The Rigging Repository

The Norman Rig Blender Port

2011-02-05T15:56:00.000-08:00

Ivo Grigull has ported the famous Norman Rig to Blender! You can download it here.

Ivo Grigull's Rigging Blog

2011-01-05T09:55:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, 5 January 2011

I've received a pm about a new rigging / experimentation blog by Ivo Grigull. Check it out here http://ivogrigull.com/blog/

Biff Rig

2010-12-06T12:27:00.000-08:00

Monday, 6 December 2010

If you haven't seen Biff by Danny Lindberg yet, check him out!

Jeremy's Blog

2010-11-02T16:02:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, November 2 2010

Jeremy Davidson has apparently started his own blog, and there is already some good rigging advice on it! I'd recommend subscribing because I'm sure there will be lots of good tips to come!

Check it out at http://monkeyfist3d.blogspot.com/

Red Nelb in 2.53

2010-08-07T17:17:00.000-07:00

Saturday, August 7 2010

Daniel Martinez Lara (Pepeland) has released a new version of his Red Nelb character with a new rig made in Blender 2.53. Definitely worth checking out, as it demonstrates some techniques that are now possible in 2.53 (such as driving the in and out handles of a segmented B-Bone to control the bendiness of a rubberized arm or leg...)

See it here!

Cool Rigging Videos!

2010-06-20T18:13:00.000-07:00

Sunday, June 20 2010

I just discovered some really cool Blender rigging videos on vimeo by the user Raul Abonitalla Jr. I recommend checking them out!

The Meshdeform Face Rig (Jim Carrey)

2010-03-07T23:34:00.000-08:00

Sunday, March 7 2010

This weekend I finished up my first experiment with using a meshdeformer to rig a face. I think it turned out really well! The video below demonstrates the advantages of using the meshdeformer on the face featuring Jim Carrey as Ace Ventura (with a cameo from an old friend). I hope you all see as much potential with this approach to face rigging as I do :)

More info here

Rigging Lesson 1: Objects and Components

2010-03-02T14:09:00.000-08:00

Back to the Lessons

Lesson 1: Objects and Components

This tutorial starts right at the beginning and introduces some of the basic concepts and functionality of object mode, edit mode, and pose mode. It explains how components and objects are connected. It also covers global, local, and normal coordinate space, clearing transforms, and how animation is applied to bones. It may be a little boring, but all of these concepts should be firmly understood before getting into any complex rigging :)

Back to the Lessons

Q&A 2.5

2010-02-28T09:17:00.000-08:00

Rigging Q&A from the Forum (or elsewhere)

Q: How do I setup shapekey drivers in 2.5? Answer

Face Rigging!

2010-02-18T14:06:00.000-08:00

Thursday, February 18 2010

So last night while eagerly anticipating the modeling sprint this weekend, I noticed a rigging post from 2 days earlier in the durian feed I had almost missed! In it Nathan basically outlined the problems he's been having getting a decent face rig out of blender's rigging tools (and I can relate! I've been trying to do this for months!). I suggested he start a thread where everyone would be able to offer ideas, and here it is!

So obviously this project takes priority over all my other ones. The tutorials I am putting together will be put on hold until this thread is resolved. I'm sure you all understand :) Please do join in the conversation if you have any ideas for creating a good face rig!

**edit: I misunderstood the nature of the thread. I thought Nathan was interested in seeking solutions for Durian. But that is not the case. I will be continuing with the tutorials on Monday :)**

Thanks!

--Gord

Transitioning to Video

2010-02-12T16:35:00.000-08:00

Friday, February 12 2010

For those of you who have been using this blog you may have noticed how text-heavy it is. The reason for this is because rigging is a very 'hands-on' type of thing and explaining it with words can quickly become very complex. This is why I am planning to re-do the site using short video explanations instead of text explanations. Over the coming weeks-months I will be posting short (approx. 5 min each) videos that give thorough yet brief explanations of different Blender rigging concepts. My hope is that it will make the information more interactive and easier to learn (especially if english is not your first language).

First will come introduction videos in which I will provide a foundation for understanding and approaching rigging in Blender. From there I will continue making videos to explain the rigging tools and components (constraints, drivers, bone options, etc.) and also create brief setup videos demonstrating multiple ways to setup individual components (shoulders, hands, legs, arms, faces, etc...). My hope is to also include videos from other Blender users demonstrating their own setups and integrate it into the blog as well. By keeping the videos separated into their own specific topics it should also be possible to update them to make sure the information is always current.

I will not delete any of the current posts/'pages', but will replace the text explanations with videos as they are made. This is so no links to the site are broken in the process of this (3rd) site revision :)

Thanks and Happy Blending!

--Gord

Published!

2010-01-12T17:27:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, January 12 2010

Blender Art Magazine: Issue #25 'Winter Wonderland' is out! If you haven't already, be sure to download the magazine and the .blend files to learn how I created the little Santa shown below!

Happy Blending!

--Gord

Modeling Tutorial Complete!

2009-12-04T23:19:00.001-08:00

Friday, December 4 2009

I have just finished uploading the timelapse videos for the modeling part of the tutorial series I have been working on. You can view them (and the rest of the modeling tutorial) here. Next up is rigging!

Also, be sure to check the upcoming December issue (#25) of BlenderArt Magazine for an article by yours truly :-)

--Gord

Lesson III: Rigging

2009-12-04T23:18:00.000-08:00

Back to the Lessons

This page is obsolete. Please link back to the tutorial index.

2.5x examples

2009-11-24T21:02:00.000-08:00

Learning the 2.5 Rigging System

Other

New Vimeo Channel

2009-10-31T16:51:00.001-07:00

Saturday, October 31 2009

I've started a new channel on vimeo featuring blender character design and rigging videos! You can view the channel here, and can subscribe to the channel using your vimeo account.

If you have been active in the rigging thread, and are interested in being a mod for the channel (meaning you would like the ability to add videos to the channel), please send me a message on vimeo.

Thanks guys!

--Gord

Progress!

2009-10-20T17:18:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, October 20 2009

Part one of the tutorial series is complete! I will very shortly begin work on part 2!

As well as working on the tutorials, I am continuing to fill in the rigging components sections. The constraints are nearly complete, and the modifiers will follow shortly after!

Everything is proceeding as planned! :D

Cheers!

--Gord

Lesson II: Modeling the Character

2009-10-20T17:13:00.000-07:00

Back to the Lessons

The way I've come to model in Blender is a little bit unorthodox, and is a method that I have not seen demonstrated (exactly) in any other modeling tutorial I've seen, though I do not claim to have been the first to do this. It is a method that really works well for me, and hopefully can provide a new way of thinking about 3D modeling that may be useful for you. This method takes advantage of Blender's ability to have a single vertice isolated in space, as well as the ability to separate vertices to new objects and connect them back together easily.

Traditional methods of modeling commonly will start with a detail like the eyelid, and then extrude out from there to create the rest of the head, then down the neck, and so on, linearly and as one connected form. I would never draw this way, so why would I model this way? When drawing, I will always find the basic shapes and overall structure of the subject first, before adding any details, to ensure the overall proportions are correct and that the details, when added, are in their proper place. So that is how I model as well - find the basic forms with as few vertices as possible, refine the shape/topology of each piece, and then connect them all together.

You might call this method the 'vertex lego method' because that is essentially the mentality of it. For almost the entire process I work in vertex selection mode, and treat the vertices as building blocks (or lego pieces) which are connected together using edges and faces. I am never overwhelmed by the amount of modeling tools available because my task is always quite simple: I am arranging vertices and connecting them together. Sometimes I will use a primitive shape as a starting point if I want the shape to be accurate, but any basic shape can be created by starting with a single vertice and extruding/duplicating more from it. The exact steps of the method are as follows:

Create the basic forms using as few vertices as possible. These forms can be created starting with one vertice and extruding, or by refining a default shape (cube, sphere, etc..).
Refine the shapes to add more detail by adding loop cuts and subdivision. When adding more vertices in this way, they will be created along the existing mesh surface, and therefore will require very little tweaking to be positioned correctly.
Connect the individual parts back together, and re-define the edge flow of the surface as necessary.

The result is a modeling method that feels very much like drawing, by extruding vertices (to create edges), and then 'painting' in some faces. It keeps things simple, and generally makes the whole process less overwhelming and more manageable.

The following videos are a timelapsed recording of modeling Booster, so you can see how I work. Of course I am constantly improving my modeling technique, so I encourage you to take what you like and leave what you don't. I hope the videos illustrate the method I use clearly, and show you how efficient it can be.

The main hotkeys used are:

Basic:
[tab]switch to edit mode/object mode
[ctrl+tab]Change component selection type (vertices/edges/faces)
[g]move (can constrain to axis with MMB or pressing x/y/z)
[r]rotate (double tap to free-rotate)
[s]scale
[shift+d]duplicate
[alt+d]duplicate linked (objects share the same mesh data)
[ctrl+LMB]free selection
[b]box selection

Menus:
[w]Specials (subdivide in particular)
[ctrl+e]Edge operations
[ctrl+v]Vertice operations
[ctrl+f]Face operations
[Mesh>>Automerge Editing+Point Snap]helps to quickly merge vertices by holding [ctrl] while translating [g] and snap them together.

Mesh:
[e]extrude
[f]create face/edge (depending on selection)
[o]proportional editing (aka. 'soft selection')
[ctrl+r]loop cut (can also press [s] to loopcut smooth)
[p]separate mesh component to new object
[ctrl+j]join selected objects
[ctrl+n]recalculate normals to the outside

The total elapsed time in the videos was 4 hours, plus another 2 hours of post tweaks not shown in the videos (adding cuts and asymmetry to the jacket, and refining the shapes - more of the same).

Hand Image Reference Link (Blender Noobies)

Face Image Reference Link (Angela Guenette / Durian)

Creating Pixar Eyes Tutorial (Noob to Pro)

Here is an image of the result:

I decided to change his eyes to blue to maintain the color scheme. The colors in the image are done roughly using vertex colors. He still needs to be textured and feathered, but I will not be including that part in this tutorial as it is not my expertise.

Back to the Lessons

Welcome to the Site!

2009-10-18T20:20:00.001-07:00

Thursday, October 15 2009

This site is still under construction, but is mostly complete! For those of you who have been following the Rigging Thread on BlenderArtists.org, you will likely recognize most of the links. I decided to create a blog to host the rigging content after holmen's suggestion so thanks holmen! :D

As well as continuing the discussions in the thread and collecting rigs and information around the net, I also plan to start selling my own characters here. I will journal my entire creature creation process starting with a thorough tutorial series, and then continue to log my progress on each character I make in the Creature Chronicles. So be sure to subscribe to the feed for updates!

Cheers!

--Gord

More Rigging Info

2009-10-18T20:19:00.001-07:00

Constraints

Modifiers

Q&A

Test Post

2009-10-16T14:12:00.000-07:00

Q&A 2.4x

2009-10-16T14:11:00.000-07:00

Rigging Q&A from the Forum (or elsewhere)

Armature Components
Q: How do I create and position shapes for my controllers? Answer [at 34:30]
Q: How do I determine the scale of the shapes for my controllers? Answer
Q: How do I get hinged joints to stay oriented to a full character controller? Answer
Q: I have a constraint driver setup properly, but nothing happens? Answer
Q: My B-Bones are twisting, how can I fix it? Answer
Q: How can I setup a control panel for my character? Answer
Q: How can I easily copy constraints from one bone to another? Answer
Q: When I add a pole target on the arm IK solver it doesn't bend, how come? Answer
Q: How can I change the bone colors? Answer
Q: How can I get B-Bones to twist but not bend? Answer
Q: How can I turn a switch off using another switch? Answer
Q: How can I limit the rotations of bones in an IK chain? Answer

Mesh Deformations
Q: My character is made of curves, how do I prevent it from twisting? Answer
Q: How do I drive shape keys with bones? Answer
Q: How can I skin multiple objects to one armature? Answer
Q: Why does the leg pinch/deform when I tab into pose mode? Answer
Q: How can I get buttons on the shirt to follow along without deforming? Answer
Q: Why is my IK chain stretching when I don't want it to? Answer
Q: How can I get a mesh to follow the shapekeys of another? Answer
Q: When using bone heat I get the error "cannot find solution for one or more bones", why? Answer

Character Setup / Design
Q: How can I rig a squishy ball? Answer
Q: How can I pass an object between two characters? Answer
Q: Mirror Pose doesn't work properly! How can I fix it? Answer
Q: How can I keep the foot in place when I move the body? Answer
Q: How do I keep the eyeballs inside the head? Answer
Q: How can I rig eyelashes? Answer
Q: How can I setup the eyes with lattices to track a target? Answer
Q: How can I create automatic secondary animation? Answer
Q: How can I rig a character made of metaballs? Answer
Q: I made half an armature and half a mesh... how can I mirror it? Answer
Q: Why won't the elbow point in the right direction? Answer
Q: How can I rig a snake-like creature with non-deforming parts? Answer

Mechanical
Q: How can I rig a hydraulic piston? Answer, another Answer
Q: How can I setup a robot leg with hinges? Answer
Q: How can I rig a bike chain / tank tread? Answer
Q: How can I rig a hose that is attached at both ends? Answer

Technical
Q: How do I link my character into my scene? Answer
Q: How can I easily select all the bones in the same bone group? Answer
Q: How can I constrain a bone to a face normal? Answer

The Shrinkwrap Modifier

2009-10-15T14:21:00.004-07:00

Back

Nothing yet...

The Subsurf Modifier

2009-10-15T14:21:00.003-07:00

Back

Nothing yet...

The Mirror Modifier

2009-10-15T14:21:00.001-07:00

Back

Nothing yet...

The Mask Modifier

2009-10-15T14:20:00.002-07:00

Back

The mask modifier is used to hide a selection of vertices while in object mode. Vertices can be easily hidden [h] and unhidden [alt+h] while in edit mode, but when you enter object mode again they will be visible. The mask can be very useful for things like weightpainting tight or occluded areas of the mesh (like the inside of the mouth) without fuss.

Header Options

Modifier Options

Apply (button) Applies the effect of the modifier to the mesh data itself, removing the modifier.

Copy (button) Duplicates the modifier.

Masking Mode (Rollout Menu)

Vertex Group Uses the entered vertex group to determine the area of the mask.
Selected Bone Designed with weight painting in mind, it uses the selected bone to determine which group to mask (since vertex groups have the same names as the bones).

VGroup/OB: The name of the object that will be used by the modifier to mask the mesh. Depending on the selected mode this will be either the name of the vertex group, or the name of the armature applied to the mesh.

Inverse (button) Inverts the mask based on the vertex selection.

More Resources:
Blender Wiki Page - Mask

The Curve Modifier

2009-10-15T14:20:00.001-07:00

Back

Nothing yet...

The Hook Modifiers

2009-10-15T14:19:00.004-07:00

Back

Hooks are basically a way to parent a vertex to an object outside of a mesh, curve, surface, or lattice. A hook can be created by either selecting the vertices in edit mode and adding the hook [ctrl+h] which will create a new empty object as the hook, or by selecting an object to serve as the hook then shift+selecting the object containing the vertices, select the vertices in edit mode and add the hook as the object [ctrl+h>>Add, To Selected Object].

Header Options

Name Field The name given to the modifier node.

[Scene] (button) Toggles the visibility (effect) of the modifier while rendering.

[Grid] (button) Toggles the visibility (effect) of the modifier in the 3D view.

[Edit] (button) Toggles the visibility (effect) of the modifier while in edit mode in the 3D view. Enabling this button will also produce another circular button to the right which will allow you to edit the vertices in their deformed state (known as crazyspace).

Up/Down (button) Moves the modifier higher or lower in the modifier stack.

Modifier Options

Apply (button) Applies the effect of the modifier to the mesh data itself, removing the modifier.

Copy (button) Duplicates the modifier.

Falloff: Creates a falloff effect for the influence of the hooked vertices. 0 is off, small numbers produce a greater falloff so 100 is also off. Most of the effect occurs between 0.001 and 1.0.

Force: The peak value for the influence of the hook. At 0 the hook will not influence the selection, at 1 it will influence the selection fully.

OB: The name of the object that will be used by the modifier to deform the mesh.

Reset (button) Returns the vertices to their home position to allow repositioning of the resting position of the hook.

Recenter (button) Positions the center of the hook influence at the cursor position.

More Resources:
Blender Wiki Page - Hooks

The Lattice Modifier

2009-10-15T14:19:00.003-07:00

Back

Nothing yet...

The MeshDeform Modifier

2009-10-15T14:19:00.001-07:00

Back

Nothing yet...

The Armature Modifier

2009-10-15T14:17:00.000-07:00

Back

The armature modifier is Blender's way of connecting a mesh to an armature object, so that the armature bones are able to influence the positions of the mesh vertices. Like the other modifiers, it appears in the 'modifier stack' and influences the vertices in combination with any other modifiers, so stack order is important. In a modifier stack the modifiers are evaluated from top to bottom, and the armature modifier is usually at the top.

In order for the armature to modify the mesh, the vertices of the mesh must be assigned to a bone. There are 2 ways a vertex can be *directly* influenced by a bone: 'weight painting' or 'envelopes'. Weight painting is the most used method, and offers much more refined control than using envelopes. What is meant by 'weights' in weight painting is the 'strength of influence' a bone has over a vertice. Vertex groups are used for containing the weight information (values between 0 and 1) for the vertices, which can be assigned by manually selecting vertices and adding them to the group or by using the weight paint tool/mode. If a vertex group has the exact same name as a bone, it will automatically be assigned to that bone. [[*note that the way blender currently handles vertex group weights is to automatically distribute the weights internally. Two overlapping weights of 1.0 will automatically behave as if they were each 0.5, which can be confusing since what you see is not always what you get. This is why I wrote this script.]] Envelopes are areas of influence around a bone within which vertices will be influenced with a value of 1. This is the default weight method for any bone with no vertex groups assigned to it (as long as the 'envelopes' option is enabled on both the modifier and armature object). Envelopes can be seen as transparent white borders by enabling the 'envelopes' display option for the armature bones, and can be scaled using [alt+s]. Overlapping envelope influences will be evenly distributed to a total value of 1.

There are 2 ways to connect an armature to a mesh with the armature modifier. One way is to simply select the mesh and choose the armature modifier from the modifiers menu. The other is to parent the mesh to the armature [ctrl+p>>armature]. Parenting will give you the option to auto-generate weight maps (as vertex groups) using either envelope influences, or 'bone heat' which can produce very nice default weights based on bone proximity. The armature modifier can then be accessed by clicking 'make real' on the virtual modifier which will appear in the stack. You will then have a weighted mesh which is now a child of the armature object (so you can move the armature in object mode and the mesh will follow along).

To use the armature modifier asymmetrically on a mirrored mesh make sure the mirror modifier has the 'Mirror Vgroups' option enabled and is above the armature modifier in the modifier stack. Then make sure that the bones are named properly from one side to the other with a '.L/.R' or '_L/_R' suffix. Create weight groups for the side of the mesh you have created, and then create empty groups for the other side (this is done automatically if using the weight paint tool with x-mirror enabled). **A word of warning: you cannot create asymmetrical shapekeys on a mirrored mesh, so if you plan to use shapekeys it is a good idea to apply the mirror modifier before creating them.

Header Options

Modifier Options

Apply (button) Applies the effect of the modifier to the mesh data itself, removing the modifier.

Copy (button) Duplicates the modifier.

OB: The name of the armature object that will be used by the modifier to deform the mesh.

VGroup: / Inv (button) The vertex group on the mesh object which the armature influence will be limited to. With the 'Inv' button selected the influence will be inverse.

Vert.Groups (button) When enabled vertex groups will be used for deformations (this setting can also be found in the armature options).

Envelopes (button) When enabled envelopes will be used for deformations on all bones without any vertex groups assigned to them (this setting can also be found in the armature options).

Quaternion (button) This option uses a technique called Dual Quaternions which can help prevent pinching of the mesh caused by bone rotations.

B-Bone Rest (button) When enabled segmented B-Bones will deform the mesh while in their home/resting position.

MultiModifier (button) This option is meant for combining the armature modifier with other modifiers without getting double transformations. I have not yet found a scenario for which to use it (the meshdeformer can be used without it).

Lesson I: Designing the Character

2009-10-15T00:23:00.001-07:00

Back to the Lessons

Brainstorming

A blank page is probably the most frightening thing an artist can ever encounter. The reason for this is actually because of the freedom it implies. In an infinite universe with unlimited possibilities, deciding which one you want to pursue is a daunting task! The commonly heard phrase "I don't know what to draw" would probably be better stated as "Out of all of the possibilities of subjects I could draw right now, I can't decide which one I want to draw the most!"

This is normal. It happens to every artist when they encounter 'the white void'. The solution? Start somewhere. Anywhere. Put a line on the page. Then put another line. Draw a circle and continue drawing circles to see what shapes you can make out of them. Grab a blue paintbrush and slop some blue on there. Or red. Or green. Heck, even run over the page with your car tire and then look for patterns in the treadmarks! It doesn't matter where you begin, it is only important that you begin so the creative process can start!

You see... I believe the creative process is just that - a process. An associative process in fact. Where you begin is irrelevant, it's where you end up that is important. Experienced artists know this. That is why you rarely ever see them staring at a white page trying to think of what to draw. They just start sketching until they find an idea that makes them shout "Eureka!". Try asking them what they are drawing... usually they will say "I'm not sure yet".

It can also help to take a look at what others are doing to get inspired. Find artwork that appeals to you, and gives you ideas of your own. Make a mess! Have fun! The creative process is child-like and exploratory. Perfectionism must be left at home if the exploration is to be successful.

Which brings us to the next topic...

There Are No Mistakes

I feel this concept is absolutely essential to understand in order for creativity to flourish. Leave the judgemental/critical mind at the door while brainstorming, it can only get in the way. In order to 'think outside of the box' to find new and unique ideas, the creative mind must be given an all access pass to explore any and all ideas, no matter how silly they may seem to the logical mind. You can edit and judge once the ideas are out, but let them out first! Premature editing, I think, is the biggest hurdle for many artists to overcome.

Suspending judgement and allowing our minds to play freely can be scary. Living in a society with rules and regulations, our minds are conditioned to maintain 'normalcy' or risk alienation from our peers. This criticizing of our own thinking may be useful in our day to day lives, but it is the very thing we must release while creating. This is probably why most great artists are very 'anti-establishment' or 'free spirit' types. Not that it is necessary to be that extreme, but I think it is useful to realize why they are that way. They have mastered this concept, and do not hinder their own creativity with self-criticism.

It is also worth noting that professional artists never start out with their final artwork. They start with thumbnails, and sketch out ideas quickly until they find a concept and composition they like. They then redraw it a little bigger, and work out more of the details. They draw it from different angles and in different colors. They draw different parts of it separately to study them further, until they understand their subject fully. They then redraw it at full size and finally, when they're happy with it... they draw their final draft. That is the process.

My Thoughts On Appeal

I think a word that loosely defines 'appeal' is 'empathy'. In order to appeal to someone you need to empathize with them, show them that you understand them so they can feel comfortable with you.

I believe the same is true in design. What makes a design appealing to someone is that it relates to them, and they can identify with it to some degree. Therefore, I believe there is no universal ruler against which to judge whether something is appealing or not. It is different for everyone.

If everyone has their own sense of what is appealing to them, that leaves only one option: create what is appealing to you. It seems obvious, but it's very easy to get caught up in trying to please or impress others too much and forgetting to enjoy ourselves and what we do! Learning to trust your own intuition as a creator is a process I believe is vital to succeeding as an artist (and one that I am still learning myself!)

Now, that being said I still think there are some basic guidelines one can follow in order to create something that is generally appealing to most people. I believe that appealing art has the following properties:

It has detail for visual interest, or something unique to hold our attention. By detail I do not mean 'every hair on the head' so much as 'depth'. Depth is achieved when you go beyond the surface impression and find the distinction or quirk that separates your subject from all the rest, both visually and conceptually.

It is clear and easy to understand, and not confusing in any way. Try to focus on the 'essence' of your subject. The essence is the basic idea or theme that makes your subject recognizable. When detail is added to a simple idea, it is elegant. But when detail is added before the basic idea is understood, it can quickly become a mess.

It has contrast. Contrast is the use of opposites to create movement, or energy in an artwork. Light and dark, straight and curved, and so on. If only one element is present the piece may feel bland. Like having a caramel chocolate bar everyday... no matter how delicious it is at first, it will soon lose it's splendor if you don't change it up with broccoli from time to time.

The Character

When designing a character for this tutorial I had a couple of things already in mind for who/what the character should be:

It should be humanoid, since that is the most common character design and therefore one that most people would want to know how to make.
It should be appealing to Blender users since I also want to use it as a mascot for this blog.
It should be a character that many people would want to use in their animations.
It should be simple enough to complete the tutorial within a month! (Originally, I had intended to use another design, but decided to change it so the character would be more appealing, more relevant, and simpler for the purposes of this tutorial.)

This character's name is Booster (the Rooster), and he's basically what I thought of when designing a character based on the Blender logo. I drew the character a couple times to explore his personality and get a sense of what he should look like (click the image to see the sketches). The featured sketch to the left is going to be the image I will model the character from. If this was for a full production, I would definitely spend more time in this stage to fully realize the character before moving on. But for a small project like this I find it quite enjoyable to work out a lot of the "final" details in a more hands-on way in the modeling stage. The sketches were done quickly in MyPaint.

Conclusion

I hope this part of the tutorial has given you new insight into how to overcome obstacles to creativity, and realize your own creature creations. This information has come for me as a result of many years of creative struggle, and I know all too well what it's like to be lost in 'the white void'. So if I can help even just one person to find their way out of a creative rut with this tutorial, I will be a happy guy!

Back to the Lessons

Rigging Lessons

2009-10-15T00:09:00.000-07:00

Tutorials here

Modifiers for Rigging

2009-10-14T22:08:00.000-07:00

back

These are modifiers most likey to be useful for rigging. For help with other modifiers, please visit the wiki.

Armature *added*
MeshDeform
Lattice
Hooks *added*
Curve
Mask *added*
Mirror
Subsurf
Shrinkwrap

Links

2009-10-14T21:33:00.000-07:00

Blender Character Artists

Gord Goodwin (me)
Nathan Vegdahl
Jeremy Davidson
Kiopaa's Portfolio
Malefico's Spot
Pepeland (Daniel Martinez Lara)
Juan Pablo Bouza (Blenrig)
David Ward
Paul Caggegi: The Process Diary
Pablo Vazquez (Venom GFX)
Ivo Grigull Rigging Blog

More Resources

Master of Rigging: Vimeo Channel

Rigging Tutorials 2.5x

2009-10-14T21:30:00.001-07:00

Creating an FK/IK Arm by revolt_randy Covers: Creating a rotation constraint-based IK/FK switch and driver
Rigging Dog Legs by Sebastian Konig Covers: Quadruped Leg Rigging
Muscle Deformations by Eibriel Covers: Brief explanation of using shrinkwrap to create muscle flexing.
Rigging Introduction by tleave2000 and Foot Rigging Part: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Covers: Rigging a reverse foot
Leg IK/FK Switch by tleave2000 Part: 1, 2 Covers: Creating a 3 chain IK/FK switch
Spline IK Octopus Setup by Gimble Covers: How to make the octopus Spline IK example
Rigging the Face, Fingers, and Spine by Dimitrii Covers: finger, spine, and face rigging
Rigging a Crankshaft & Piston by revolt_randy Covers: rigging a simple crankshaft from start to finish
Lesson 1: Objects and Components by Gord Goodwin Covers: Overview of rigging elements and their behaviours
Introduction to Rigging by Mr. Deyo Covers: Introduction to rigging and basic character setup
Simple Rig Solutions by Mr. Deyo Covers: How and why to use Auto-IK on a rig

The Constraints

2009-10-14T21:27:00.001-07:00

back

These explanations are intended to be as straight-forward and easy to understand as possible.

Null

Script * ? *

Action
IK Solver

Rigid Body Joint
Stretch To
Clamp To

Shrinkwrap
Follow Path
Locked Track
Floor
Track To

Limit Distance
Limit Scale
Limit Rotation
Limit Location

Copy Scale
Copy Rotation
Copy Location

Transformation
Child Of

Rigging Scripts 2.5x

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Rigify Auto Rigging System
"rig management" script by Ryan Cushman (mp3man4)

Rigging Scripts 2.4x

2009-10-14T20:49:00.000-07:00

Managing Vertex Groups

Mirror Vertex Weights by ave
Batch Delete Vertex Groups by ave
Bulk Cut Vertex Groups by ave
Find Vertex Groups by Martin Ellison
Auto-Normalization by Gord Goodwin
Shape Key Transfer

Automating

FK/IK Automatching by Kiopaa
Align to Bone by Malefico

Display

Armature Modeler by Malefico
Proxy Control Picker by Max Hammond

pyConstraints

Cessen Track To - No Twist

The Copy Constraints

2009-10-14T20:30:00.000-07:00

Back

The copy constraints have been grouped into one category because they all do essentially the same thing. The copy constraints will copy the scale, rotation, or location of one object/bone and apply it to another.

These constraints override the transforms of the constrained bone itself, unless the 'offset' option is enabled (see below). This means that the constrained position of a bone, and the actual position of the bone are different. To see this, enable the properties window in the 3D view with "n". Apply the copy location constraint on a bone, and then move the constrained bone to a new location (it should appear to stay still but the values in the properties window will change). Then turn off the influence of the constraint and the bone will move to it's actual position as the constraint it turned off.

Options and Settings

OB: The Object to serve as the controller (when rigging, it is the name of the Armature Object which contains the controller bone).

BO: The Bone to serve as the controller.

Offset Activating this button will allow the bone to be transformed in addition to the transforms generated by the constraint.

Head/Tail: This location constraint option determines whether the head or tail of the control bone is used as the target. The constrained bone can follow the head (0) or tail (1), or any value inbetween (giving access to the whole bone).

X/Y/Z (-) Buttons These determine which transform channels the constrained bone will copy. Negative means the channel will be copied, but in the opposite direction. (note that scale does not have a negative component)

CSpace Determines the coordinate system the constrained bones will be evaluated in.

World Space means the coordinates will be relative to the world (the grid).
Pose Space means the coordinates will be relative to the Armature Object orientations (as if the armature was a container full of bones).
Local Space means the coordinates will be relative to the constrained objects/bones themselves.
Local Space (With Parent) is the same as Local Space with the addition that the constraint will be evaluated if the control object's parent is transformed, because the controller's transforms are inherited from its parent.

Influence Determines the influence of the constraint as a percentage from 0-100%. This value can be animated manually, or driven by another object or bone in the IPO.

Show Shows the constraint in the IPO window.

Key Sets a keyframe on the current Influence of the constraint at the current frame.

The Limit Constraints

2009-10-14T20:28:00.000-07:00

Back

The limit constraints have been grouped into one category because they all do essentially the same thing. For the limit distance constraint, see below.

The limit scale, rotation, and location constraints will limit the transforms of an object to within a given range. Note: IK solvers provide their own set of options for limiting the ranges of bones in an IK chain, which can be found in the bone options.

Options and Settings

min/max/limit X/Y/Z Buttons These must be activated for each value before the constraint will be active. These allow the limits to be applied to only specific channels.

For Transform To understand what this does, open up the properties window in 3D view with "n". When enabled, the values in the properties window will not update past their limit. When disabled, the values will continue to change while the object itself will remain within the given limits.

CSpace Determines the coordinate system the constrained bones will be evaluated in.

World Space means the coordinates will be relative to the world (the grid).
Pose Space means the coordinates will be relative to the Armature Object orientations (as if the armature was a container full of bones).
Local Space means the coordinates will be relative to the constrained objects/bones themselves.
Local Space (With Parent) is the same as Local Space with the addition that the constraint will be evaluated if the control object's parent is transformed, because the controller's transforms are inherited from its parent.

Limit Distance

The limit distance constraint is included here as well because, even though it is quite different in behaviour from the other 3, it does essentially the same thing. The difference is that it will limit the movement of a bone or object relative to the position of another bone or object.

The result of the constraint is that the constrained bone will be either kept inside, outside, or on the surface of a spherical region (see below).

Options and Settings

OB: The Object to serve as the controller (when rigging, it is the name of the Armature Object which contains the controller bone).

BO: The Bone to serve as the controller.

R Resets the distance value if the bone position is changed it edit mode.

Distance: The intial distance the object or bone is from the control object or bone. This value is provided automatically based on the intial distance between the two objects or bones, but can also be changed manually.

Head/Tail: Determines whether the head or tail of the control bone is used as the reference point. The constrained bone can refer to the head (0) or tail (1), or any value inbetween (giving access to the whole bone).

Clamp Region Determines the space the constrained bone is limited to (based on a sphere using the distance value).

Surface means the constrained bone or object will be kept at the value of 'distance'. This produces the effect of being constrained to the 'surface' of a sphere.
Outside means the constrained bone or object will be kept outside of the sphere determined by the 'distance' value.
Inside means the constrained bone or object will be kept inside of the sphere determined by the 'distance' value.

Humanoid Examples

2009-10-14T14:10:00.000-07:00

The content of this post has been moved to this post. Please update your bookmarks if necessary.

Rigging Tutorials 2.4x

2009-10-14T01:07:00.001-07:00

Official Tutorials

Blender: Noob to Pro Covers: Everything at the beginner level, a great starting point
Blender: BSoD Character Manual Covers: Modeling, Rigging, and Animation at the Beginner level, another great starting point
Rigging Overview by Nathan Vegdahl Covers: Armature prep and setup, basic bone manipulation, creating bone shapes (using Rinky from BBB)
Mancandy FAQ (Torrent) Covers: Full character rigging, animation

Community Tutorials

Non-Stretchy Leg Rig (Adapted from Maya) by Gord Goodwin Covers: Leg rigging with IK, footroll
Simplified Face Control Explanation by Gord Goodwin Covers: Driving shapekeys with bones, 'switchboard' style face setup, bone shapes
Face Rigging by Dave Ward Covers: Gorilla face rigging with bones
Dave Ward's Youtube Channel Covers: Building a character - Modeling, Texturing, Rigging, Animation
Dave Ward's Face Rig Tutorial (CG Cookie) Covers: Rigging an alien face with stretchy B-Bones
Rigging a Character by Paul Caggegi Covers: Quick character rigging setup
Facial Rigging by Paul Caggegi Covers: Face rigging with bones, lattices, and action constraints
Constraints and Drivers by Paul Caggegi Covers: Action constraints, corrective shapekeys
Cockpit Mechanics by Paul Caggegi Covers: Cockpit rigging using parenting of objects
Leg (and Spine) Tutorial by Max Hammond Covers: Stretchy leg rigging
Basic Leg Rigging by Eric McGee Part: 1, 2, 3, 4 Covers: 'Reverse foot' leg rigging
Rigging and Skinning a Rat by Chris Plush Covers: Simple rigging for game characters
Wing Rigging by Jared Reisweber Covers: Bone layout for a bird wing
Rigging a Person and a Ball by David Radford Covers: simple biped rigging, stretchy ball using only bones
Rigging a Spring by BlenderUnderground Covers: Coil spring modeling and rigging using bones and hooks
Rigging a Piston (Without an Armature) by Jonathan Williamson Covers: Rigging a simple piston using parenting, empties, and constraints
Rigging a Pump-Jack by revolt_randy Covers: Using an armature to create a pump-jack.
Curving Bones by Malefico Covers: Using B-Bones to create smooth bends
IPO Drivers by Max Hammond Covers: How IPO drivers are setup
Basic Character Rigging and Skinning by Riyaz Gomes Covers: visual demonstration of a full character rig, with weighting
Corrective Shapekeys by Sean J. Macisaac Covers: The process for creating corrective shapekeys
Creating a mechanical hinge joint by Raul Abonitalla Jr Covers: Rigging a multi-axis hinge joint

Theory

Quaternion Rotations by Nathan Vegdahl (Cessen) Threads: 1, 2 Covers: Quaternion behaviour as it currently is in Blender
Modeling for Articulation Covers: Animations and examples of mesh deformations for body mechanics
Basic Rigging Tutorial Covers: Simple rig creation

Scripting

pyConstraints Overview by Aligorith Covers: Overview of code layout, examples
Pivoting with pyConstraints by Malefico Covers: Changing the pivot center of a bone interactively

Extra Tutorials

2009-10-14T01:06:00.001-07:00

These tutorials are not about rigging, but are still relevant to character development.

Creating a Mammoth by Sebastian Konig
Designing a Character by Gord Goodwin

Modeling
Modeling a Character by Gord Goodwin
Modeling for Articulation
An Explanation of Modeling Theory
Modeling of Classical Girl by wangshiyong
Modeling a Low-Poly Cartoon Hand Part: 1, 2, 3
Modeling the: Face, Ear, Torso, Hand by Ryan Kittleson
Modeling a Cartoony Female Figure

Animation
Shapekey Lip Sync in Blender
Lip Sync with DJ Nicke
Animating Snakes and Reptiles
Animation Tips & Tricks Blog
Muscles of the Face Reference (Artnatomy)
Epic Looping Idle Animation by Lee Salvemini

Texturing & Lighting
Projection Texturing by Jonathan Williamson
Stencil Maps by Jonathan Williamson
Lighting Theory
Normal Mapping Explanation by Lancer

Other
Library Linking with SVN (Durian)

2.4x Examples

2009-10-14T00:37:00.000-07:00

If you have an example you would like to be added here, please let me know!

Blender Wiki Armature Examples

HANDS & ARMS

Shoulder Rigging Thread

LEGS & FEET

SPINE

FACE

FULL BODY

OTHER

INCOMPLETE

Paolo Dominici 'Control-Free UI' by FGC
Pixar Style 'Pickwalk UI' by Max Hammond

The Cheat Sheet

2009-10-13T22:36:00.000-07:00

This section is meant as a quick summary to introduce users to some important rigging concepts at a glance. These tips are categorized by skill level, because many if not all of the expert tips are unnecessary to understand at first, and are more likely to confuse beginners. If you have a tip that you feel should be here, please send me a private message or post it in the rigging thread and I will add it.

WHAT EVERY BEGINNER SHOULD KNOW:

Always clear your transforms before beginning.
Always either clear the scale and rotations (alt+r/s) or apply the scale and rotations (ctrl+a) to your mesh, and clear the transformations of the armature object completely (alt+g/s/r) before beginning a rig. The mesh should also be centered so the feet are on the ground plane (grid), the Z axis (blue) runs through the exact middle of the character (bellybutton), and the X axis (red) runs in the same direction as the arms. In front view (numpad 1) you should be looking at the front of your character, with the Z axis through his center, and the X axis under his feet. It can also be useful to move the object center for each of your characters' meshes to the grid center by putting the cursor to 0,0,0 in the 'view->view properties' window, selecting the mesh and choosing 'center cursor' in the edit panel. These steps will help ensure you do not run into problems from adding initial transformations when using constraints or modifiers, which can produce difficult to understand problems which are hard to fix later on. Remember you can always reposition your mesh in edit mode to move it without changing the object center.

Always refer to the terminal while rigging to check for 'dependency cycles'.
A dependency cycle is a loop where component A depends on component B and B in turn depends on A. It may have worked for Escher, but it won't work here because it is a logic problem and will produce unpredictable behaviour (even if sometimes it seems like it might be okay - it's a problem waiting to happen). No matter what, always fix your dependency cycles! A clean (and sturdy) rig should have none.

Create only one armature object per one character.
This rule can be broken later on, when you understand why you are wanting to break it, but until you do - stick to one!

Arms, legs, and other symmetrical meshes are best created using the mirror modifier.
In order for the mirror function of the weight paint tool to work, symmetrical components need to be contained in the same mesh. A good rule to follow is separate meshes up and down, same meshes left to right. Arms can be separate from the body, but the left arm should be part of the same mesh as the right arm. An easy way to do this is to use the mirror modifier on the component you wish to mirror, and have the object center at the center of the character (or at 0,0,0). This also ensures perfect symmetry, which is often needed for some rigging tools to work properly.

WHAT EVERY NOVICE SHOULD KNOW:

Bone roll should always be inverse from one side to the other.
A negative roll value on one side means the other side should have the same but positive value, and vice versa. This ensures the behaviour of the bones is properly symmetrical and is important for functions like 'mirror pose'. When scaling negatively to copy bones from one side to the other, the values will rarely ever be correct. You can either enter the values manually, or a neat trick is to enable X-axis mirroring in the armature options and select all the bones with the proper rotations and press "ctrl+r" and the other side should snap into the appropriate position. The bones must be named properly (L and R) for this to work.

Separate the bone types using bone groups/layers to keep the rig organized.
While working on a rig it is useful to have your bones organized into 3 main types: deformers, mechanisms, and controls. Deformers are responsible for influencing the mesh, mechanisms are required to make components work, and controls are to be used by the animator. Keeping it clean helps prevent problems, helps in fixing problems, and makes it less overwhelming.

Bones can be hidden (h) to clear a working space if you don't want to move any to another layer. (Unhide with alt+h)

Shift+w in pose mode will allow you to quickly toggle settings for a selection of multiple bones at once.

WHAT EVERY EXPERT SHOULD KNOW:

You can move bone chains into position for awkward angles in pose mode then apply to edit mode with "ctrl+a".
This little trick is for the early stage when only deform bones are being laid out so there is nothing to break by applying. Instead of tweaking each joint individually, or moving a chain by pivoting around the cursor again and again, sometimes it is just quicker and easier to rotate and scale the bones into position in pose mode to keep them aligned. Then apply he new position to edit mode.

The little "s" in the bone options will prevent a bone from inheriting scale from its parent.

Pressing "shift+G" with a bone selected will allow you to easily select all bones in the same bone group.

Use the mirror modifier without applying it.
**Warning: It has since come to my attention that asymmetrical shapekeys are not possible with the mirror modifier**
Using the mirror modifier above the armature modifier with 'vertex groups' enabled will allow a rig to be posed asymmetrically without needing to apply the mirror modifier. This can keep your file sizes down, since only half the mesh data is needed. 'Mirror Weights' must be enabled in the weight paint tool for it to work properly, and the bones must be named properly (L or R) as well.

Use multiple armatures to sidestep dependencies.
Bones in one armature can directly drive the IPO of bones in another armature. Bones can be constrained to a mesh deformed by bones in a separate armature. There are times where dependencies need to be sidestepped this way. A second armature can help you out of a tight spot, but try to keep all of your control bones in the same armature if you can. Separate controls can lead to frustrations when animating...

You can "ctrl+left click" on a bone layer to highlight it.
This is useful for showing other users what layers are for animation, and can be used when linking your rig into a new file.

Control which bones are auto-weighted to each mesh.
When using bone heat weighting to auto-weight bones from a single armature onto multiple mesh objects, it is very likely that you do not want all of the bones to effect every mesh. For example if your legs were separate from the torso, the bones in the torso do not need to be included on the leg mesh and vice versa. You can exclude a selection of bones from the auto-weighting process by disabling the 'deform' option. Select them all, press "shift+w" to toggle 'deform' off, create your bone heat weighting, and then re-enable the 'deform' option on the temporarily disabled bones. The mesh will have been weighted, excluding the bone groups that were disabled.

The Child Of Constraint

2009-10-13T22:28:00.000-07:00

Back

The child of constraint is used for creating parent-child type behaviour without requiring an actual parenting (which would change the hierarchy of the bones in an armature).

Some common uses of the constraint are to transfer parent ownership of an object or bone (example), or constrain the orientations of a 'hinge' enabled joint to a root control. For example if the head of your character is set to 'hinge' so it does not inherit orientations from it's parent, you may still want it to follow along when the root bone (the controller for all bones in a character) is rotated. This constraint allows the head to follow the orientations of the root, but still remain a child of the neck (Blend File).

Options and Settings

OB: The Object to serve as the controller (when rigging, it is the name of the Armature Object which contains the controller bone).

BO: The Bone to serve as the controller.

Use Channel(s) Loc/Rot/Scale X/Y/Z Buttons These determine which transform channels the constrained bone will use.

Set Offset Performs some fancy matrice math to move the constrained bone to its original position relative to the parent bone.

Clear Offset Removes the offset, moving the bone back to the transformations of the constraint parent. If 'set offset' has already been enabled, it is usually necessary to use 'clear offset' before pressing 'set offset' again if a change is made to the constraint options.

Influence Determines the influence of the constraint as a percentage from 0-100%. This value can be animated manually, or driven by another object or bone in the IPO.

Show Shows the constraint in the IPO window.

Key Sets a keyframe on the current Influence of the constraint at the current frame.

More Resources:
Blender Wiki Page - Child Of

The Transformation Constraint

2009-10-13T22:27:00.001-07:00

Back

The transformation constraint is a very powerful constraint. It allows a transform channel of one bone to be mapped to a transform channel of another. Since the IPO of one bone cannot be driven directly by another bone in the same armature object, the transformation constraint is often used instead.

The number fields of the constraint contain min and max values for mapping the source (the controller) onto the destination (the constrained). Any value range can be mapped to any other value range, and any of the 3 channels (loc/rot/scale) can be mapped to any of the other channels. In addition, the constraint can also be calculated in world, pose, or local space.

When mapping one channel onto a different channel (X,Y,Z), it can be a little tricky to understand the layout of the constraint so I will provide an example. Let's say you wanted to map a 'scale' value in Z on the control bone from 0 to 10 (scale cannot be negative in the constraint), to a 'rotation' value in Y from -30 to 30 on the constrained bone. The channels are consistently X, Y, Z from top to bottom for both sides. So in this case we use the middle field on the right side for Y, and use the rollout menu to assign the input for that field to Z (giving us Z->Y). The image on the right should describe the setup clearly (the fields have been color coded according to their owner).

Options and Settings

OB: The Object to serve as the controller (when rigging, it is the name of the Armature Object which contains the controller bone).

BO: The Bone to serve as the controller.

Extrapolate When active the entered values will be extrapolated beyond their limits when the controller is tranformed. This means that if the control object/bone is transformed beyond the entered value range, it will continue to influence the target and the target will continue to transform as if the value ranges were extended infinitely.

Loc/Rot/Scale Buttons These determine which transform channel will be taken from the controller (Source) and applied to the constrained bone (Destination).

CSpace Determines the coordinate system the constrained bones will be evaluated in.

World Space means the coordinates will be relative to the world (the grid).
Pose Space means the coordinates will be relative to the Armature Object orientations (as if the armature was a container full of bones).
Local Space means the coordinates will be relative to the constrained objects/bones themselves.
Local Space (With Parent) is the same as Local Space with the addition that the constraint will be evaluated if the control object's parent is transformed, because the controller's transforms are inherited from its parent.

The Track To Constraint

2009-10-13T22:15:00.003-07:00

Back

This constraint will aim the constrained object or bone at a target.

Options and Settings

OB: The Object to serve as the target (when rigging, it is the name of the Armature Object which contains the target bone).

BO: The Bone to serve as the target.

Align: Target (Button) Copies the target's rotation.

To: X/Y/Z(-) Up:X/Y/Z Determine the aim axis (To), and the axis to face upward in world space (Up).

Head/Tail: Determines whether the head or tail of the control bone is used as the target. The constrained bone can follow the head (0) or tail (1), or any value inbetween (giving access to the whole bone).

CSpace Determines the coordinate system the constrained bones will be evaluated in.

World Space means the coordinates will be relative to the world (the grid).
Pose Space means the coordinates will be relative to the Armature Object orientations (as if the armature was a container full of bones).
Local Space means the coordinates will be relative to the constrained objects/bones themselves.
Local Space (With Parent) is the same as Local Space with the addition that the constraint will be evaluated if the control object's parent is transformed, because the controller's transforms are inherited from its parent.

The Floor Constraint

2009-10-13T22:13:00.000-07:00

Back

This constraint prevents objects or bones from being able to move past the position of a target in an axis, simulating the effect of a floor.

Options and Settings

OB: The Object to serve as the controller (when rigging, it is the name of the Armature Object which contains the controller bone).

BO: The Bone to serve as the controller.

Sticky (Button) Will prevent the constrained object or bone from 'sliding' along the 'floor'.

Use Rot (Button) Use this if you plan to change the orientation of the floor (Basically switches the target from Global to Local).

Offset: Offsets the location of the floor in the designated axis.

Max/Min X/Y/Z (-) Determines which side of the target the constrained object or bone will be confined to, and in which axis.

Head/Tail: Determines whether the head or tail of the control bone is used as the target. The constrained bone can follow the head (0) or tail (1), or any value inbetween (giving access to the whole bone).

Influence Determines the influence of the constraint as a percentage from 0-100%. This value can be animated manually, or driven by another object or bone in the IPO.

Show Shows the constraint in the IPO window.

Key Sets a keyframe on the current Influence of the constraint at the current frame.

More Resources:
Blender Wiki Page - Floor

The Locked Track Constraint

2009-10-13T22:12:00.000-07:00

Back

This constraint will aim an object or bone toward a target just like the track-to constraint, but in only one axis.

To understand how this works imagine tracking the position of a helicopter with a point on the ground. The helicopter position can always be determined with a point directly below it on the ground surface no matter how high the helicopter is. Now imagine that the point is the constraint target, the ground is the plane determined by the locked axis of the constraint, and the helicopter can be both above and below the ground.

Options and Settings

OB: The Object to serve as the target (when rigging, it is the name of the Armature Object which contains the target bone).

BO: The Bone to serve as the target.

To: X/Y/Z(-) Lock:X/Y/Z Determines which axis will point at the target (To), and which axis will be used for the range of motion (Lock).

Influence Determines the influence of the constraint as a percentage from 0-100%. This value can be animated manually, or driven by another object or bone in the IPO.

Show Shows the constraint in the IPO window.

Key Sets a keyframe on the current Influence of the constraint at the current frame.

More Resources:
Blender Wiki Page - Locked Track

The Follow Path Constraint

2009-10-13T22:10:00.001-07:00

Back

It is possible to constrain an object to a path using parenting [ctrl+p>>Follow Path] and bypass use of the constraint altogether. The constraint exists for bones, since bones cannot be parented to objects outside of the armature. And so the constraint can be used for both objects as well as bones... producing two methods for following paths which can be a little confusing.

Without use of the constraint, follow path options are set in the curve object options. When using the constraint the 'Curve Path' button must be enabled on the curve itself, but 'Curve Follow' is determined by the button in the constraint options, not in the curve. The speed for both methods can be controlled by adjusting the 'path len' property in the curve options, or in the 'path' IPO.

To use the Path IPO select the curve object, set the IPO type to 'path', then ctrl+LMB to set a key frame. The length of the path is represented by a range of 0 to 1 in the Y axis, and the timeline is represented by the X axis (remember in 2.4x the timeline starts at 1!).

Options and Settings

OB: The Curve Object to serve as the path for the constraint.

Curve Follow Determines whether or not the constrained object or bone will follow the orientations of the curve.

Offset: Determines the value of the first frame.

Fw X/Y/Z(-) Up:X/Y/Z Determine the 'forward' and 'up' axes of the constrained bone or object. These can enable you to re-orient the object or bone on the curve. The constraint will turn red if an impossible value is entered (for example X/X, Y/Y, or Z/Z, since a single axis cannot be both the forward and up axis). Influence Determines the influence of the constraint as a percentage from 0-100%. This value can be animated manually, or driven by another object or bone in the IPO.

Show Shows the constraint in the IPO window.

Key Sets a keyframe on the current Influence of the constraint at the current frame.

More Resources:
Blender Wiki Page - Follow Path

The Shrinkwrap Constraint

2009-10-13T22:09:00.001-07:00

Back

**I have not been able to find any documentation on this constraint, so this explanation is based purely on observation.**

This constraint is used for constraining an object or bone to the surface of a mesh object.

Options and Settings

OB: The target object to constrain to. Must be a mesh object.

Dist: Determines the offset distance from the constrain point determined by Type.

Type: Determines how the data from the mesh is used for the constraint.

Nearest Surface Point will try to keep the constrained bone or object in contact with the surface.
Projection (X/Y/Z) will try to keep the constrained bone or object in contact with the surface for a specific axis.
Nearest Vertex will snap the position of the constrained bone or object to the nearest vertex.

The Clamp To Constraint

2009-10-13T22:07:00.000-07:00

Back

This constraint will limit the range of motion for a bone or object to a curve.

Options and Settings

OB: The target object to constrain to. Must be a curve object.

Main Axis: Auto/X/Y/Z Buttons Determines which global axis will be used for movement along the curve.

Cyclic Button When enabled, the constrained object or bone will be sent back to the beginning of the curve whenever it reaches the end, to start over.

Influence Determines the influence of the constraint as a percentage from 0-100%. This value can be animated manually, or driven by another object or bone in the IPO.

Show Shows the constraint in the IPO window.

Key Sets a keyframe on the current Influence of the constraint at the current frame.

More Resources:
Blender Wiki Page - Clamp To

The Stretch To Constraint

2009-10-13T22:05:00.000-07:00

Back

This constraint simply makes the constrained object or bone try to stretch itself to reach a target. It operates similar to a stretchy version of the track-to constraint. However, it does not have it's own orientation target, so it is often necessary to combine this constraint with others in order to control the orientation and prevent flipping.

Options and Settings

OB: The Object to serve as the controller (when rigging, it is the name of the Armature Object which contains the controller bone).

BO: The Bone to serve as the controller.

R Resets the Rest Length of the constrained bone to the default length (the length it is in edit mode).

Rest Length: Determines the initial length of the bone. This is automatically generated, and updated when 'R' is pressed and is not something the user usually needs to enter manually.

Head/Tail: This location constraint option determines whether the head or tail of the control bone is used as the target. The constrained bone can follow the head (0) or tail (1), or any value inbetween (giving access to the whole bone).

Volume Variation: Works in combination with the Volume Buttons (see below) to determine how much the bone will scale as it stretches.

Vol XZ/X/Z/NONE Buttons Determines whether the volume (scale) of the bone will be increased as it stretches, and in which (local) axis.

Plan X/Z Buttons Determines which axis the 'plane' is in. Crossing the axis will cause the constrained bone to flip. As mentioned above, if the bone will be rotating across this plane it is best to also add a copy rotation, IK solver, or Track-To constraint in order to prevent flipping.

Influence Determines the influence of the constraint as a percentage from 0-100%. This value can be animated manually, or driven by another object or bone in the IPO.

Show Shows the constraint in the IPO window.

Key Sets a keyframe on the current Influence of the constraint at the current frame.

More Resources:
Blender Wiki Page - Stretch To

The Rigid Body Joint Constraint

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This constraint is used for the Game Engine physics system.

This video should help explain what the constraint is used for.

For additional help on this constraint please refer to the bullet physics manual.

The IK Solver

2009-10-13T21:58:00.000-07:00

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The IK solver is probably the most important constraint to understand how to use when rigging. It is commonly used for legs, arms, tails, antennae, and the like, but can also be used to create many other tracking behaviours and goal-oriented mechanisms.

When learning about IK (or Inverse Kinematics), it can be helpful to first understand FK (or Forward Kinematics). FK is the posing of a bone hierarchy from parent to child. In FK, each bone must be rotated individually in order to pose the chain. FK is useful for creating smooth arcs when animating, since secondary animation naturally occurs in an FK chain.

IK (or Inverse Kinematics) is the ability to influence a hierarchy of bones from child to parent, using a 'goal' or 'target'. IK is used for keeping the end of a bone chain locked in place, allowing the rest of the chain to be posed. The disadvantage of IK is that it is very difficult to animate a smooth arc.

In the example on the left, the small bone at the very bottom of the bone chain serves as the IK target. As it is animated from left to right in a straight line, the orientations of the bones included in the IK chain are solved automatically to keep them aligned with the target. Additionally, as the top bone is moved down, the chain is solved to keep the target in place. IK is very useful for animating contacts, when a character is leaning on something or walking on the ground for example. Contact is otherwise very difficult and tedious to animate using only FK.

The movement of bones in an IK chain can be limited using the limit options found in the armature edit panel. Once a bone limit has been set, it will appear in the 3D display whenever the bone(s) are selected (shown right). Limits can be useful, but can just as easily lead to unpredictable behaviour, so use them sparingly.

Options and Settings

Target: The target is the object or bone that serves as the 'goal' or 'target' for an IK chain.

OB: The Object to serve as the target (when rigging, it is the name of the Armature Object which contains the target bone).

BO: The Bone to serve as the target.

Pole Target: The pole target is the object or bone that determines the bend direction for the IK chain.

OB: The Object to serve as the pole target (when rigging, it is the name of the Armature Object which contains the pole target bone).

BO: The Bone to serve as the pole target.

Use Tail Determines whether or not the last bone in the bone chain is included in the IK solution.

ChainLen: Determines the length of the IK chain (in bone count). 0 is infinite.

PosW This option applies to 'tree-IK', or overlapping IK chains. For example, if you had a bone chain that forked off into 2 chains, each with an IK solver on the last bone effecting the entire chain, this option could be used to configure which chain is dominant (Example Blend).

Rot When enabled the tail of the IK chain will copy the rotations of the IK target.
W Determines the weight of the Rot option.

Stretch Toggles the stretchiness of the IK chain. On by default because the stretch: value in the armature edit panel must also be greater than 0.

Iterations Determines the 'smoothness' of the solver 'under the hood'.

Pole Offset Controls the orientation of the IK chain relative the pole target. This value often needs to be adjusted when adding a pole target, to make sure the chain is pointing in the right direction.

Influence Determines the influence of the constraint as a percentage from 0-100%. I highly recommend that you do not use this for creating an IK/FK switch.

Show Shows the constraint in the IPO window.

Key Sets a keyframe on the current Influence of the constraint at the current frame.

More Resources:
Blender Wiki Page - IK Solver

The Action Constraint

2009-10-13T21:54:00.000-07:00

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The action constraint has unlimited potential uses, since it is user defined. As it's name implies, it uses an action (animation) to determine the movement of a bone or object, which is then controlled by another bone or object.

When setting up animations for use with the action constraint, it is a good idea to always return to a 'home' position after each motion. This will help ensure the constraint is always able to blend from one motion to another nicely.

Each bone in the action will have it's own channel, to which the action constraint will refer. This means that it is possible to contain all constraint animation for a character in one action, because each constraint will only refer to one bone at a time and only for the frame range designated in the Start/End values (Example Blend).

Once the constraint has been setup, it is important to detach the action from the armature by pressing the 'x' in the action window. Otherwise the action will influence the armature both through the constraint, and through the timeline.

Options and Settings

OB: The Object to serve as the controller (when rigging, it is the name of the Armature Object which contains the controller bone).

BO: The Bone to serve as the controller.

AC: The Action to be used for the motion.

Size/Rot/Loc X/Y/Z rollout This determines which axis and transformation of the control bone will be used to drive the action.

Start/End The frame range to use in the action. If the start value is greater than the end value, the animation will be in reverse.

Min/Max The range of motion the control object uses to drive the action. Negative values can be used, and max can be less than min.

CSpace Determines the coordinate system the constrained bones will be evaluated in.

World Space means the coordinates will be relative to the world (the grid).
Pose Space means the coordinates will be relative to the Armature Object orientations (as if the armature was a container full of bones).
Local Space means the coordinates will be relative to the constrained objects/bones themselves.
Local Space (With Parent) is the same as Local Space with the addition that the constraint will be evaluated if the control object's parent is transformed, because the controller's transforms are inherited from its parent.

The Script Constraint

2009-10-13T21:51:00.000-07:00

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The Script Constraint is used for writing a custom constraint for bones. It is otherwise known as a pyConstraint.

I have not yet used this constraint enough to offer an explanation for it. For more information about this constraint and how to use it, check out Aligorith's googlepage. There are also more pyConstraint examples at the bottom of the tutorials section.

The Null Constraint

2009-10-13T21:45:00.000-07:00

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The null constraint doesn't do anything. It is null.

Official Blender Foundation Rigs

2009-10-13T14:18:00.001-07:00

These are characters created by the Blender Foundation team members.

Characters:
None yet...

Demos:
The Guardians First Sintel Rig! Facial ShapeKey Test Biped Rig 2.5 Test

Characters:
Big Buck Bunny Squirrel Flying Squirrel Chinchilla Butterfly Butterfly 2 Bird

BBB Demos:
Big Buck Bunny (vid) Rinky the Squirrel (vid) Chinchilla Meshdeformer Example

Characters:

Frankie Bird Butterfly Sheep

Character:
Mancandy

Explanation:
The Mancandy FAQ (Torrent)

Characters:

Emo Proog Ducks (Robots) Headless Giant

Community Rigs

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These are characters that have been created by members of the Blender Community. If in doubt about the license of a character, please contact the creator of the character.

If you have a character you have found or created yourself that you would like to be included here, please send me a private message on BlenderArtists and I will add it.

(videos)

Other...