Rigging a game character using Biped and Skin in 3ds max

topics:
preparing the mesh
creating the biped structure
posing and creating a test animation
setting up the skin modifier
adjusting envelopes
adjusting vertex weights
symmetrical rigs

[Borgscan]

This is the best skinning tutorial I've seen. Even the paid ones I've seen from the likes of Digital Tutors and several others tend skip the advanced techniques of skinning. They just show the assigning of weights etc and move on.

Thanks for this!

[alnunezii]

Mike, you did a great job explaining all the concepts, tools, and tips to get started with rigging. I have searched for a while and I'm very happy I came across your video. Thanks for the help.

[bluemosquedesign]

The best tutorial on this. The first one that has taught me how to rig a character. Thank You! I've tried dozens of times unsuccessfully, but your method worked for me.

[PrometheusV]

Dude that tutorial was the bomb! I was getting through endless 3 hrs tutorials of every single step, and you summed it up real nice and for dummies like me.

[libo]

I listened to a friend and applied the physique modifier, then listened to another friend and added the skin modifier.  After about 2-3 hours of head scratching your video finally showed me your not supposed to have both switched on, I totally thought 'physique' was for setting up the body with the skeleton and 'skin' was to do the whole colour thing.  Cheers dude.  Ive been such a muppet but least i solved it finally.

[chap]

Thank you very much! I think it's great that you tell us that you're not incredibly experienced and at the beginning of the tutorial you state which modifier you'll be using (Only person I've seen to do this!) and the whole tutorial was clear and explained well. Thanks again =)

[badbiffa]

Mike...brillaint tutorial....animating the biped like you have show has made it 100 times easier to do....cant believe I hadnt thought of doing that...also didnt know you could resize the evelopes size slightly if needed...very very helpful. Thanks for uploading.

[SandersKevideo]

Amazing tutorial, thank you so much. I'm still quite a newbie to all of this, but it was real easy to follow and understand. I'll sure check out more of your videos.

[sleepvertigo]

Best rigging video I have seen on youtube. Well done Mike. I have subscribed.

[CraftyReaper]

Thanks for this, I have watched several videos on the subject and read a few books too. None of which covered the subject quite this well. I don't think many mentioned figure mode, or used a quick animation to help locate problems. What would be nice to see is the next few steps it would take to get a character like this up and running in say UDK or Unity.

[Khether]

I always have trouble skinning the shoulders, specially when the arms go up as in diving into the water or reaching to the sky...
Excellent tutorial. Thank you!

[lullhrsh]

Wow!!! I did not need to edit envelope or something useless. I only needed to add a skin modifier. Thanks!

[AngelOf]

Thanks for this video really helped me out, as an environment artist (I needed to rig a character for a game jam) this was really helpful, and you've earned my subscription.

[AbbyGoldsmith]

This is an excellent tutorial. Thanks very much!
To other viewers: Skinning starts at 14:36.

[NyaruTheMaid]

Big thanks. It really useful. I'm always try to escape work with the rigging, cause I always think that is too hard. But now I realize that it easy enough. Once again thank you.

[Toede]

One of the best tutorials I've seen, perfect!

[Dephesmo]

Thanks for the demonstration and explanation - can partially apply this in gmax!

[sepnax]

For what you used that weight table, I think it is easier to use the weight tool which is the wrench icon next to the weigh table icon.

[WNDRBY]

You saved me some hours mate.. Much appreciated.! :)

A little note.. You should probably know this now anyway, given the date of the upload.. But if you click Ctrl + Alt and use left/right mouse button you can scroll on the timeline instead of going into the Time Configuration settings.. Left mouse button adjusts the left side of the timeline and right mouse button the right respectively.. Just remember to hold Ctrl + Alt at the same time as the left/right mouse button.. :)

[Tiviat]

Also, stack selection would also make it crash in a heartbeat. Like if you accidentally go too far down the stack and sometimes 3DSMax doesn't care, and sometimes it will crash. So, , maybe it's just the way Max uses memory..