Character Rigging - Game Character Development with Maya - page 740

For the basic feet, we will use a modified version of a technique that has been around for
as long as I can remember: creating a duplicate of the foot joints and using them to drive
the main joints. This differs from the techniques we've used so far in that the controlling
hierarchy is drawn in reverse—toe to ball to ankle. So to move the foot, you rotate the toe,
then the ball of the foot, and then the ankle joint, creating what's known as a reverse foot.
1. Before you get started, duplicate both the main skeletons' feet from the ankle
down. Make sure that Group Under is set to World in the Duplicate options.
2. Place the duplicates in the Rig_Controls display layer. Then turn off visibilty for
the Skeleton layer so that you can concentrate on the initial foot setup ( Figure
12.30 , top).
FIGURE 12.30 Create the joints that make up the basic control feet.