To see the human rig completed and in more detail click the button below

This year was a big one for learning how to rig. I started this year with very limited knowledge of how to make rigs. The most complex thing I knew how to create was a switch for IK/FK chains at the beginning of this year, and I ended it by coding my own IK/FK matching GUI. I grew a lot and it was mainly due to the struggles I had. I struggled mainly with hierarchy within my rigs and weight painting, both of which are things I got more experience with as time progressed and got to work on mainly with my advanced human rig. 
I think the rig I am most impressed with this year is the advanced human rig. The button below will expand on the specifics of that rig, but I really enjoyed the challenge it brought. I remember dreading starting it because of how big and complex it was compared to my other rigs, and that I’d have to rig a shoulder system.
My favorite thing to rig, though, would have to be the bat rig. I created and rigged the model for the bat freshman year of college and I decided to re-rig it this year, so it was fun to see the difference between then and now and how quickly I was able to create a new rig for the bat. I had based the model on an animal crossing character and wanted to capture the friendly feeling those characters had in the earlier games so I tried to replicate the low poly look of the game. I think modeling wise it worked, but from a rigging perspective, it was rough. If I were to do it again, I’d add more vertices to allow the character to move without the harsh creases in the geometry. Besides weighting the bat, I also had an issue with the eyes. In my original rig from freshman year, I drew the eyes on the character, for the new version I wanted to see if there was a way to create the 2d expressive eyes that were visible in the games. After a few tutorials on youtube, I was able to create the 2d eyes shown in the reel, which are two image planes tied to a controller through nodes. I’d like to go back and figure out what is causing the gray pixels on the edges of the eyes, but besides that, I am super pleased with the product. 
During this year I got more exposed to other types of rigs, mainly rigs for props such as books and clothing. I wasn’t aware that those assets had been rigged, and I look forward to learning about those types of rigs and how to create them. I also look forward to creating rigs that blend 2d and 3d aspects, just like the eyes of my bat rig.