3ds Max CAT rigging Tips and tricks

Quickly sharing some tips and tricks when creating a new rig with CAT.

[@idle0-0kato19]

PLEASE NOTE: To turn off the rotational inheritance, you need to be in PLAY mode, otherwise the hierarchy panel/menu does not display all of the correct link tickboxes! And if you turn off the wrong inheritance tickboxes, it will break your rig! Make sure to turn off the ones which appear at the bottom of the list (in sets on of three). This drove me NUTS!! Lol. But thanks for the video! Xxxxx

[@NotYou2Again]

Thank you!

[@WaspMedia3D]

OMG how did I miss this post! Thank you for clarifying! If you do it the way the guy in the video did it, it doesn't work (at least on newer versions) and your rig will go all squirrely and be pretty much unusable. I just checked your suggestion and it works now 100%! Thanks so much!

[@igoraherne9454]

Want to contribute: As many mentioned, hubs jump to floor / to pelvis when you untick inherit rotation in Link info. Doin't do this - as idle0-0kato said: "If you untick the ones in the 'Bone Hierarchy' rollout, rather than 'Inherit' rollout it will break the rig if you are using procedural spine/ neck. You need to a) be in Play Mode (else the correct tickboxes are not visible) then you must untick the boxes in the "Inherit" rollout (right at the bottom, in sets of three). Also, unticking them here means you can have different inheritance settings for different layers." I want to add, in Link info, Hub bones have "Additive to Setup-pose" tickbox. Ticking it for *certain* hubs in your rig might prevent bones from changing places once you enter Animation mode. Just make sure to remove any old layers before you enter anim mode to test if it worked or not.

[@IgorAherne]

You will have to unpick these boxes for every CAT animation layer which you introduce.

[@1564168453415]

Thank you!

[@robertnewton9548]

Agreed, this was very helpful! Basically it's essential for a more professional rig in CAT. This really should be included in the Autodesk AREA CAT animation tutorials.

[@sivag2453]

2.54 : The spine starching is not working when I use extra bone for hip rotation, the Spine is multiplying by current value for the chest bone each translation.

[@marcovale4978]

This was very helpful! thank you much!

[@asadullah786]

seems like you ported from maya to max, as I am...... I love animating charaters in Maya, but easy of use due to layer animation concept blew my mind......

[@terrablader]

This is very good. Have you ever run into a situation where the character needs to carry a weapon in his hand then later the weapon needs to drive the hand, i cant seem to get it to link to the IK since it was already linked the other way, circular issue, of course could just have a helper in space and break that but want it to be part of the system. thanks.

[@nuummuun]

Very good tips, my friend. Thanks.

[@MultiBRETTER]

Thanks. I learned something. I hope I can now animate my character nicely

[@SOUFIANEBARAKA]

thank you ... favorite

[@-senior5087]

Hiya khadam bel cat al baraka hhhhh

[@JoshPurple]

Thank You :) ! Outstanding tips and set-up items for CAT, great!

[@DavidAnatolie]

Great! awesome! But one question though, why would you add a bone to the palm and link accessory (e.g. gun) to it when you can just link the gun to the palm?

[@ShayleeNilaya]

I have the same question! But yeah, great video overall. :)

[@idle0-0kato19]

Nilaya ShaMo DavidAnatolie It's because you may want to add additional rotation on the object, to position it correctly in the palm - otherwise your gun would be stuck pointing in only one direction out of the hand, and that one chosen angle may not look good in every pose (eg - might be hard to point the gun without "breaking the wrist"). Of course, if you are just animating to render, it's not a problem because you can animate the object's mesh without it being rigged. But if you are exporting for a video game the animation must be bone driven.

[@sugarmanart]

This was very helpful and clearly explained. Thank you.

[@damnfail9316]

hi espen , i've watched some cat tutorial. i have a question, i've created an octopus the leg made from tail, can you move the spine but the octopus leg stay in position? . for example, when you create a base human in CAT, when you move the spine the leg stay in position (base platform) . can you do that with the octopus rig? thank you

[@13joeshua]

Thanks for the tutorial. Strange, but when I tick the rotational inheritance off my Rig gets destroyed. Same with helpers for knees. I tried it in Play and Setup modes/ Using 3ds max 2017. Has anyone had such issue and solved it. Thanks

[@Lucky_Red_Fish]

Awesome video many thanks for the share, i learned loads from it

[@yhlee94]

The pelvic legging tip is really amazing.

[@ernestochanquia1438]

Thanks!

[@AlexUdilov]

brilliant !

[@kleber1983]

When I deactivated the inherit rotation on my arms it gave me an bizarre result, the arm went to the floor lol!

[@kostaspetrou4897]

hi i m having a problem , whenever disable inherit rotation for the chest and add a layer the chest jumps on the pelvis . any idea why ?

[@idle0-0kato19]

+Kostas Petrou I think you are unticking the wrong inheritance tickbox. If you untick the ones in the 'Bone Hierarchy' rollout, rather than 'Inherit' rollout it will break the rig if you are using procedural spine/ neck. You need to a) be in Play Mode (else the correct tickboxes are not visible) then you must untick the boxes in the "Inherit" rollout (right at the bottom, in sets of three). Also, unticking them here means you can have different inheritance settings for different layers.

[@igoraherne9454]

goddamn!!!!! :DD

[@Neomace]

In Max 2016 I can't turn off 'Inherit Rotation' without the ribcage falling to the floor, I've tried it in both Setup mode and with an ABS animation layer active. Please help, losing hair and the will to animate :(

[@morbid1.]

right click on ribcage and "pin bone"

[@zahobaba31]

I don't have that "bone setup" tab in my 3ds max modifier how can I find it ? I need to make segments in forearm

[@JustLukeMinecraft]

great video! thanks

[@VsevolodVityaz]

nice video. I create tutors in rusian and have a couple of them about biped and cat. In your video I learned one cool feacher about pelvis independence. Thanks.

[@dddmod6596]

Hello! Why does CAT work like this? take.ms/f8Gy0 if I move the wrist then the link works, but if I take and move the bone of the chest or pelvis then the link behaves uncontrollably and flies away?

[@3Rton]

Anyone got a clue why the upnodes explode allover the scene when I unlink them? (using Max 2016)

[@Neomace]

+3Rton Same happens with mine too, Also when I go to animate the ribcage drops to the floor :(

[@konraddobson]

Good tips. Thanks!

[@Visualife]

COOL

[@minkytak3156]

Hi Espen, thank you for the very helpful video! I have a quick question - do you know if I can get 'up nodes' on the elbows, like you created on the knees here? I tried the same process, and the crosses appeared in the right place, but they do not seem to affect the rig at all when I animate in IK mode?

[@EspenKielland]

Hi! It sounds like you are doing it right. Just double check that playmode and Ik is on :)

[@redsnow936]

THANKS YOU BROOO

[@Gregasaurus]

great tips

[@tigerija]

Is it somehow possible to toggle inherit rotation for hands (from chest) on and off?

[@KrzysztofKotarba]

this is very cool.

[@TheGrafox]

Thanks

[@Awakenedanon]

Thank you!

[@Ro-vt3rq]

Thx that was a big help ;)

[@Way2Close]

Nice video :D

[@romulofranklin]

muy bueno!!

[@peruvianpuffpepper904]

How would someone create a facial rig?

[@maazrehan3382]

morphs

[@cro23miu]

where i disable inherit Rot in ribcage when i create a layer and go in anim mode the ribcages lost the original position , dont know why help me pls lol

[@DavidAnatolie]

hey I experienced the same problem too. What I did is I disabled the rotation in the "inherit" rollout and that did the trick. Make sure you're in animation mode before you do this step though.

[@Stickworm]

DavidAnatolie Hello I am experiencing the same problem. I have attempting disabling inherit rotation both in and out of animation mode but the ribcage always moves down between the knees. Any suggestions? (I'm using Max 2014)

[@DavidAnatolie]

Stickworm Ok there is two "inherit rotation" options. The "CAT" version is the one that is used in this video. Make sure the CAT Inherit Rotation is unchanged, then create an animation layer, and select the rib cage, down in the hierarchy panel "link info" you see 3ds Max "inherit" properties. These are the ones you need to modify. Untick all for rotation and good to go :)