Rigging the fingers

00:03

We have all these finger controls just like we had with the FK tours.

00:08

So we need to wire these up.

00:10

Unlike with the foot though, we won't be using both an IK and FK set up with the hand.

00:15

All we need for this rig are simple FK controls.

00:19

But these will need to be available. Whether we are working with an IK or an FK arm

00:24

first, we need a group so we can eventually get the controls to follow the hand.

00:29

So create a new empty group

00:31

and call it

00:32

hand left control group.

00:35

We need this to be in the same position as the wrist. So match it to the left hand joint

00:41

there. It is

00:42

now parent it to the main root control alongside the other controls.

00:48

Actually, let's move it to the left arm group.

00:52

Now move the finger controls into that group

00:56

because we've changed the hierarchy, the positions of the controls have changed.

01:00

So we now have additional transform values here.

01:03

So we need to update the offset parent matrix values.

01:07

So select the first control of each finger.

01:10

And in the attribute editor

01:12

set the matrix to identity

01:14

which will reset the offset parent matrix values and

01:17

pass the values back to the main attributes.

01:21

Now set the values to zero. So we can see where they are.

01:25

Actually, I'll move them out of the hierarchy so we can test them properly.

01:31

So reset again

01:33

and the first control should be at the world root.

01:36

OK. Good. They are.

01:38

So they don't have an offset baked into them, which is good.

01:42

OK, parent these back to the hand group

01:46

and now match each control's position and orientation

01:49

to the first joint in each finger,

01:51

moving them back into position.

01:55

Now we can clean the values again,

01:57

moving them back down to the transform, offset parent matrix section

02:01

or just using the script,

02:04

that's better all zeroed out.

02:07

So with the toes, we also cleaned the joints too.

02:11

But remember we were working with the FK skeleton then

02:14

whereas this is the main skinned skeleton.

02:17

So we can't do that here.

02:19

We also need to maintain the values when this is animated and em baked.

02:23

So we need to use just basic constraints.

02:27

So select each control

02:29

and then the joint it will drive

02:33

and simply use a parent constraint.

02:37

Remember that you can press G to repeat the last command

02:41

rather than manually applying the constraint each time.

02:48

OK. That's the fingers rigged. Nice and easy.