Rig Control

Rig Control (Matrix3 Controller)

The Rig Control is a controller similar to the Position/Rotation/Scale controller, but it's designed for rigging purposes. It allows the usage of offset transformations, mirroring of nodes, straight scale and figure mode.

The offset transform is an extra transformation within the controller that is not animatable, this allows the object to have an initial transformation different than the one that the object has when all the transformation components are zeroed out. Consider this transformation as the one that a rig has when it's in figure mode, or initial posture.

It's a similar effect to freezing transformation, but the frozen component is hidden and it's not animatable, the behavior is also different because their default mode is the same that you have when you link two nodes together, one for the offset, and one for the animation itself, but all within the same controller. You can also edit the "Figure Pose" of a whole rig interactivelly by just pressing one single button.

Optionally, You can also have the same behavior that you have with freezing transformations by turning on the "Independent Offset" parameter.

Interface

3ds max smartanim animation rig toolkit controller rig control

Once you assign the rig control, you can access its properties on the Rig Control, Transform and Offset Transform rollouts on the Motion panel.

Figure Mode

If the figure mode is on, the controller will output only the offset transform, and the user will be able to change it interactively. This button will affect all the rig controls that are part of the same rig (or hierarchy of nodes).

Independent Offset

If this parameter is on, the offset position, offset rotation and offset scale will affect the controller independently, similarly to the effect of freezing transformations.

Straight Scale

If this property is on, the controller won't have skewed scale transformations.

Side Group

This parameter controls the behaviour in mirrored rigs, for copying poses and making transformations when the nodes in both sides are selected. It can be one of the following: Center, Right, Left.

Mirror Axes Group

These properties are used to define how the copying of poses and transformations are done with mirrored nodes. If an mirror axis is turned on, it's value will be negative when copying the pose or transforming the nodes.

Mirror Node

You can select the mirror node with this button, the mirror node is used by the pose manager for copying poses and connecting the offset transformation.

Connect Mirror Offset

If this property is on, both mirrored nodes' offset transform will be connected, and both will change if one or the other changes.

Transform and Offset Transform Rollouts

3ds max smartanim animation rig toolkit controller rig control transform

In these rollouts you can edit directly the transform and offset transform values.