Tips on drawing character for rigging

[Popa]

Is there a video someone can share that involves in depth tips on drawing a character for rigging?
Here is a useful one I found but I want more before I dive into drawing my character.


I know practice is one of the best ways to do it and realising my own mistakes when I try to rig it, but I cant help wanting to know and prevent mistakes. Im totaly new to rigging or animating but I have some knowledge.
Videos specifcaly on this subject are more than welcome, I dont mind if there is a price tag on it. If you want to share your tips down below, that is also fine.

Thanks in advance!

[slowtiger]

Since this pops up regularly I'd like to point a hint or two:

You don't design for rigging. You design for your story and the movements within.

Only larger productions can spend time to build a one-fits-all perfect rig, but it doesn't make sense to do the same for a shorter project which doesn't need this.

Start with a storyboard/animatic, to see which movements will happen and which shot sizes are used. Let's assume all will be done in Moho, so you need to decide on the basic questions:
- will there be dialogue?
- Facial expressions?
- Head turns and tilts?
- Will the character need to grab things?
- Will there be only running and walking or other movements as well?
- Gestures?
- Which sides of the character will be seen at all?
(- will there be shots which are impossible to do in Moho? -> switch software for this.)

1 - will there be dialogue? Then you'll need mouth shapes and decide whether you can automate lipsync or not.

2 - Facial expressions? More mouth shapes, more eye shapes other than blinking, and eye brows. Will there be eating? Flute playing? A visit to the dentist? Then have a setup that allows insertion of objects into mouth.

3 - Head turns and tilts? If yes, then all of the above must be adapted so it works in all views. Now it's a good idea to study smart bones. Prepare to simplify your hair: what looks good in one pose might be impossible to show in another. Remember hats and helmets.

4 - Will the character need to grab things? Make their arms long enough, and have hands which easily can have different poses. (This works best when scribbled on paper: lots o poses and views, just thumbnails, to get a feel for your character.) Decide whether you get away with a bunch of poses in a switch layer, or need smooth transitions and a nearly fully functional hand.

5 - Will there be only running and walking or other movements as well? You'll need to have transitions from standing still to walking, and vice versa. Think cycles: you can have legs in a cycle but arms and head outside of it, to make discussions while walking possible (think of nested bone rigs). Also see 7.

6 - Gestures? Additional to 4 you may need "italian hands/arms", or solve riddles like "hand on chin", "hand behind head", "hand in pocket", "taking on/off clothing", "shake another one's hand" and so on.

7 - Which sides of the character will be seen at all? Make a list of all shots a character is in and note it's views in there, then see which transitions you really need. No sense in doing a 360° rig if a character is only seen full front in one shot and from the back in another, or only from 30° ot -30° in one shot.

In short: Only rig what you really need.

[Víctor Paredes]

It's an interesting topic. I agree with Markus in most of the points. If you are making something short, it's better to have simpler rigs that can do the tasks you want.
In the movies I have worked on, we usually create very simple rigs, animate the main movement and arcs with bones and then the details with point animation.
It can be a very powerful system if the animation and rigs are well planned.

For production like tv shows, then it makes more sense to trying to have a more 'universal' rig.
In that case, it's very important to test how well the design can work on your rigs before starting the real project. Many times, a little design detail can become a nightmare to rig, to animate or it can affect the performance of the software (often it can be all issues at once...), so it's good to show the problems to the directors and look for technically simpler design alternatives.
The video you posted above is very interesting, but I think most of the issues presented there are really related to the way that software works, so they are not tips that you can really apply if you are working with Moho.
Of course, Moho has its own way to work, with limitations and things to consider. For example, to make your character able to hold and pass props or to have parts of the body on front or behind other objects requires special planning.
It would be nice to hear others' ideas.