Rigging Dojo

Q: What is Rigging Dojo?

A: Rigging Dojo is an online school providing personal customized training for character rigging and technical arts. See our About page to learn more about the school.

Q: How much does a Rigging Dojo course cost?

A: A single 6 week session is $1026 USD with a 10% discounted rate for returning students. For group or studio training pricing discounts and details Contact us.  Alumni access to your course materials and the private community site is included free.

Q: How long is a course?

A: 6 weeks. This allows enough time to learn important material while limiting the demands on the the students work/life schedule.

Q: How does the course work?

A:

• During the registration process the student submits their desired goals.
• A mentor with experience in those areas mentioned in the students goals is assigned.
• The session begins.
• The first week is the “getting to know each other” phase, emphasis is on setting expectations based on the goals and timeline of the class.
  • Communication styles and mechanisms are discussed during the first week as well.
• The last five weeks of the session are for execution of the plan agreed upon in the first week.

Q:What kind of training can I take?

A: We customize our courses to each student.  A student can dive deeply into a single topic or spread out their course over several topics.  The topics include but are not limited to …

• Skinning and deformations
• Scripting (MEL, Python, pyMel)
• Mechanical rigging
• Skeleton design
• Auto-rigging
• Tool creation
• Animation UI
• Pipeline improvement
• Setup and rigging for motion capture editing in Maya.
• Facial rigging and/or deformations
• New back and spine rigging options
• MotionBuilder basics
• MotionBuilder
  • Physics
  • Motion Capture Editing
  • Story mode
  • Relation constraints
  • Working with motion capture between Maya and MotionBuilder or 3dsMax
  • Custom rigging for characters and props.
• Maya to Max transition
• Max to Maya transition
• Or just brush up on a mix of  techniques so your job skills are current.

Generally speaking we focus on the theories and fundamentals of rigging, not just what buttons to push when.

Q:What kind of artist is ideal for Rigging Dojo training?

A: All artists within a production pipeline should have some sort of technical knowledge of the software they are working with, but to be more specific, here are some examples:

• Modelers should have rigging knowledge in order to hand off clean, animation friendly models to the riggers.
• Animators should have rigging knowledge in order to know what to request from riggers, and how to communicate efficiently between departments.
• Artists that want to be more efficient when working with their software.
• Artists that want to be able to make tools to aid in their workflow or production needs.
• Artists that want to have the skills and opportunity to jump between any of the departments mentioned above.  It is common for a modeler to rig, or an animator to rig, or build tools.
• TD’s should be the masters of the software used in production, as they need to support all other departments.

Q: When can I start?

A: Here are the Rigging Dojo 2010 start dates: Open registration will start after Session 1 is underway.

Session 1- February 1st (full)
Session 2- April 19th (full)
Session 3 – July 5th
Session 4- September 13th

Q: What if the current session is full?

A: Preregister now and you will be placed on our waiting list for the next available session. The wait list is priority based where existing students wanting to continue with another session get first choice and then students on the waiting list are added based on registration order and session date selected.

Q: What makes Rigging Dojo different?

A: Every aspect of our service is built on the relationships between student and teacher as well as student to student.  We designed our personal learning site around a customized social networking software. Students and mentors can network and share with each other including following updates like Twitter or Facebook, while still receiving private training. After the course is finished, students are allowed continued access to their training session for review and can continue using the open areas of the school site. If a student enrolls for another personal course they will then be assigned a mentor and training will continue in their “virtual private classroom” keeping all material in one easy to find location.

Q: Will I have homework and be graded?

A: Mentors do assign work to be completed for review and critique in order to  help the student improve. Assignments can include but are not limited to a mix of production-like problem solving and tutorials to complete and then uploaded for review.

Q: How much time per week will I have to work?

A: Depending on what your trying to learn and how fast you are we expect an average of 1 to 2 hours per day of work from the students 5 to 6 days a week.

Q: What are the software and hardware requirements?

A:

• A computer capable of running Autodesk Maya and MotionBuilder or equivalent software.
• We use Autodesk Maya and Autodesk MotionBuilder software for our courses.
  • 30 day trials are available from Autodesk Media and Entertainment website.
• A high-speed internet connection for watching video feedback and other video content.
• Firefox or chrome web browser is preferred.
• Additional helpful tools would include screen capture software (Jing Capture software , CamStudio or Screener),  a microphone or webcam for narrating screen captures.

Q: Who are the people behind Rigging Dojo?

A: Josh Carey, Brad Clark and Chad Moore are the co-founders of Rigging Dojo and directors of the education program.
The three founders are actively working in production and as educators.  We do what we teach and teach what we do. We all have worked together and with clients both on-site and remotely from all over the world. With years of teaching and training experience, including college level courses, short form masterclasses and in-house production training, our experiences make us a uniquely valuable source of knowledge for both amateurs as well as industry professionals. Learn more about the founders.

Q: Is this part of Animation Mentor?

A: No, we are not, repeat not in any way related to the Animation Mentor school. We were, however, very inspired by them and Keith Lango’s Animation Personal Trainer program. All of those guys are amazing talents and the animation community  has benefited immensely from their dedication to sharing their knowledge. We hope to help do the same for the character technical art community.

Q: What if I have more questions?

A: Ask us, its easy on our Contact page.