David Palley Shows His Setup for a Shoulder/Clavicle that Makes Use of Aim Constraints in Maya.

Something that looks as simple as a shoulder turns out to be much more complicated when rigging characters for animation. Part of the motion comes from the shoulder joint, while others arise from the clavicle, scapula and other contributors in the torso that can include traps, pecs, and lats. As with all technical arts, there are a few ways to throw together a good shoulder rig. Watch Character Rigging Lab Specialist at Full Sail University and freelance Character TD David Palley walks through his latest favorite way. It uses Maya Aim Constraints for some critical functionality.

“This is a tutorial on how to build my new favorite rig for the shoulder,” Palley says. The tutorial covers working with Aim Constraints and walks through setting up the clavicle, scapula, traps, pecs, and lats — Pretty much everything related to a more advanced shoulder setup. Nice!