OverRig Plugin by Pavel Barnev

OverRig Basic Scripts: Maya Animation Tools by Pavel Barnev

If you’ve ever opened a rig and wished it just did the thing it should already do, OverRig is the toolset for you. OverRig is a powerful animation method by Pavel Barnev that converts the animation of objects into a convenient structure for animating. The basic scripts pack gives you the full set of tools that animation teams at Riot, Guerrilla, Creative Assembly, Wargaming, Netease, Nekki, Saber, and dozens of other studios already rely on.

What I love about OverRig is how directly it solves real animation problems. If the rig is missing a control, OverRig adds it. If you need to animate secondary motion, tails, wings, or any chain of bones, OverRig handles it. If you want to polish hand-keyed animation or smooth out mocap interactions, the tools are right there. It’s the kind of toolset that quietly accumulates into a fundamental part of your daily workflow.

What you can do with OverRig

• Speed up animation creation by simplifying your rig
• Fix bugs in animation by working around rig limitations
• Add controls the rig doesn’t have, without losing existing animation
• Animate secondary motion, physical detail, and overlapping action
• Animate tails, wings, or any chain of bones cleanly
• Improve and polish finished animations
• Reorganise rig hierarchy on the fly
• Polish hand-made animation and mocap interactions
• Manage interactions between characters and objects, characters and environment, character to character

What’s included

• Sword animation polishing tool (v6.0)
• Physical point and rotation order changer (v7.0)
• Overlapper and noise menu (v8.0)
• Tween machine (v8.5)
• Spine rig and motion trail (v9.0)
• Soft IK, motion trail upgrades, fast Euler, useful togglers (v9.3)
• Finger animation tools, chain dynamics conversion to Ribbon system, Multiacross system (v10.2)
• Center of Gravity tools, help button, camera pivoting options, ball/parabolic key tangents (v11.0)

How to use OverRig effectively

The best way to use the toolset: sketch out the animation first. Get a solid overall sketch of the movement without worrying about cleanliness. Then use OverRig to bring the animation to perfection. That sketch-then-polish workflow is where these tools really shine.

Studios using OverRig

Gaijin, Riot Games, Netease, Nekki, Hundredstar, CIGames, Retro Studios, Guerrilla Games, Maverick Games, Liquid Development, Itsalive, Sharkmob, Saber, Neowiz, Polestar Games, MY Games, NeoBards, Madhead Games, Novomatic Tech, Abstraction Games, Shiro Games, Creative Assembly, Wargaming, Dreamhaven, Iggymob, The Orange Cats, and OneUpGames.

Compatibility

Maya 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026, 2027.

Documentation

Full English guide: youtu.be/YlxmJX4KJm8. Russian guide: youtu.be/JMGCgaj5XPk. Additional documentation for each version is included with the download. OverRig help: barnev.tech/overrig.

For questions, contact Pavel at pavel_barnev2000@mail.ru.

OverRig basic scripts by Pavel Barnev.