A Rig is the’skeleton’ of an object or character that enables an Animator to modify the character’s movement in order to animate it.
A skeleton and controllers will make up a character rig. (Muscle systems may also be included.)
A sequence of Constraints, such as Parenting, connect the skeleton with the controllers. Maya uses this hierarchy to determine which sections animate while each Controller is adjusted.
We animated a rigged helicopter model taking off in Maya:
We animated it using keyframes and rotated the propellors and moved it upwards
Playblasted animation
We then animated it moving across a motion path, then we got some models of buildings and arranged them into a cityscape and have the helicopter land onto a building with a helicopter pad on it: