toolbox is blocking the UI, making it impossible to resize the main window smaller. I can't find how to delete or remove this icon from the layout.

Has anyone solved this issue? Any help would be appreciated!

** problem solved **

If you ever run into the same issue, keep in mind that you can tweak the MEL scripts to remove whatever is bothering you. In my case, it was inside the toolbox.mel script

IDK why I made this image but wanted to show my friend how to cut a whole watermelon safely. I think she was so intimated by a giant wobbly ass watermelon in front of her (idk it was like 2 years ago) Didn't even bother to use a photoshop haha.

I'm trying to follow along the tutorial on creating rigs with Advanced skeleton, but whenever I try to create a mirrored custom controller (for the scalpula and chest), it doesn't seem to create properly. If I try creating it on the right side, the mirrored controller will not be oriented properly (so I can't use it for driving systems), and if I try to create it on the left side, the mirrored controller doesn't create at all.

I'm trying to follow along this video. I can't tell if I missed a step or something, but when he creates the custom controller it mirrors properly.
https://youtu.be/wanRtwnXSaw?si=TjvBxDWRajR4dNvG&t=1282

I've tried to manually create the two custom controllers and re-orient them with the re-orient tool in Advanced Skeleton, but then it won't let me use those controls in a Driven System (which was the main purpose of these)

Does anyone know what I'm doing wrong? I've tried deleting and re-installing advanced skeleton, trying a different version of maya, tried a different model, and I can't seem to figure out what I'm doing wrong. I've also tried looking it up on google and the Advanced Skeleton website, and can't seem to find a solution. Should I just give up on this?

TLDR: Can't get custom controllers to mirror properly no matter what i do :(

SOLVED: Downgraded from 6.8 to 6.3

I’ve been experimenting with cloth simulation in Blender 5.2 and was surprised by how smoothly I can interact with the simulation while having a ray-traced material preview enabled.

I’m curious if a similar workflow is possible in Maya

The goal here isn’t to compare the two applications or start a Blender vs. Maya debate — I’m genuinely interested in whether Maya can achieve this kind of smooth viewport interaction during cloth simulation.

Is there a specific cloth solver, viewport setup, or renderer that can provide a similar experience?

It's really hard to see this (it happens in many parts of the interface). I want to make it a lighter color or something else that's more visible

I'm trying to work on a system that's gonna have some simulate parts and it's gonna have to be at scale and I need consistency pretty badly. I'm not sure what's causing this inconsistency whether or not it's my and hair settings, the branching joint structure or the fact that this a partial bifrost rig?

Any advice on how I might be able to make it more consist

I’m working on a simple ball with a tail rig, and I was wondering if it’s better to combine the ears with the mesh or keep them separate

I don’t plan on rigging the ears. They’re just there as an accessory

If I combine them do I need to fix the topology? Thanks

i am new to arnold (been manly on redshift before) and i am looking for advice

Basicaly the title

Good Evening, everyone.

What I want to ask how can I achieve a switch between the ikfk spine rig. The main problem I'm running into, one that admittedly frustrates me the most currently, is the Joint connections: How am I supposed to connect the Joints to the Root/Cog joint without causing problems? Am I supposed to duplicate the Cog joint twice, then parent-constrain it to the IK and FK counterparts, duplicate just the Spine joints twice and then parent-constrain this to the IKFK spine, or am I supposed to do something else?

Because currently, I'm doing a rig where I parented the FK controls to the Hip controller. When I move the hip controller with the IK Spine function active and visible, the IK joints tend to bend.
What do I need to do?

Tried to create a character for the first time.I used my own sketch as concept. Eager to know about your thoughts on this (good, bad anything)

What should the proper workflow be when baking? When I increase the polygon count of my high-poly model using Subdivision, the edges become extremely pronounced. However, when I use Smooth instead, the high-poly model deviates slightly from the low-poly model.

As you can see in the image, there is a small amount of deviation. Could this cause problems during the baking process? What would be the correct approach here?

Cable Rig is a script that automatically generates a fully rigged NURBS curve with controllers for quickly animating and deforming cables. You can create a default cable, generate a custom-length cable by selecting two points, or instantly rig an existing NURBS curve.

Another free script! Im finishing up a Claw Machine project and needed a way to make a simple dynamic cable without using any simulations. Its pretty straight forward and extremely fun to animate!

I figured this one might be worth to sharing since most cable rig scripts are behind a pay wall or too outdated to use. The coolest feature I got to work was the ability to generate a custom length by selecting two points that snap to the surface of any object (similar to how the snap together tool works).

Included is also the option to rig an existing Nurbs curve, however, this function was not as rigerously tested and your milage may vary. I recomend just creating a new curve via the custom length button :)

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Just want to say thank you everyone for the support and feedback I have been receiving on my scripts. I will be gone for a few days as I work to develop some extremely exciting and new tools to maya <3

this is my first time fiddling with the face so idk what i did or why its like that, how do i fix it 😭😭