Rigging a Car

  To rig up a car we first had to obtain a 3D model of one online. I chose to use a Nissan 1400. After doing this I had to separate the different parts and create groups in the outliner, which I then needed to keep track of the different parts of my model. I started by grouping each wheel separately and naming them appropriately (e.g. F_Left_Wheel), which I then grouped together into one group for all four wheels. I also created a separate group for the main car body.

  The wheel groups had to be sorted correctly. I had to create three different groups for each wheel, all with centered pivot points. The groups are as follows: The main wheel group (F_Left_Wheel_Grp) was inside the  rotation group (F_Left_Wheel_Grp) which was inside the suspension group (F_Left_Wheel_Sus_Grp). With these groups created I started making the controllers to control these. The controllers made to rotate the wheels on the X axis and to move the suspension on the Y axis were circles created using NURBS. The controller used to steer the wheels (the rotation group) was a two direction arrow also made with NURBS and then curved into an appropriate angle using the EP curve tool. I then parented the different controllers to the appropriate groups using constrains. This meant that when I moved the different controllers, I could control the wheels on the car. I also colour coded the controllers (Green in case) and set limits on them in the attribute editor so I couldn't break the model accidentally.