Just got a reply from Jason Shum about these random maya animation situations.
I found it really helpful, so I also felt it was worthy of posting.
- COG vs hip controls
This is just my preference but I use COG for major rotation and translations. I just use hip for minor adjustments. So if it was a front flip, I would rotate and translate the COG front flipping but only use the hip for adjusting if the left leg is way out in front for example.
- IKspine vs FK spine
I always use FK spine first. Main reason is because FK spine gives me nicer interpolation between keyframes. Like that example I showed about FK vs IK arm and how they interpolate between poses, the FK arm would always give me a nice arc. Same goes with the spine, if I use IK spine it's easier for my character to go off model more which I don't want.
- Root CTRLs (Master Control/Placement Control)
I never move them either. Because your feet are children of this control so if you animate it then your feet will always slide around and it'll be a major pain to try to lock those feet down. The only time I'll animate them is if I am in previs and moving the character around like a chess piece for planning purposes.
