Dustin Nelson with a comprehensive tutorial for his Rapid Rig auto rigging script for maya which allows you to quickly set up a rig for a character. The rapid Rig script comes in a lite and free version and as a pro version with many other features as well. Check out Rapid Rig for Maya.

“The rapid rig is a tool designed to bridge the gap between character modeling and character animation. Using the user interface, the script enables the user to set up a bi-pedal character skeleton and rig in minutes, a process which can take up to several days.

The advanced version of the rig comes with enhanced features including:
• customizable number of fingers and toes
• stretchy and “toony” arms, legs, neck and spine
• elbow and knee locking and following in inverse kinematics
• orientation control for hips, shoulders, head and eyes
• optional geometry created based on the user’s rig set-up, as well as other animator-friendly controls.
• animation interface for speeding up animation pipeline

My mission is to provide an invaluable rigging tool at a great value. I have a great user-base so far, and this community has helped me add several great features and improve the quality of the script through bug fixes, feature requests, and other feedback.”