Usage of CharacterSets

Rigging
1

Hi All,

I’d like to gauge opinion on CharacterSets. To give you a bit of background, we script build our rigs, and because its so quick to iterate and adjust the rigs we tend to do so quite regularly. We’re currently using CharacterSets but I find the following annoying/frustrating/concerning :

  • We have had CharacterSet ordering issues in the past
  • Attributes that are connected to a CharacterSet show as yellow all the time, so its hard to know at a glance if an attribute is keyed
  • Debugging animation through the NE is a hassle with a CharacterSet

I am really considering removing our dependency on characterSets. We don’t ( currently ) use the Trax Editor and we don’t have sub-character sets and I don’t believe our animators key in characterSet mode, they still key per-object.

Before I make the decision, or put the decision forward to the animation team I figured i’d get some input here in case there are any caveats that I may not be considering, or any broader benefits to CharacterSets in general.

Thanks

Mike

2

Good question Mike. We use characterSets but none of the animators touch Trax so in theory we could just delete them. I had hoped that with the blending feature that went into Maya 2013 I could persuade them but the mistrust of Trax is a tough one to get over. If they could see the mess AnimLayers makes behind the scenes maybe they wouldn’t feel quite the same way about those either!

However, I’ve been running referenced pipelines for 10+ years now and have always had chSets in there as a buffer to the reference load mechanism as it separates the loads from the dag names. Using chSets in referencing forces Maya to cross reference it’s connections against a placeholder list. The attr order issue in ChSets was fixed a few builds back, we did some extensive testing and couldn’t replicate the issues we used to have.

So I guess it’s a design thing. I agree the yellow connection in the CB is annoying, so too is the fact you can’t just connect to an attr if it’s already connected to a chSet. I guess it’s all down to choice and what you trust in the long term.

Mark

3

Thanks for the input there Mark, its good to know you have been using them for a long time with few issues.