Working with joint labels

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Now there may be times when you need floating labels as part of your

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R

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this could be just to highlight certain controls

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or you could simply use them to help an animator work out how to use the rig

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sort of like a help system.

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Now, the first option would be to use annotations.

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These create floating text with an arrow pointing to a specific node

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to create one, simply go to create

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annotation

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and then give it a name.

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We can then use the locator to reposition it

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and we can also move the text too to change the position of the opposite end.

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If you need to change the actual text,

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you can just do this in the attribute editor here.

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Now, from a skeleton point of view,

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there is another option that could help

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while rigging or more specifically exporting,

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go to skeleton joint labeling

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with this window. We can assign show and hide each joint's designated label,

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go to show all labels.

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We can now see them in red,

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they are read because we haven't assigned any labels yet.

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We can easily change them with the ad joints label menu.

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Let's call this head.

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So there, you see it's assigned head to that joint.

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You can also update the labels in the attribute editor.

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You see here,

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we can also specify a side.

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Let's update this to left elbow.

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So there that's labeled now

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like subject the shoulder.

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What we can also do with the menu is assign a side to a hierarchy.

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So if we select label left,

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you see it updates all the Children down the arm too.

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Also, if there isn't a predefined label available,

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you can use the other option which allows you to use a custom name.

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So let's call this twist.

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Now these do suffer from the same issues as selection handles.

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In that when we hide the joints, they go too.

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But these can be useful if you're planning on using motion capture data,

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for example, or for when you're mirroring skin weights.

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In that case, you can use the option to match by label for more accuracy.

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Another option for creating labels is to use Maya's built in text creation tool.

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All we do is go to create type.

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This will give us a default word to start working with.

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If you look in the attribute editor

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at the type node,

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you can see all the options here.

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We can select and change the text here

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and then all we need to do is click the create curves from type button here.

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We can now delete the models

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and we are left with the letters.

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These are great for labeling parts of the rig

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plus. I also like to use this option to add a version number to each rig.

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This is essential for tracking different versions when working on a project,

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especially as a rig evolves and grows.

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This just means that you can make sure the animators using the correct version.

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And if they find bugs, they can refer to the version they are currently using.