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BroRig

Feature Preview

BroRig is currently considered a "Feature Preview" in it's Alpha stage. It's functional and was already used on multiple production game projects, but it is still under active development. It can have bugs and UX issues, so please report any problems you encounter.

BroRig is a modular auto-rigging system for character skeletons in Maya. It uses a blueprint-first workflow: you mark which joints each module controls, configure settings, then build the final rig in one step.

Each body part can have multiple modules added to it, and you can easily switch between them during animation thanks to built-in switching that works across IK, FK, Spline IK and other setups that exist now or will be added in the future.

It is designed with gamedev first approach, and is a great tool for both rigging new characters from scratch as well as creating control rigs for already skinned characters. It does not care about the underlying skeleton or it's joint orientations, it will build on top and just work.

How it works (in brief)

  1. Open the BroRig window from Rigging Tools → BroRig (or the BroTools shelf button).
  2. (Optional) If you are rigging a new character use Skeleton page where you can spawn some guides and quickly build a UE4 compatible skeleton. Arms, legs and finger joint positions use a smart algorithm that ensures a correct and predictable pole vector \ bend plan for the limb, and the knee\elbow position is calculated automatically based on the upperarm\thigh locator, wrist\foot locator and 3 locators that are placed on the elbow\knee tip and left\right sides. For most game assets with good topology this process is incredibly fast where you can snap locators to vertices by holding J hotkey in Maya.
  3. Select joints and Install Modules to define how each part should be controlled:
  4. FK, IK, Spline IK, Eyes, Root, Neck, Hind Leg, Twist, etc.
  5. Adjust module settings as needed (toggle, control shape, etc.).
  6. Click Build to generate all controllers and constraints.
  7. Click Rebuild after adjusting settings to automatically rebuild the rig - rebuilding preservers your edits into control shapes and positions and some of the connections you add after (known issue - not everything is preserved, but we're working on improving this).
  8. Change, adjust, mirror, flip control shapes, enable XRay or View on mouse hover for individual controls

After build the rig is self-contained in Maya — BroRig is not required for animation, only for the rigging process. Built-in IK\FK switcher also works, it's embedded in the rig scene as a scriptJob.

Main features

  • Modular: Mix different control systems per body part (e.g. IK legs, FK arms, Spline IK spine).
  • IK/FK switching: Built-in switching between IK and FK for the same chain.
  • Space switching: Parent controls into different spaces (world, hips, chest, etc.).
  • Preset system: Save and load complete rig configurations as JSON files.
  • FBX animation import: Import animation from an FBX with matching joints directly onto controls (or use BroMocap tool which can retarget animation from any fbx skeleton onto any animation rig, not just BroRig!)
  • Skeleton builder: Guided tool to create standardized UE-mannequin-style skeletons from guide locators (in the future will support more types of skeletons and more modular builder)

Where to go next