Amazingly EASY Way To Rig Characters in Blender 4.1

#3danimation #blender3d #rigging
Learn how to set up IK FK switching 👉 • How to Quickly Rig IK ...
Rigging is HARD, especially if you're a beginner. That's why this video shows you the simplest way to rig a character for any animation!
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Timecodes:
0:00-0:30 Intro
0:31-2:26 Step 1. Basic Bones
2:27-4:11 Step 2. Driver Bones
4:12-5:54 Step 3. IK + FK
5:55-6:57 Bonus Tip

[@richstubbsanimation]

⚠STRUGGLING WITH IK?!⚠ I made a separate, slower video with more detail on how to set this up 👉 kzbin.info/www/bejne/rnbRppJ7qNOtoKssi=KKXJEDD24IYNIqxk&t=90

[@mithubopensourcelab482]

I am on Blender 4.0 The add on suggested is not compatible with Blender 4. Installation is ok but functions generates python errors. On a close look, found that the addon suggested by you has not been updated for last last 2 years.

[@richstubbsanimation]

@@mithubopensourcelab482 strange, I'm using blender 4.0.1 specifically and the add on is working fine.

[@Hanru_YouTube]

I did everything you did, but it gave me the bone heat weighting error

[@richstubbsanimation]

@@Hanru_KZbin kzbin.info/www/bejne/fKbMimOtqd2XfrMsi=Xx5RQLOO3PKH8TG0 this video should help you 😉

[@Sillyman27]

I watched that video and you went even faster in that one not even explaining what IK or FK is left me far more confused than this video

[@user-gb1dn3ke2y]

Things to keep in mind for this tutorial: - Enable Rigify Addon - Audio instructions do not sync with visuals - Pay VERY close attention to the current Mode (Object/Edit/Pose) Timestamps: - 3:27 Batch Rename, select "End" for both functions - 3:34 Alt + Untick, doesn't work on Blender 4.0.2 (Mac) Something strange happened with the Constraints where I couldn't target the Deforms with the Drivers. I'll try again and update here.

[@blenderEvd]

I watched this 7 minute video for two hours

[@user-pk2fy7vo2s]

me 2 days

[@tylerwyler423]

"EASY"

[@Marina-zs7xw]

For a week

[@H-A-L-O-G-E-N]

It will take a couple of hours to fathom this logically for me, in rest mind blowing tutorial I have really wondered what path of rigging style or anyways animating itself to take and now this piece of diamond appeared in my feed, thanks for the video dude!

[@richstubbsanimation]

Glad it helped!

[@vlyrreiht]

I must say, it's a nice tutorial. However, on many points your sometimes going a bit too fast with the steps you take. Not sure knowing which you select first and have to reply several steps multiple times over and over to actually get what your doing. Sometimes what you are saying isn't actually what we are seeing on the screen. This can sometimes make me a bit misleading/misunderstanding. However, by watching it multiple times I repeat it over and over and actually get it. But it has been quite frustrating in the meantime. One thing what could really help is seeing what you type to see keybindings etc. Never the less, i'm pretty stuborn and planning to continue onwards to the end, but i'm continueing onwards from the middle and hope to arrive at the end pretty soon. Time will tell

[@vlyrreiht]

as an example 1:50 and 1:51. It's a small notice, but you change real quick between edit mode and pose mode to show. But when you haven't notice and try the same things, things are quite different. Like why aren't all bones moving, instead of only 1 bone moving.

[@richstubbsanimation]

Thanks for the feedback. I definitely think showing keybindings will help more people follow along, and is definitely soemthing I will put in future videos. 😊

[@vlyrreiht]

Thank you, would very much appreciate! Overall, a good explanation tutorial which overall made me come back once more to (hope) fully understand the basics. Will deffinitly follow for for new content and hopefuly even better explanation in the future. Thanks for the hardwork so far! @@richstubbsanimation

[@vlyrreiht]

Also, thanks for the reply btw! Not many take the effort to do so! @@richstubbsanimation

[@theolebrave1713]

Hi mate just wanted to say this was an absolute godsend and i really love the content, just wanted to let you know you're doing great work by fitting so much easy to digest info into such a short video, stay awesome!!

[@richstubbsanimation]

Thanks so much!!

[@loatheroach]

you broke this down in 6 minutes in a super clear and understandable way, thank you :)

[@richstubbsanimation]

Glad you like it!

[@CyberMan4858]

@@richstubbsanimation it doesnt give me a more option when i hover over armature

[@Jorbyte]

so many videos cover like 1 thing from this video and then act like you're ready to animate. very thankful to have finally found this one.

[@wargnema]

Best tutorial for rig so far. Thx

[@thomasquemby9225]

Ayy this is defo the best rigging tutorial, thank you dude!!!

[@richstubbsanimation]

Thanks! This means a lot

[@danielsmira5683]

I'm struggling with the Copy Location constrain part at 5:00. My DRV Ankle bone doesn't do anything at first, it doesn't change its position at the beginning like you have in the video... it only happens the moment I clear the parent but still none of this causes me to be able to rotate my foot with CTRL_IKLEG. Anyway, thanks a lot for the great tutorial!

[@danielsmira5683]

Alright, I figured it out. The DRV Ankle bone must be parented with offset to CTRL IKLEG otherwise constrain doesn't work. See the parent connection line in the viewport a few seconds after 5:00. It's very confusing because you said we have to unparent CTRL IKLEG after extrude :)

[@FizzyGurt]

@@danielsmira5683 Thanks, lol if it weren't for this comment I'd be stressing the hell out over an easy tutorial

[@DavidRamos-fh7qn]

Dude Im stuck in the same place but im pretty new to this when i press ctrl p after clicking the foot then the leg i dont see the option to parent with offset within the options it gives me HELP!@@danielsmira5683

[@ezer1624]

@@danielsmira5683 dude. I’ve had the same problem for 2 hours trying to fix it. THANK YOU

[@kneisan]

thanks man you're the goat

[@igorvich]

Thanks for the tutorial (and explanation) on how rigging in blender 4 works. It helped me in animating a character in a scene i am working on. ❤ One thing I would like to say though, if you are going to do more like these "tutorials", please slow them down a bit and be more specific on what to do. It took me roughly 5 - 10 times longer than the length of the video to get it working. (Along with tips from the comments) Just because I missed something in the speed you are going through it. But still, awesome video!

[@richstubbsanimation]

Thanks for the honest feedback, I appreciate it!

[@EIendir]

Superb !! . Simplest and greatest rigging tutorial seen so far .

[@richstubbsanimation]

Glad you liked it!

[@freddiedoesnotexist2329]

You just saved me so much time and nerves. Thank you!!

[@AJ-gr5wz]

Hey man your tutorials are so awesome!By the way i really liked the Spider-Man tutorials 👌

[@richstubbsanimation]

Thanks! Glad you liked them :)

[@eelrein]

Thanks a lot! I finally fixed my character rig that troubled me for a long time through this video!🙂Maybe I will start to animate it soon.

[@richstubbsanimation]

You can do it!

[@NoobieDevus]

im gonna be honest. this is probably the best tutorial on rigging ive seen because just as you said, most tutorials stop after youve put bones on the character meanwhile this tutorial actually shows the entire process of how to get a proffesional and easy to use rig

[@federil0k0]

ive been watching blender videos for years.. this one is insane.

[@richstubbsanimation]

Wow, thanks!

[@michaelwsheeler]

Just subscribed. I will have to watch numerous times to follow along. You covered so much in such a short time. I've been trying to follow the Rigging course entitled, "The Art of Effective Rigging" and I got lost early because it was done in Blender 2.8 where there was a bone layers panel. I will now stop doing that course and follow your tutorials. Thanks.

[@PityMauArt]

thank you so much!!! this is an amazing video very clear and to the point!

[@richstubbsanimation]

You're very welcome!

[@deareeMusic]

good stuff, I have mostly just used mixamo to rig for me, but I need to make some my self and also just being better able to edit the rigs this is is helpful for sure. so thanks! one thing I was looking into is bone constraints so u can't move the body outside of natural positions or can't rotate the hand 720 degrees etc. is this something u do to speed up rigged animations?

[@richstubbsanimation]

I think your talking about bone limits, and if so I don't use them. They can be useful when rigging ultra realistic characters, but to be honest I tend to push the poses as far as I can, as long as it makes sense for the character. It doesn't matter if it's not physically possible sometimes, so it's okay to cheat a little

[@deareeMusic]

@@richstubbsanimation true, yeah bone limits, I guess sometimes I get things twisted so stopping that, or maybe its more the mo cap data I want to not over rotate or do the thing where I have to subtract 360 from parts of the keyframes cause it jumps for no reason 360 degrees to high.

[@deareeMusic]

@@richstubbsanimation but the thing that is most problematic is the control shapes can be pulled beyond where the hand is or the IK controls for elbows can be moved way out of place.

[@zaroonanimations]

thank you, this was so useful!

[@richstubbsanimation]

Glad it helped!

[@knight3993]

you're so underrated ❤❤

[@richstubbsanimation]

Oh thank you!

[@ouraotter7788]

NGL This Is REALLY helpful information Ive been rigging a completely different way. Using Ik for the spine and I feel if I modify my rig abit to change to this spine rigging It will give me abit more control of the body! 😀👍 As well Ive been trying to figure out where these custom bone shapes were/ease of adding them +1 Addon 🤣

[@richstubbsanimation]

Great to hear!

[@Joe_334]

I see that you made the bones and symmatrized. Then, I saw the video bar and realized, oh there's more. I have been scooting by from vroid where the skeletons are made pretty much with the vrm files that are exported. This is actually a great time to study this, since I have created a character in Gravity sketch. Vr sculpting actually very interesting. I thought it would be boring, yet I learned why I should export as OBJ instead of FBX from just looking this up on a forum...

[@cheglock4314]

Very useful and High quality video thank you for your knowledge and work! I ran into problem - when I try to separate deform and driver bones, the deform collection Doesn't want to let go Driver one. I did everything just as you said - selected after duplicating, highlight first collection, press remove - and in that case it just removes new bones from new collection. (also little dot disappears next to "New collection" not next to "Bones" like in you vid) The best result I got ctrlZding and pressing buttons - both in first collection, duplicate in second collection. In this case If i select what supposed to be Driver collection and select first, press "remove" it just removes it from everywhere. I would be very grateful if you helped me with that! Also the only addon for rigging added is Rigify

[@richstubbsanimation]

Make sure you have the right collection selected before removing them. Bones can be in multiple collections so if you're still having trouble, assign the bones to the new collection, then select the original group and remove them from there.

[@HabitualMilkDeliverer]

love this, super straight forward. Quick question though, when I try to "Symmetrize" the rig to the other side of the model, it just flips on the wrong axis. How do i change the direction of the symmetrize option?

[@richstubbsanimation]

The symmetry operation will happen on the armature's local x axis, and you might of accidentally rotated the armature or are making it on ybr wrong axis. So cancel the symmetry, apply the rotation (CtrlA) and symmetrize again.

[@HabitualMilkDeliverer]

@@richstubbsanimation oh I see, appreciate the help brother

[@adriana9715]

TIP: If the leg is bending incorrectly after adding a pole vector with your CTRL IK Leg you need to go to edit more and make sure the knees are slightly bent so IK system knows which way to bend the legs

[@harleydoesstuff91]

THANK YOU i was wondering why mine wasn't working

[@katatonix]

Nice tutorial dude !

[@richstubbsanimation]

thanks!

[@matheusvieira2571]

Very useful, it helped me a lot, thank you 👍.

[@richstubbsanimation]

Glad to hear that!

[@blueroman460]

Thanks for the video!

[@richstubbsanimation]

No Problem!!

[@VrFreddy2]

When I’m doing the IK transforms on the deform bones for the IK/FK Properties my Deform bones move to a different place like a 90 degree angle behind my character and I can’t fix it, it does still work though.

[@tulgatulgaldo6241]

Wow. Thank you very much. Subscribed.

[@richstubbsanimation]

Thanks for the sub!

[@Tviintik]

Thank for tutorial❤

[@Yiyzak1337]

Thankyou very much for this. You have educated me well.

[@richstubbsanimation]

You are very welcome

[@gabocavallaro]

Super clear and straight to the point thanks! Some quick question I´m having this error when binding the rig: Bone Heat Weighting: failed to find solution for one or more bones, Ive tryed the solutions around but without success, do you maybe know how to solve it?

[@richstubbsanimation]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/fKbMimOtqd2XfrMsi=c9LBP3Wi4dsKCzif this should help

[@gabocavallaro]

@@richstubbsanimation Thank you very much! yes finally I`ve ended up splitting the parts, thanks again for the amazing content you have!

[@hmm6473]

Will the fingers, hands, and elbows also follow the same steps as the legs and feet for the IK/FK controllers?

[@richstubbsanimation]

The hands will, but the fingers will usually be made up of fk controls, parented to the hand

[@ytmchannel5315]

Hello! Thank you so much for taking the time to create a rigging tutorial that doesn't just stop at pairing bones to the mesh. I'm so excited to use a rig that's better built for animation! I've been having trouble copying the bone constraints as seen at around 3:57. I'm in pose mode and I've set the Copy Transforms bone constraint in the right order to the hip bone, but when I try to use shift + R to copy this constraint to all of the other bones, it does nothing. No error message or anything. How do I fix this?

[@richstubbsanimation]

the shift + R shortcut repeats the last action, so if you're doing anything other than moving around then blender will not know what the last action was. Another thing to keep in mind is that you must select two bones for this to work, as the blender remembers that the previous action requires two bones. Again this only works if you are using the shortcut to create the constraints (ctrl+shift+c) if you're manually creating the constraints then the shit + r shortcut wont work as intended.

[@ytmchannel5315]

@@richstubbsanimation Thank you so much! That fixed it.

[@Fizziepop]

Thank you! Just one question: why do we need driver bones?

[@vricellajusti]

In what part of the process should I do the weight painting? Can I do it and modify it at any time or does it have to be defined before duplicating the armature to make the drivers? Thank you for the tutorial!

[@richstubbsanimation]

You can start weight painting as soon as you have the base skeleton created. You can edit the weights at anytime, and you can even edit the placement of bones after weight painting!

[@vricellajusti]

@@richstubbsanimation Thank you!!!

[@user-mq4kw6un5r]

아무도 알려주지 않던 리깅 정보를 가르쳐주셔서 감사합니다. 복받으시길😊

[@reddeadass7934]

Hi everybody. I have a question about rigging in blender. Please tell me, how do I color a certain weight of a connected mesh, like when we select related objects in editing mode, using the letter "L" only to color the entire object in a certain weight?

[@channelname8623]

5:34 0:48 if snapping isnt working for you, its likely you need to adjust your "snap to" option back to increment. the dropdown beside the magnet, top middle. and is there any reason you didnt use the human meta rig for the armature? are there downsides to using it to block out the bones quickly?

[@richstubbsanimation]

Imo it's important to learn the full process, as it gives you the knowledge to create rigs other than basic humanoids 😁

[@kurowkarasu]

Why is it necessary to create a separate driver and deform armature, as opposed to adding IK/FK bones to the deform armature? Or is it just for the visual step at the end?

[@richstubbsanimation]

Its an industry standard practice to keep the rig organised. As the rig becomes more complex it makes it alot easier to separate bones this way.

[@DavidRamos-fh7qn]

5:00 what kind of parenting should i choose between the ankle and the leg? no option moves the ankle up like in the video

[@richstubbsanimation]

I've made a more in depth tutorial here, ik instructions start at 1:30 kzbin.info/www/bejne/rnbRppJ7qNOtoKssi=eGh9z-9QtwqL75Lz

[@horsebirdman2279]

3:47 make sure not to confuse shift with alt like I did and end up with a human cartwheel 😂

[@Hanru_YouTube]

Is it necessary to rename the bones, or is it optional. Can we leave out that step or will it affect the rigging process? Thank you for your help!

[@richstubbsanimation]

It won't affect the rig, but it'll definitely make it much easier to figure out any issues you make have further down the line. It is necessary to have ".L" for bones on the left side if you want to use blenders symmetrize function.

[@Hanru_YouTube]

@@richstubbsanimation Thank you very much for the good service, you just earned yourself a subscriber!

[@djk1288]

Hi there, I hope you're doing well! This tutorial has been a light in the dark to help me start off rigging when other tutorials just left it at "Just use Mixamo/Rigify :) !" Though it seems when I parent my armature to my mesh, moving the armature doesn't seem to move the mesh. Any suggestions? Edit: I figured out this was because I merged my mesh too much and needed to separate off elements by loose parts. Again, thank you very much for the resource you've created for us beginners!

[@richstubbsanimation]

I'm so glad it helped!

[@AdamJensenReal]

I have difficulties with skirt of a female character, do you have some tutorial for this? If not I gave you idea and thanks for that amazing tutorial too, I knew some basic things but at a noob level, now I learned a lot for only 7min :)

[@richstubbsanimation]

Not yet!

[@Shattered3582]

i had some problems, but the end result was the first youtube rigging tutorial where i am able to rig a human. SUB ADDED!

[@WolfyRealm]

how do i make hollow object mesh to solid. i have hollow mesh how to fix the hollow

[@mr.potato341]

When I finished adding in the IK restraints instead of bending on the Y axis the armature bended in the X axis instead which is the wrong direction. Does anyone know how I can fix this?

[@richstubbsanimation]

You probably have to adjust the pole angle in the IK constraint settings

[@issac7787]

2:43 Shift+M move to new bone collection feature seem to be only in 4.0 version?

[@richstubbsanimation]

Yes, bone collections are a new feature for blender 4.0

[@issac7787]

@@richstubbsanimation I tried duplicating the bone and Shift+M for assigning new bone collection. The newly duplicated bone doesn't seem to be parenting the body? Do i need to parent it again?

[@James.D-kq4kj]

As a person who struggles with people talking fast, i was able to keep going till the IK_Knee, besides that, best explanation video ive seen yet

[@ygypt]

Pro tip: instead of doing the "reparent and follow position" shenanigans with the Hand bone, you can just have the hand bone Copy Rotation of the IK Control. This will result in them overlapping, which won't be a problem when you give the IK Control a unique shape like a cube. This is simpler and also maintains the heirarchy of your deform bones.

[@TheAnimatedGameBoy]

i dont have a bone collection on the first set of bones idk how to make one so can anyone help me?

[@danielalejandro4961]

Great vid just a quick question! When I symmetrize the bones after setting up the IK rig my mesh doesn’t move with the newly created set of bones. I know I could just re parent the bones but it seems like you didn’t even have to do that. Is there something I’m doing wrong

[@richstubbsanimation]

You should skin the mesh after both sides of the deform bones are created.

[@UnrealAdventuresPlayground]

Is there any way to rig a synty studios character to the ue5 manny rig?

[@DigitalDuey]

Just wondering about the spine bend @5:38 when you select the bones and they all bend. Mine just rotates the one bone.

[@richstubbsanimation]

You'll need to set your pivot point to individual origins. At the top of the viewport, select the icon that's next to the magnet and you should see a drop down menu. Select this option from the drop down

[@snark567]

It would be good to hear more about the benefits of control bones, I don't really understand the point of them.

[@richstubbsanimation]

Less visual clutter in the viewport. Tend to signify to the animator what they can do (rotate only, translate only or both.) Adding colours to differentiate from left and right will also help you understand what controllers to move when your character is in hard to read poses. Hope this helps!

[@snark567]

@@richstubbsanimation Ah I see, so it's purely for visual convenience. I thought it was something like drivers where it's used to automate/simplify functions (like opening and closing fingers).

[@VonniezugZ]

When I made the bones I ended up with like 3 different armatures.. Is there a way to fix or should I start over..

[@richstubbsanimation]

You can just delete the ones you don't need

[@uRick101]

- many thx!!

[@JetstreamSam-ds7yv]

nice video tumbs up

[@morozit6361]

why we need 2th armatrue if we all do with armature name by Drivers? why we need deform? i dont understand, explain pls or give link about driver? Thank u so much

[@richstubbsanimation]

Having an extra layer of deformation is a cleaner way to work. Could you technically create a rig without doing this, yes, however adding in a buffer (in this case driver bones) allows you to work cleaner, as well as being able to add rig functionality like IK/FK and other additional rig features. The Tldr is it allows you to make advanced, and cleaner rigs. And is good practice to get in the habit of doing

[@itsadudd]

The hierchy thing is confusing, when i try to do it it just doesnt work

[@sickowawawa4014]

ive followied the video until 4:10 and the rig that ive made doesnt connect to my chartacter and then i rotate the rig my character's bpdy doesnt move, unlike the character in your video :(

[@nemuru3443]

What do I do if instead of moving the model it only moves the rig? Like on 4:40. Not only that, but it also only moves the driver rig while the deform rig stays in place.

[@richstubbsanimation]

make sure the deform bones are constrained to the driver bones. You might have to edit your vertex weights if your model isn't moving even after skinning

[@Shattered3582]

2:44 i have no hope in any help, but my bone collection isnt showing in armature even though the dublicet is in a new collection and is sill selected

[@VilaRicaGames]

That's for blender 4.x+ only

[@Shattered3582]

@@VilaRicaGames that makes sense now

[@elelskii]

Hi! This is a godsend!! Just a question: after adding the CTRL_IKPoleVector to the IK constraint, my character's knee no longer bends while moving the CTRL_IKLeg L in pose mode (the leg stays straight but still moves around). Is there something I'm missing in the tutorial? I'm using Blender 4.1, if that helps 🙏🏾

[@richstubbsanimation]

Sounds like you need to change the chain length, setting it to 2 will normally work for a 2 bone leg. Also make sure the pole vector bone is unparented from the leg.

[@elelskii]

@@richstubbsanimation Amazing! Thank you. It turns out I had to bend the knees a little bit... Not sure why that worked but it did😂 I'll be back with updates

[@richstubbsanimation]

@@elelskii Yes, IK vectors can't be created unless there is a clear direction, made by slightly bending one of the limbs

[@HYETUSENGINEER]

I had this same issue for a simple cartoon style model with strait up and down tube-like legs. Thank you for asking!

[@elelskii]

@@HYETUSENGINEER Good luck with your animation!

[@RovixRose]

Any idea why my mesh moves when I parent it with the armature?

[@richstubbsanimation]

If you mean it changes orientation then you might have to clear the transforms on your mesh. In object mode, select your mesh and press ctrl A to reset transforms to deltas. You should also do this to your armature in object mode incase that has any transforms too.

[@jackindustriesanimates]

so when I got to the driver section and looked at the bone groups and there weren't any. I didn't know how to make new ones so I just skipped that step. is that the right thing to do?

[@richstubbsanimation]

Sounds like you don't have blender 4.0. Bone collections are a new feature in the latest version of blender. It's not essential, but it makes organising the rig a lot easier

[@jackindustriesanimates]

Oh Well. besides I'm happy with the rig anyway. And I don't want to go through the hassle of switching to the new version. I am aware it isn't the best way to animate but people don't have controls in SFM and I used that program before. So I don't think it's impossible to make good animation without controls. And I will say that the rig is WAY better than any of the rigs I made before. So thanks for the in depth tutorial. Even if I had to skip a step due to not having the latest version.

[@speedex5794]

5:00 is giving me a completly different result. while trying to understand it, copying the parents (TAIL) LOCATION (where the bone is already attached to anyways) should make it take the rotation of a completly different non related bone?? not sure about this one

[@richstubbsanimation]

So the constraint is only taking in the position value, the DRV ankle is not parented to this, instead is parented to the IK Ctrl. The DRV Ankle bone must be parented with offset to CTRL IKLEG.

[@DeepVoiic]

If I copy and paste the armature I made to use on another model, the armature connects, but when I move the bones, there are spaces between the meshes. Like the mesh doesn't fully connect with the other meshes. Is there a fix to this?

[@DeepVoiic]

Nvm fixed it.

[@richstubbsanimation]

Sounds like your mesh is split into seperate parts. Select all the vertices of the mesh in edit mode and under the vertex menu at the top of the viewport select "merge> by distance" and adjust the value

[@adoggo9625]

Hey great vid so far however I am stuck on 5:08 where you say "set this option to tail" what am I setting to tail? My CTRL IKLeg isnt making any rotation influence to the foot :(

[@richstubbsanimation]

Hey, I made a bit of a longer video about it, you can find it here kzbin.info/www/bejne/rnbRppJ7qNOtoKs long story short, the ankle has to be parented to the IK ctrl in edit mode, then add the constraint in pose mode

[@adoggo9625]

@@richstubbsanimation Thats worked a charm, thank you so much!

[@colorblindest]

@@richstubbsanimation I thought I'd go crazy on this. Thank you for clarification.

[@thedeutschfjord]

what should i do as my armature is not a drop down menu

[@richstubbsanimation]

Make sure you're in edit mode with the armature selected. You should now see the armature tab as a drop down menu

[@bee5494]

Hii, I havent merged the rig into the character yet because is a humanoid (a female disassembly drone to be exact) and the bones of the rig are peaking out, if I make them smaller then the joints will be out of place. Does the armour become invisible once you merge it into the character?? What should I do

[@richstubbsanimation]

Bones are not rendered, so you will never see them

[@bee5494]

@@richstubbsanimation Thank youu, I'm new to this

[@olegvinogradov6644]

I have a problem with symmetrizing :0 After I create the bones to control the legs, apply the renaming to left/right and try to apply symmetry, then the right side has no effect on the mash. can anyone help me pls?) ttrl is amazing btw)

[@richstubbsanimation]

If you're skinning your mesh before you've symmetrized then the bones on the right will have no influence on the mesh. You need to make sure you have both sides of the deform skeleton created before you skin the mesh. If you've done that already and it still doesn't work, check the constraints are still affecting the right deform bones. Sometimes blender doesn't rename the bones correctly so you may have to do it manually

[@olegvinogradov6644]

@@richstubbsanimation got it, im going to check, thanks)

[@anirudhmanchella4641]

I'm pressing Shift+A, but the option for armature isn't showing. Even if I press add in the bar, it doesn't show up for me. What's the issue?

[@richstubbsanimation]

Make sure you're in object mode when creating a new armature. And to create a new bone, select the armature then press tab to enter into edit mode again and shift a will add a new bone. Hope this helps

[@jkartz92]

usually in maya rigs, we used to have global & local, but in blender it's only one root. Any specific reasons for the same?

[@richstubbsanimation]

You can add as many as you want! In Blender, the armature object acts more like a global control, and then the root bone can be used as an offset. But again, you can also make more than one root bone 🙂

[@TsunaXZ]

It's my first time rigging on blender, can anyone tell me if it's possible to rig like this and then later on just add the rig for the face?

[@richstubbsanimation]

Yes. You just need to adjust the bone weights for the face when you add bones for the face.

[@robbycrawford]

My question is how do u insert different (face) Expressions into a rigged character in Blender? Or is there a free add on that adds several different face expressions into a character?

[@richstubbsanimation]

My approach would be to use shape keys. As far as I know there's no real way to automate this as every mesh will be different, so it's better to sculpt those yourself.

[@robbycrawford]

Its ok I discovered the Free Blender Addon Audo2Face.

[@cortexvortex9504]

Regarding the location of the root bone. I saw in another comment that you said the root can go anywhere and you just put the root bone where you did to make it easier to animate in blender. My question is would this make any difference in Unreal Engine? I am planning to import my model into unreal and wish to make sure any necessary changes are made before I do that.

[@richstubbsanimation]

@@cortexvortex9504 for game engines, the root bone needs to be at the world origin. 0,0,0

[@cortexvortex9504]

@@richstubbsanimation thank you for clarifying.

[@DVI--D77]

Thanks Bro

[@richstubbsanimation]

You're welcome 😎

[@Azrael_Bathory]

Just out of curiosity, would changing the root bone from the base to the lower spine bone cause any problems with this rigging method? I only ask because when it comes to character controllers in Unity it seems to have a preference for the Root bone being the spine base? Wondering if this would cause any issue or if I'm looking at it the wrong way. Eh, trial and error is a good learning method for those willing to put in the time. Also, THANK YOU for making a video that actually teaches US, How to learn these skills... Not teach us how to use nothing but automated software. Unless Rigify ever gets a feature that does more than humans, dogs, and horses I might be interested. But i want to be able to rig 6-limbed fantasy creatures and things with less traditional rigs, so I highly value youtubers like this that will actually teach us real skills. Again -THANK YOU-

[@richstubbsanimation]

You can put the root bone where ever you want. The reason this is at 0,0,0 and oriented to the world is simply to make it easier when animating in Blender. However unreal also prefers this method of root location. I'm not sure why your having issues with unity as I use this method too. One thing that might cause issues is if your skinned bone chain isn't a clean hierarchy. For example, if its Root > Hips, Spine > Spine 01, it throws errors. However if the hierarchy is Root > Hips > Spine > Spine 01 it will work. (in the last example the spine is parented to the hips instead of just the root bone)

[@Azrael_Bathory]

@@richstubbsanimationI feel a little bit silly now xD after reading your response and going over my project some more I've realized my confusion was coming from, as you mentioned, poor hierarchy >_< in my case ive been using some free models up until recently and they have painfully inconsistent bone naming.... gotta love seeing Bone.006 through Bone.145 (slight exaggeration but still). The part that made me feel extra silly though was thinking that the Root folder was just a root folder position.. I failed to notice it was an actual bone position.. sometimes ive seen these same root bone poitions being called Armature, Rig, Bones, and what not, so that also didn't help to lessen any confusion. Ultimately brings me back to why I want to better learn this for myself so I can actually get the consistent rigs I so desperately crave xD.

[@federil0k0]

all in one video... mind = blown

[@ezer1624]

I am super lost on the driver bones portion of the video. Can someone please explain when I use shift R and how to set it up for each bone?

[@richstubbsanimation]

The Shift + R shortcut just repeats the last action. You don't have to use it, its just quicker. It takes into account the very last action you do, so make sure you're not doing anything else other than making these constraints. If you're still having issues, there's no harm in adding the constraints the manual way.

[@ezer1624]

Oh! Thank you!! I got it working now!

[@KillerLettuce]

When I bind the rig to the mesh all move/rot/scale happens at the root bone and the entire geometry and skeleton rotate at the root. I dont have an option to rotate limbs individually. What am I missing?

[@richstubbsanimation]

You need to head back into pose mode to move the skeleton

[@KillerLettuce]

@@richstubbsanimationThanks, that was it. Didnt notice you switched in the video. New problem though ,after setting up IK and Pole Vector for the leg when I go to symmetrize it again the IK and Pole Vector dont copy to the other side despite being selected when I do.

[@VergilNotVigil]

for me the armature is only that, I can only add armature, but theres no options/arrow to add bones or anything, is anyone else having a similar issue?

[@XMAXTH69]

on minute 5:00 those he shows how to parent the foot to the ik control? I cant follow the instructions

[@richstubbsanimation]

Select the foot, then shift select the IK Control and press control P to parent them. Make sure this is done in edit mode

[@drtxx3321]

5:07 I have a problem doing the ankle, when i put the ''Copy location'' Constrait the ankle does not go up to the knee it stays on it's position, do you know how can i fix this? I found your tutorial super usefull but this thing is so frustrating.

[@richstubbsanimation]

Make sure the copy location constraint is to the knee bone and not the other ankle bone

[@user-hz3zo2of4r]

I do not understand how to solve this problem, please help

[@DaviSilveira]

@@richstubbsanimation mine is set to the DRV_Knee.L and for some reason mine doesn't move either... is it something to do with the parent?

[@richstubbsanimation]

@@DaviSilveira the parent should be the IK Control, so the only reason it wouldn't work if it was still parented to the leg

[@DaviSilveira]

@@richstubbsanimation I think naturally it's parented to the leg right? So I have to unparent it and then re-parent it to the I-K bone correct. I think you mentioned that in the video real quick. Sorry I'm new to this

[@ProfKisuto]

Awesome tutorial! The batch renamer won't let me select the bones setting. When I click it, it switches automatically to collections.

[@ProfKisuto]

Also - I absolutely LOVE the efficiency / speed, but please make sure every click / key stroke is at least recorded. It's really easy to lose nuance in such a tricky process. :)

[@richstubbsanimation]

Yes, that's something I'm working on for the next video ;) And I'm sorry I'm not sure why your batch renamer isn't working properly. I'm using 4.0.1, so it may be a bug with other verisons

[@ProfKisuto]

@@richstubbsanimation oh no problem! I'm using the same version - probably a user error. :D Btw is there a way to switch the feet back to the FK during animation?

[@richstubbsanimation]

@@ProfKisuto that requires a bit more detail to set up, something for a future vid

[@Hoiieeee]

It's a really useful tutorial! But I have no idea why they make drive bones. It makes me really confused.

[@remusveritas739]

Do i have to manually merge the spine and hip bone, since extruding the first spine bonde will not make it be connected to the hip

[@remusveritas739]

i googled the answer: no for anybody maybe reading this and wondering why that connection is behaving the way it is when trying to move that join

[@richstubbsanimation]

1:38 I parent the spine to the hips, with keep offset. For a simple rig like this it works. A more robust set up would have the spine and hips parented to a seperate offset joint allowing you to move the spine and hips independently. ​@@remusveritas739

[@remusveritas739]

@@richstubbsanimation now i cant parent shoulder to spine, the make offset option is greyed out. man every time i try rigging i only run into problems...

[@richstubbsanimation]

@@remusveritas739 Normally its greyed out if its already parented. You can see if its parented by heading into pose mode and moving the spine. If the shoulder moves with it then you're good! If not head back into edit mode, select the shoulder and clear all parents by pressing ALT P and try parenting again.

[@remusveritas739]

@@richstubbsanimation thank you for your time and help my friend

[@sirrender1010]

Hey thanks! I'm a bit stuck, though. At 0:55 you say to make another bone, but I don't know how. 🤷‍♂

[@richstubbsanimation]

Make sure you're in edit mode, and press ctrl A, alternativly you can find the bone menu at the top of the viewport

[@jayreedart]

This is actually an awesome tutorial and makes me realize that Auto Rig Pro is the easier route 😅

[@richstubbsanimation]

😂😅

[@therealKrak]

Would you mind elaborating on the roles, the use and the difference of the DEFORM and DRIVER bones? I seem to misunderstand something major here and I may sound stupid but here is my summary. To me it makes no sense to copy the whole rig, then create constraints so every DEFORM bone mimics every respective DRIVER bone's transformation. I comprehended it as excessive repetition and the DEFORM bones seem superfluous since it's function got outsourced. When it comes to rigging I am a beginner at best.

[@richstubbsanimation]

Having an extra layer of deformation is a cleaner way to work. Could you technically create a rig without doing this, yes, however adding in a buffer (in this case driver bones) allows you to work cleaner, as well as being able to add rig functionality. The Tldr is it allows you to make advanced, and cleaner rigs. And is good practice to get in the habit of doing

[@therealKrak]

@@richstubbsanimation I still don't understand the difference between the two. What does the driver rig buffer? And what is ment by rig functionality? Do you maybe have a link to another tutorial that explains and visualizes it?

[@richstubbsanimation]

@therealKrak by rig functionality, I mean things like adding IK, FK, space switches, bendy bones etc. All of these are different things a rigger can add to the rig, which gives you different options to animate in. I don't have a video on my channel, but doodley has a great video explaining the differences between IK and FK. kzbin.info/www/bejne/gJ_Ocp-tgs-UosUsi=mGE4G94MOmPGs_qC The reason we add a buffer is to keep our rigs clean, and clutter free! Rigs can get really complex when you're adding in more of these features, so it's best to keep your deformation chain (the one you skin your mesh to) seperate from controls and other rigging methods. This is also handy for games too, if you're exporting your animation or rig to a game engine.

[@therealKrak]

@@richstubbsanimation By the way thank you very much for putting in that much effort to explain it to me and I think I finally get the hang of it. So the deform rig has no constraints at all apart from the transform ones. This is maybe a bit far fetched but looking at the deform layer it's like a skeleton and shouldn't move on it's own but the driving layer gets the functionality of the tendons and muscles and therefore makes the bones move, did I get that right? And what do you mean by it is handy for games too? ^^ Can game engines understand Blender's constraints?

[@BillHendricksShadowmason]

I have no bone collection to remove bones from they are listed individually

[@richstubbsanimation]

Sounds like you're looking at vertex groups. Bone collections are under the bone properties tab, and are new to blender 4.0.

[@BillHendricksShadowmason]

read down a bit.... downloaded Blender 4.02 now I see it.

[@issac7787]

Amazin'

[@natamikovic]

in 5:01 could you pls repeat how can i parent foot rotation to IK CTRL, iam rewinding and cant understand :( Beside that all tutorial is great, really appreciate it :)

[@richstubbsanimation]

in edit mode, select the foot, shift select the ik control and press p to parent with "keep offset" enabled.

[@savio1261]

Hot damn, awesome tutorial jesus

[@richstubbsanimation]

Thanks!