EASILY Rig a Car in Maya - with Advanced Skeleton Vehicle Rigging

👉 Today we learn how to easily rig a car in Maya with Advanced skeleton rigging tools. It's my favourite rigging tool, enabling animators to create quality rigs for themselves. Maya Vehicle rigging can be simple and leave us to great car animation!
I will go through simple set-up, placing joints and using the template, and some important settings needed. We will easily rig the wheels with auto roll. And then add cool bouncy dynamics to the car body chassis and antenna.
Towards the end of the video I go over my own method of setting up a steering system to make animation easier. We create set driven keys turning both wheels and the steering wheel all under one single animatable attribute
Advanced Skeleton for Autodesk Maya is completely Free for Non-commercial use, and an affordable freelancer license is available for commercial projects.
👉 Get it here www.animationstudios.com.au/
🔥 Support this channel and get rewards at: 👉 / animatorartistlife
📗 To jump to a specific part of the video you can skip to any chapter by clicking in the timeline
▬ Contents of this video ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
0:00​​​​ - Introduction
00:27​​​​ - 01 - Model setup
00:59​​​​ - 02 - Placing our own joints method
11:44​​​​ - 03 - Template method
16:49​​​​ - 04 - Antenna
23:34 - 05 - Bind geometry
33:03​​​​ - 06 - Adding dynamics
38:32​​​​ - 07 - Steering system
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
👉 To see a series on rigging a full character with advanced skeleton go here: • Character Rigging in M...
Thanks for watching, more FREE lessons coming each month!
Please leave a like if you got value from this free tutorial, and comment below if you made your own motion design animations or anything else you would like to see in future videos
🔥 GET VIP REWARDS & BENEFITS and even my DIGITAL ASSETS LIKE 3D MODELS! for supporting this channel for as little as $2 a month. VISIT: 👉 / animatorartistlife . 👈 I want to be able to dedicate more time and make more videos each month so any support is hugely appreciated 🙏
👉 Come Join the New Private Facebook group: / animatorartistlife
👉 Follow on Twitter: / animartistlife

[@AnimatorArtistLife]

🔥🔥🔥Would you like access to the assets and project files I use in my tutorials, from Maya and After effects files, to even full character models!? Behind-the-scenes demos of real client projects? AND have access to me to ask questions and get FREE advice? Support my channel at: 👉 www.patreon.com/animatorartistlife and join me in building a VIP group. Thank you, I REALLY appreciate any support, from David 😊

[@RonnieMirands]

I just discovered Advanced Skeleton recently, and now I see how much time I lost in the past! I hope you make more Advanced Skeletoon Tutorials! Its just ADVANCED like the name says :D

[@AnimatorArtistLife]

Awesome that's great yo hear Ronaldo. I'm glad you liked my tutorials. I have another on the channel on rigging a vehicle, and will be doing more, I plan to model and rig a bird at some point. Come and show your work in the private Facebook group: 👉 facebook.com/groups/animatorartistlife/

[@Andrew_Mulligan]

Really great tutorial. Very helpful! Thanks!

[@AnimatorArtistLife]

Glad it was helpful! thank you for watching / Come and show your work in the private Facebook group: 👉 facebook.com/groups/animatorartistlife/

[@camarti92]

This is so cool!! 🍻I typically avoid vehicle-related animation (and it’s struggle when I HAVE to do them) for the obvious reasons, but this makes me want to animate a car now!

[@AnimatorArtistLife]

That's excellent, thanks!

[@davedogge2280]

thanks I'm planning on rigging a big 'blob type monster with tentacles' and this shows me a different way of working different from the typical humanoid.

[@AnimatorArtistLife]

You are welcome, thanks for commenting so quickly after This one has gone live 🙂

[@bruce4551]

Thank you for the tutorial! All these tricks are very helpful.

[@AnimatorArtistLife]

Glad it was helpful! thanks for commenting - Have you joined my new Discord community of animators and artists? visit: discord.gg/g6REvhbWGP 🙂

[@TheWaitingRoomTWR]

absolutely beautiful. thank you for taking the time for this A+

[@AnimatorArtistLife]

Thanks so much for the feedback it really helps me. Id love to see what you have animated: Come and show your work in the private Facebook group: 👉 facebook.com/groups/animatorartistlife/

[@AnimatorArtistLife]

Hi Ninef, I hope you are well, just a note to let you know I've launched a Patreon page, where members will get VIP access to me, and rewards each month like the project files from my lessons. VISIT: 👉 www.patreon.com/animatorartistlife

[@tomasla9345]

very cool thanks for sharing!.... hope you make a followup tutorial on how would you aproach animation in a rugged terrain or how to make the wheels interact with bumps and dents on a path

[@AnimatorArtistLife]

Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated. that would be more complicated, Im not a hardcore rigger, hence why I love to use AS, but that's achievable I'll look into it. Come and show your work in the private Facebook group: 👉 facebook.com/groups/animatorartistlife/

[@chrisrams3D]

Subscribed! thanks for the tutorial!

[@AnimatorArtistLife]

Thanks for watching! 🙂 Come and show your work in the private Facebook group: 👉 facebook.com/groups/animatorartistlife/

[@havydirtysoul]

Thank you for the tutorial!!

[@AnimatorArtistLife]

You are so welcome! I've started a new discord community of you'd like to join? discord.gg/g6REvhbWGP 🙂

[@reginaldarmah2381]

Finally!! Thank you

[@AnimatorArtistLife]

You're welcome, thank you. come and show your work in the Facebook group facebook.com/groups/animatorartistlife

[@watchme8335]

Thanks, like always.

[@AnimatorArtistLife]

You're welcome, I hope its useful. Have you joined the private facebook group yet? facebook.com/groups/animatorartistlife

[@JonCG]

Nice work. buddy, all my characters were rig also in Advance to Skeleton and shout-out to Oyvind for the great update always

[@AnimatorArtistLife]

Thanks 🙂 yeah its a great tool. come and show your work in the private facebook group 👉 facebook.com/groups/animatorartistlife would love to see it, cheers

[@JonCG]

@@AnimatorArtistLife yeah i join it

[@hamayounriaz6063]

Thank you sir. :)

[@AnimatorArtistLife]

You're welcome, more tutorials coming each month. If you manage to rig a vehicle, come and share it in the new private facebook group: 👉 facebook.com/groups/animatorartistlife

[@gripall2883]

Many thanks

[@AnimatorArtistLife]

You're welcome, thanks for watching

[@nicosteyl3709]

I'm working on a rig and I don't have a notepad rn so these are my notes for myself. It would be even better if the wheels steered on their own based off of the rotation from one of the root controllers using an expression. I'm trying to figure it out, but the math omg. Basically, the root controller will rotate if you attach it to a path, so if you could check the path for the next frame's rotation, compare it to the current rotation, you can adjust the wheel steering with some math, ending up with a rig that literally just needs a path to follow and it will steer on it's own. Just piping in the rotation and clamping at max angle won't work, the wheels will be fully turned when driving straight in the left direction. So you need to check if the car is actually turning by comparing rotation values (I think). For wheel interaction, that will be a bit more tricky. You could do a point constraint from the wheel controller to a surface detection helper. The root won't do, because you will need one for each wheel. But they will be located at the same height as the root. These 4 helpers need to be individually constrained to a surface, and as they encounter "bumps". they will translate and the point constraint will translate the wheels accordingly. It's a bit messy though, any thoughts?

[@AnimatorArtistLife]

Hey, it sounds good what you're trying to do, I'm not a mel or python developer so I couldn't really guide with certainty. This lesson was how to set up a basic car rig with Advanced skeleton. You can make it more advanced add your own custom python and mel, I'd be interested to see what you come up with in the private Facebook group: 👉 facebook.com/groups/animatorartistlife/ You could also look for advanced vehicle rigging systems online. Thanks

[@anishxxi]

Nice tut, btw people like me want to learn one more thing which is how to interact the Wheels with surface ground

[@frumpeting]

I inquired about this a year ago. Solved it several ways. I usually don't have time to make tutorials but if it's really wanted I'll give it a go. You can build a system of nodes that project onto a nurbs terrain or poly terrain. For a rig like this to work you can make the CG or body an average of the 4 points (kinda a reverse rig being done by 2 separate rigs) Surface is the driver, then goals for the wheels to the root of the vehicle.

[@AnimatorArtistLife]

Hi Anish thanks for the feedback, I'm happy it was helpful. I'm not sure about the wheels interacting with the ground without researching as Im not a rigging TD but more of an animator myself, hence why I use such a useful tool as advanced skeleton, but I know it can be done. I might even ask the creator of AS actually to see if its something that can be implemented easy enough. If not we can work it out. I've definitely seen a few vehicle rigs that do this. You could even look into regular passive colliders etc like in my car smashing through wall tutorial perhaps. 🙂

[@VivekRauthanPrepLadder]

bery nyc

[@alexamar6702]

Good job on the great tutorial! Is there any chance that I can get the model to practice while watching the tutorial?

[@AnimatorArtistLife]

Hey thanks for the feedback, Im glad it was useful 🙂 Sorry I can't give this model as I purchased it from turbosquid, so I would get in trouble if I gave it away. If you want to support the channel I've started a Patreon page where you will get most of the files from my lessons, and when we reach 25 members I'll open a discord channel for personal feedback on your work. patreon.com/animatorartistlife thanks 😊

[@lexxrelaxx2016]

Hey thats so useful, i just wonder how to create empty constrain group? i cant do it

[@AnimatorArtistLife]

Hi thanks I'm glad it was useful. To create a group node, just select your object and hit > Command + G key, you can even create an empty one by going to the create menu then "Empty group. then in the outline you can middle mouse items into it. If you need more help you can join the private facebook group 👉 facebook.com/groups/animatorartistlife/

[@hctvtube6325]

Hey there amazing video! I was wondering if you know why my right and left wheels are moving in opposite directions. Could that be an mash issue? Thx

[@AnimatorArtistLife]

Hey, someone else had the same issue, check the comments, have you checked you froze the transforms on your wheels and any groups? it could be you have a negative scale perhaps? The other person said they had to modify it (change the 360 to -360), then it worked out. Let me know you get it sorted, thanks

[@r.f.3546]

Cool. Thank you man! You should do your own courses. But i wanna ask you something about license of advance skeleton. What mean free for non commercial use? What if i want to use this in my projects?

[@AnimatorArtistLife]

Hey thanks so much! I'd love to do a small course later after I have built a larger audience 😊 regarding the license, the free vesrion you can use on anything non commercial, so that means a non paying project. If you want to use it for client work then you need to get a license, there is a freelancer license available, where you will get email support. Have a look on their site. Its a one off fee, I purchased mine many years ago and no extra costs since. Id love to see your work, Come and show us in the private Facebook group: 👉 facebook.com/groups/animatorartistlife/

[@jonathanwennstromm1578]

I'll watch this one when I find time but had a question related to it that you might be able to answer. If I download a car model online that comes as one Mesh, would that still be "doable" by just skinning or would the wheels for example need to be seperate pieces of mesh? Thank you!

[@AnimatorArtistLife]

It much better to separate the geometry. In maya its very easy, jus go Mesh > Separate. 😊 If you get stuck you can join the free private Facebook group: 👉 facebook.com/groups/animatorartistlife/

[@jiji_rl]

hi nice video! how could u add geometry constrain on wheels ? NEED HELP

[@AnimatorArtistLife]

Hey thanks, I'm glad you liked it!... what exactly is the issue with your geometry constraint? Thsi shoudl work, you can also try a "Normal constraint" or just parent constrain it to the wheel group node. You can now support me by buying me a coffee at www.buymeacoffee.com/animartistlife . You can donate a one-time very small amount, or there is a monthly membership, where you get rewards and VIP treatment 😊

[@MrMars53]

I thanks for the tutorial I know it's done a while back but my question is how do I go about the steering wheel especially the grouping and constrain and having it move only on a z-axis thanks

[@AnimatorArtistLife]

Hi Martin, I cover in the vid about attaching the steering wheel. just group all your geometry and parent this group either to your other geometry group so it follows. Remember to group the steering wheel bit that turns separately so you have the correct axis you can rotate, like I do in the video. Not sure what you meant about moving in the z axis, do you mean the whole vehicle? thanks

[@tmaintv]

Great video but yes can u please shed some more light on how u set up the constrain group for the steering wheel as u explain u have done it but not exactly how u achieved it. I have tried grouping it several ways but I am still getting off axis rotation. Also I r u skinning the wheel to the car as I didn’t see u mention that either? Many thanks

[@royeshusni5915]

cool, but you miss the antenna when you put dynamic on body, take a look, and so how you parent the root joint of the antenna to the body dynamic??

[@AnimatorArtistLife]

Hi, I think I show in the video lesson, you can put all antenna geometry parts in a group then parent or parent constrain this group node to your body chassis. I hope this helps 🙂

[@trapezgaming1523]

Thanks Sir 🫡

[@AnimatorArtistLife]

You're welcome, thansk for commenting! You can now support me by buying me a coffee at www.buymeacoffee.com/animartistlife . You can donate a one-time very small amount, or there is a monthly membership, where you get rewards and VIP treatment 😊

[@akashnoudiyal317]

Hi, great video. I just had a Question. The car i am rigging has calipers on it's wheels and I don't want it to spin with the wheel. but I do want it to move with it and turn with it when I turn the wheel. been trying to figure it out myself but not been able to. :(

[@AnimatorArtistLife]

Hi, apologies for the late reply. You should be able to use orient constraints, but constrain in horizontal only. You could also create a group node above the wheel, so the wheel is a child, and constrain it to teh parent grp node. You can also use teh connection editor and connect teh horizontal Y rotation to teh wheel or other group node Your last option is a set driven key, I love these! just set a start and end keyframe on a single Y axis, and use the wheel turn as the driver I now have a discord community channel just launched if you want to join: discord.gg/g6REvhbWGP 🙂

[@maeross]

So you cand bind skin, then change the skeleton (toggle), then rebuilt it, and the biding would be saved?

[@AnimatorArtistLife]

Hey Mae, yes you can in the Advanced skeleton menu click the advanced toggle fit button, move the joints then click rebuild skeleton. And it will remember the binding. If you were working with a character you would have to re-paint some of the weights probably in affected areas, if joints were moved considerably. But as we are using full flooded 100% weight with the car parts you wont need to.

[@maeross]

@@AnimatorArtistLife Thank you for the answer!

[@lovepreet_fx]

Please help me sir while drifting the car how we can stop front tyre of the car because its all moving while move the curve handle ....Is this any way

[@AnimatorArtistLife]

Hey, Im not quite sure what you mean. The rig is set to automatically roll the wheels the correct matching distance when the root control is moved. Are you looking to remove that functionality? I think there is a setting on the wheel or main control, if not you can disconnect the relationship

[@katieprentice2736]

I just want to ask how you get the auto rioll to work on all axis?

[@AnimatorArtistLife]

Apologies for the late reply. The auto roll should work in forward and reverse, and on a motion path, I'll have to check it, is yours working? I have used this rig in a while

[@anniekate2]

Is there a way after you get the wheels working to be able to lift it and scale it? If so, how would I do that?

[@anniekate2]

Never mind, I found out I had to group it and turn off inherits transform for the wheel GEOs! :)

[@AnimatorArtistLife]

fantastic thanks, this may help others. come and show us in the private Facebook group: 👉 facebook.com/groups/animatorartistlife/

[@derejebekele3850]

for some reason right side wheels roll backward as the car moves forward, any idea? BTW thanks for all your effort.

[@AnimatorArtistLife]

Hey, have you checked you froze the transforms on your wheels and any groups? it could be you have a negative scale perhaps?

[@derejebekele3850]

@@AnimatorArtistLife thanks for your reply, Actually the problem is on the expressions, i had to modify it (change the 360 to -360), then it worked out. thanks

[@AreEyeOh]

​@@derejebekele3850 where did you edit the expressions

[@srod8509]

how do you add control curves to the doors? The Advanced Skeleton build the body and wheel controls but the door joints do not have controls.

[@AnimatorArtistLife]

Hey, apologies for the late reply. The AS Car template doesn't have door joints, but it would be very simple to add some. Just create the extra joint on one side and parent to the root or body joints. Re no controls being created, up till recent releases you would need to create two joints, like in the eyes of a biped, you'll notice it has the eye joint then an extra end joint, so you can do this, or there is a new feature where in the advanced skeleton add attributes menu you can add a "control" attribute, this forces a control, just get your joint orientation pointing the way you want first. But for something simple like a door you could just group the door geo into a group, then move the pivot pint to where you wan and animate the group rotating.. or add a locator or your own curve and parent to the rig. I hope this helps. If you need more help you can join the private facebook group 👉 facebook.com/groups/animatorartistlife/

[@srod8509]

@@AnimatorArtistLife Thank you so much.

[@ridamsahota2498]

Hey Superb tutorial. I rigged a vehicle using this tutorial. I am a beginner at rigging. I can't seem to figure out why steering is not going with the body. Also is there any option to turn on/off the dynamics system ? Thanks

[@youhei92]

you mean when you turn your main ctrl and your steering system turn too, right?

[@ridamsahota2498]

@@youhei92 Yes that right ! If i turn it on the grid it is working fine but when i move it then it's taking some sort of double transform and rotating outside of the vehicle.

[@youhei92]

@@ridamsahota2498 can you show the file or sth?

[@AnimatorArtistLife]

Hi @ridamsahota2498 sorry for the late reply. So it is moving your just getting double transformations? You need to freeze transforms, put your geo in a group and also freeze tehir transforms.. use normal parent constraints and it should work fine If your interested, I also have a blog with free articles I'm building at animatorartistlife.com

[@ridamsahota2498]

@@AnimatorArtistLife Sure i'll try that thanks !

[@Fortunate_Son979]

This was very useful, but how to export this into UE?

[@AnimatorArtistLife]

thanks,,, you would export this the same as any other rig file.. select all geometry.. and also select only deformation system joints, and export an FBX of selected objects

[@ante4021]

So if I try to add more wheels by adding more similar joints, the copied ones aren't rotating. Is there a way to add this?

[@AnimatorArtistLife]

Hey, I just tried this for you and it works... what I did was duplicate the wheel joint, then renamed as you cant have anything with the same name, even the end joint, I hit build skeleton and all six wheels were rotating correctly . Is this how you are doing it?

[@ante4021]

@@AnimatorArtistLife Ah, I never thought of hitting the build skeleton key again! thank you so much! Are there no errors for re-building the node connection after building the skeleton again?

[@user-rq8tw1ei8k]

Question here,is it possible to add antenna manually? I tried to build skeleton serveral times but it doesn't add the third controller.

[@AnimatorArtistLife]

Hi I'm so sorry I missed your message! when you say its missing the 3rd controller do you mean at the tip of the antenna? Remember the last control will be created for the second to last joint, so always ad one more. Or add a "Control" attribute to that end joint. Let me know if this sorts it, thanks

[@user-rq8tw1ei8k]

Problem solved by rebuild the skeleton, probably I moved the skeleton position by accident.😂 anyways,thanks for reply 🎉

[@user-si3fg2bx2j]

How to move car lights with car body?? I can’t bind skin to Arnold lights... Is there any solution for that??

[@AnimatorArtistLife]

Hey, you would just need to put your lights in a group node,, "Ctrl + G" then parent these groups to the car body, or if you already have a group of the body parts for example you can just add them to there and they will follow along. You can do normal parents, or probably better to do a parent constraint, hope that helps 🙂

[@Katie_Creates]

I got an error saying; joint6" is on the Left side, FitSkeleton side-joints must start on the Right side. (or have "noMirror" attribute added). It is on the right side, has anyone run into this too and have a solution?

[@AnimatorArtistLife]

Hey sorry for the late reply. Are you sure your placing them on the Right side of the character not screen? so it would be screen left?

[@alfonzoherran8206]

everythings seems to work fine but, i can't seem to find how to auto rotate tires, had follow to the letter even try addind attributes like wheel but it wont rotate, please help i just rotate manual but it dosent quite mach

[@AnimatorArtistLife]

Sorry for the late reply, thats strange it should just automatically work. have you freezed transforms on your wheels and parent groups so it knows which way to rotate?

[@Dee_Jay_]

I need help with constraining the steering to rotate only in the z axis. Simply how do I make a constrain on the null steering group

[@AnimatorArtistLife]

Hi Daniel, sure let me see if I can help. Have you got the steering wheel all set up and working with the set driven keys, and now you just need to parent it to the rig? have you made a parent group node of the steering elements ? if not first select your top node of your steering, then hit "CTRL + G" thsi creates an empty group node above, then name this something like 'steering constraint Grp' Then, just select your main body control, then select the 'steering constraint grp' and go to the animation menu set then > Constrain menu and choose "Parent" make sure maintain offset is ON Let me know if that helps, cheers

[@Dee_Jay_]

@@AnimatorArtistLife Thanks for the help. I had previously created an empty group node above the steering and subsequently names it as "steering constraint grp", following your suggestion on parenting the steering constraint group to the main body control I still had the same problem. However I reverted to keying the rotation on all axis for uniformity. I think it has to do with my steering setup. It seems to be fine, if you have a better suggestion please let me know

[@Dee_Jay_]

@@AnimatorArtistLife Thanks, I tried closing the scene after parenting the "steering constraint grp" to the main control and it worked perfectly when I reopened the scene

[@AnimatorArtistLife]

@@Dee_Jay_ that's great, I'm glad you got it sorted . come and share your work in the new facebook group: facebook.com/groups/animatorartistlife

[@neilb143]

@@AnimatorArtistLife DUDE! Thanks but this took me hours to figure out. I think you should have put this part about parenting the group in the video as its confusing. I think pinning a comment about this would help out a lot of future people watching. Btw awesome tutorial thanks

[@sexyquadz7537]

How to export to unreal engine ?...any key points?

[@AnimatorArtistLife]

Hi, you can either export an alembic cache, or export the rig as a master file to UE as a skeletal mesh. then any animations you just export the baked joints as an FBX, then when you import choose animation only and choose your skeletal rig from before

[@adamju2378]

how do you get the steering wheel to move with the car?

[@AnimatorArtistLife]

Hey, A few ways, but in the video I group it to itself (CTRL + G) then you can use this parent group node to parent it to your root control 🙂

[@adamju2378]

@@AnimatorArtistLife Thanks for Responding! Could explain more how to do that. I'm still having trouble

[@PIKA_001]

can you plz share the car model file !?

[@AnimatorArtistLife]

Hey, I cant give it away as it would be against TurboSquid terms of service, but you can get it from here: www.turbosquid.com/3d-models/3d-cartoon-car-model-1175171 I'm thinking of creating some models and rigs etc for subscribers, but might have to be in a Patreon or something

[@user-ev2ou3kc2w]

❤

[@AnimatorArtistLife]

😊

[@mustaghasmughal9120]

i have rig a car with advanced skeleton When I move car from one location to another , car animation is good but when I attach my car to a motion path wheels are not rotating well Please Help how I can fix it?

[@AnimatorArtistLife]

Hi, I think the auto rotation is based on the main body controls translation, so its this you need to attach to the motion path NOT the main ground root control. let me know if this helps, thanks

[@mustaghasmughal9120]

@@AnimatorArtistLife Not Working Please make a video

[@tevfikTt9974]

why do not you show us suspension system aim at

[@AnimatorArtistLife]

This rig doesn't have a suspension system. It would require more advanced rigging, thanks

[@TheWwwjeremywww]

not really sure why my wheel spin backward 😭

[@AnimatorArtistLife]

Hi, check you wheel Y rotation is not pointing backwards, you might need to freeze your transforms first

[@parbathkulathunga8578]

When I build the advanced Skeleton, It shows an error called "AdvancedSkeleton5.mel line 58282: "joint6" is on the Left side, FitSkeleton side-joints must start on the Right side. (or have "noMirror" attribute added)"

[@AnimatorArtistLife]

Hi, it looks like you've added guide joints on the wrong side. You can only add them on the characters Right side, that's screen Left. The Advanced skeleton mirrors everything when building the rig for you. You can add custom joints on the other side, but you need to add the NO MIRROR attribute, which is in the advanced skeleton menu.