Common rig control methods

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One of the more common ways to control a rig is by using nerves curves

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and you could use something as simple as a circle.

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This can then be attached to the joint. So when you move this, the joint follows,

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this gets around the issue of controls being hidden when

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the joints are because these are a separate element.

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So this ensures the base skeleton can be tucked away and not touched by the animator.

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You don't have to stick with a circle though

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if you right click on it and select control vertex,

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you can edit these points to reshape it to make it more unique.

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This way you can have different controls for each area of

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the rig making life so much easier for the animator.

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What we can do is also change its color.

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If we open the attribute editor

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and go to the display tab,

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we can enable the drawing over right

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with these, we can change how you can interact with the control and how it looks.

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If we change the display type to reference,

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you see the control is now black,

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this locks it so you can't select it,

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which is useful for icons or labels

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which are more for information than actual control

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down here. We can update the color

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when set to index. We can choose a predefined color from the top slider here.

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So it's now green.

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If you want more of a custom color, you can change this to R GB,

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you can now choose a color from the bottom slider.

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Let's go with maybe more of an olive color.

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So that's the basic control using just a nerve circle. But it can be quite versatile.

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There are more advanced options though available.

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If you want a more custom control, you can use the curve tools

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with the CV curve tool. We need to place four points

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and then a curve is created between them

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like this.

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It looks a little rough but we can press three to smooth it out.

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The edit point curve tool is probably the one I use the most.

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Let's just move this over.

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When we set the curve degree to one linear,

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we can create more angular shapes.

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So let's hold X to snap to the grid and create a simple arrow.

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There we go

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nice and easy

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and we can just press enter to finish creating that curve.

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Alternatively,

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you can choose another option like three cubic to make softer curves.

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You see as I place the points, the curve is created but its shape is much softer.

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With all these curves, you can still go in and adjust them if needed.

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With the pencil curve tool, you can simply draw any shape you want.

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And the Bezzy Air curve tool gives you more control over the angles at each point.

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If we create a basic angular shape,

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we can go in and adjust the tangents

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just like this.

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So those are the main curve tools you can see how they

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can allow you to create whatever shapes you need for your controls.

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Alternatively,

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you can also use a nerve sphere, which is more commonly used in facial rigs

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but can like a more solid selection handle.