Here are some quick tests have been doing with the free Maya rig; Mery, available here:
http://www.meryproject.com/
Mery is a collaboration project designed to give animators a really good quality free rig to experiment with. I think the design is a cross between characters from Disney's Frozen and Monsters vs Aliens.
A great rig, this is very flexible but capable of great subtly and emotion as well as comedy and drama (check out the demo reels on the site and on Vimeo)! The facial controls are detailed without being overwhelming.
Do check it out, it's the most enjoyable rig I have by far right now.
The Mery team are:
- Modeling, Look Development, Dynamic hair, Lighting & Compositing : Jose Manuel García
- Character Design : Alejandro Delgado Rubianes
- Character Setup & Tools Development : Antonio Méndez Lora
- Thanks to: Ignacio de la Cruz, Alejandro Delgado Rubianes and Jose Luis Silva
[If you do have a go and find yourself wondering where the facial controls are, that have their own camera listed in the Orthographic panel views list.]
The creators even have a better version of Mery with dynamic hair and improved textures. If you create animation that they think is really good they will render it for you using the polished rig!! How cool is that?
