Rigging & Python · One-Year Program
Become a rigging artist, from advanced rigging to Python scripting.
A year-long advanced program to design complex rigs and develop your own Python tools, at the level expected in feature-film studios.
Throughout the year you are mentored by professional riggers and TDs from feature film, who work or have worked on productions seen in theaters. They pass on the industry’s real methods, the naming conventions and workflows used in major studios, and coach you individually to raise your work to the level expected by technical recruiters.
The training is fully remote and alternates one-on-one coaching with your mentor and supervised personal work. You progress through hands-on exercises of increasing difficulty, from cartoon mechanics to the development of a complete production-ready tool, simulating real studio conditions.
What you will work on throughout the year:
- Advanced rigging: multi-layer architectures, matrix constraints and advanced deformations.
- Mechanical and organic systems: pistons, cables, vehicles, wings, tentacles and hybrid transformations.
- Python scripting: developing automated rigging tools in Maya, from a simple function to a deployable tool.
- User interfaces: building functional UIs with PySide, directly usable by production teams.
Every rig and every tool you produce is designed and calibrated to what studios actually expect: these are not school exercises, they are portfolio pieces built to convince a lead rigger or a technical supervisor. By the end, you leave with a professional technical portfolio, consistent with the position you are targeting and ready to be shown to studios.
What you will cover
Module 1: Advanced Fundamentals and Cartoon Mechanics
Advanced Rigging, level 1
The module that lays the foundations of a studio rigger: rigorous architecture, clean naming conventions and mastery of matrix math. You move from improvised rigging to structured rigging, designed for production, mentored by feature-film riggers.
Syllabus: hierarchical structure and studio naming conventions, matrix constraints, multi-layer ribbons, cartoon arm setup (IK/FK, stretch and squash) and final assembly in multilayering.
Module 2: Fundamentals, OOP and Your First Tool
Python for rigging, level 1
After the rig, the tool. This module takes you into Python applied to rigging, to produce a first tool genuinely usable in production. It is the skill that sets a TD apart from a rigger and opens the most doors in studios.
Syllabus: Python fundamentals (PEP 8), building a controller-creation tool, discovering object-oriented programming, then developing an IK/FK snap tool with a PySide interface.
Module 3: Complex and Hybrid Systems
Advanced Rigging, level 2
The module of the rigs that make a portfolio stand out: hybrid transformations, mechanical systems, organic wings and vehicles. The playground of big productions, and the best demonstration of your technical level to a recruiter.
Syllabus: hybrid « Transformer » rig, mechanical rig (crane, pistons, cables), advanced organic rig (wing, feather management), vehicle rig (AutoRoll, suspensions) and post-production rigging (facial stickies on a delivered rig).
Module 4: Complex Tool Development
Python for rigging, level 2
The culmination of the program. You design your own tool, from concept to deployment in real conditions, reproducing the full life cycle of a studio tool. You are not producing an exercise, but the centerpiece of a TD portfolio.
Syllabus: specifications and prototype, development of a version 1 in class, testing and UX feedback cycle, iteration to a version 2, then deployment in real conditions.
What you will get
An experience close to a real feature-film production.
Live sessions with a working mentor, in small groups.
Shots tailored to what recruiters expect.
A certificate of completion for professional training.
Guided by a feature-film professional
Jean-Marc Imele
Rigging Supervisor · Illumination Studio Paris
Rigging is the invisible framework that brings every character to life. Without it, no animation is possible. Jean-Marc has made it his specialty at the highest level of the industry.…
Filmography:
Despicable Me 2 · Minions · Despicable Me 3 · The Super Mario Bros. Movie
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