How To Easily Animate A Weapon Resting On A Character's Shoulder In Maya

Animating a character holding a prop can be tricky, especially when you want the prop to feel "grounded" as it interacts with surfaces like the floor or a shoulder. Cinematic & NPC Animator Da-Hee Im explained how her setup simplifies the process, utilizing just a couple of locators and a few constraints, an approach she learned during her time at Bungie.

This narrated guide demonstrates how to create a locator setup that enables one object to control another while also giving the controlled object a custom pivot that responds dynamically to the controlling object. You can watch the video above, as it visually walks you through the steps, but if you're not a fan of video tutorials, this document has you covered.

See more examples of Da-Hee's animation work below and follow her on LinkedIn for more:

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