What's new in Blender 4.0 and How to fix broken rigs

[@PierrickPicaut_P2DESIGN]

🔥Discover my extensive Blender courses and free rigs : www.p2design-academy.com ❤🖌Post your work using the #p2design and tag me on twitter & Instagram : @pierrick_picaut

[@cepheus3d]

Thank you for your contributions to the animation side of Blender. Your content is invaluable!

[@PierrickPicaut_P2DESIGN]

Tahnks for your kind words

[@iamawatcher9201]

Nice! You actually made a whole video about this change. Thanks Pierrick, you're doing animators/riggers a huge service as usual!

[@kiprotichtony7561]

Blender just got updated. My rig broke. Almost fainted (have been working on this character for weeks now). Ran to KZbin and here comes Sir.Pierrick to the rescue. Thank you, I really appreciate it

[@rotblush]

You are a life saver Pierrick! 🙌 The script not showing the rig layers is exactly what I needed to fix and I wasn't even sure where to start looking and almost gave up on the 4.0 version, but you explained it so well, I'm so glad you made this video! I can now continue on the 4.x version of Blender without headaches!💪

[@activemotionpictures]

7:22 - Life saver. Thank you, Pierrick! I wouldn't know how to do this without this video.

[@randirafaeli]

What I love about it is that the old version of the bone group will be gone. I still cannot fathom how people could use that. But what makes me kinda sad is that the add on is kinda obsolete or at least I need to script a little to get back to it. I am already quite used to it but I will also give the blender version a try to see if it fits my workflow. Great video as always.

[@antoonsorg]

Thanks for helping me out you saved my year. Happy blending.

[@KrimsonKloud]

We're already on 4.0? Man I'm still on 2.9

[@wyattarthur5275]

Not yet its still in Beta, but its coming

[@ajithsurya602]

I'm still on 2.7 😂😂😂

[@genixlefrench9763]

My blender updates automatically

[@louis7158]

@@ajithsurya602 same

[@KrimsonKloud]

@@genixlefrench9763 A lot of my plugins and setup aren't compatible with newer versions. If I set it to auto-update will the plugins come with it or do I have manually configure those?

[@PantheraTigrisVerity]

Thanks for going over the new changes! Hopefully it will be easier to fix in the future, but in the meantime, this is super helpful.

[@coolestardude]

Thank goodness for this video. I had a heart attack when my giant rig map was gone. I am so relieved

[@FyresGames]

Thank you very much to show that. I've just adapted the script from your Trident rig onto mine and didn't wanted to loose it because of Blender update!

[@Crabnuts]

Thanks pierrick! I've heard a couple things about 4.0 breaking rigs but this video made me realize its not actually all that bad lmao

[@PierrickPicaut_P2DESIGN]

No, it's not that terrible. It's the only things that breaks and whatever you may use based on bone groups. But you can use bone color name instead

[@9b8ll]

Holy moly, this is the first time that I heard about bone collections blender 4.0 this is way better than the bone layers system this is way overdue. Also thank you for this tutorial I am saving this for future reference if I ever do a custom rig UI I hope bone layer manager will be updated real soon for blender 4.0

[@ElRotura]

Amazing video! Once again, thanks a lot for your knowledge Pierrick :) Have a nice day!

[@TheSpideyGuyAndrew]

Finally your video , i always wait for your videos , it's really helpful everytime.. can't wait for your new course

[@PierrickPicaut_P2DESIGN]

Thank you

[@dillpikell]

It worked! You're a life saver! 🙏

[@SouthernShotty]

super helpful video, thank you

[@PierrickPicaut_P2DESIGN]

Thanks mate!

[@DonWippo_Art]

Thanks for the Video, really helped. I am really interested in the snap Utilities from your friend fin you mentioned at the end of the video. Is there any chance you will make a video about that in the future? So far not having the ability to snap Ik to Fk and vice versa is the only thing I dislike about my custom rigs, so that might be a game changer for me personally. Keep up the good work!

[@happybird2642]

Subscribing this channel is the great thing i did as blender learner.

[@TheDaNuker]

Thanks for this upload, very useful to tweak those rigs to work on Blender 4.0

[@davidngowi5795]

Thank for all

[@jasonwilliams8730]

Thank you for all the help :)

[@oversalt4713]

I just updated to 4.0 and I'm really missing my bone layer manager and it's ui 😡 Honestly not sure if this was a great design decision yet. My other minor annoyance is having to sift through menus for modifiers that previously took one click. The rest is sweet.

[@r189lf5]

Merci Beaucoup! I cannot thank you enough, you saved my bacon with this tutorial - I wish when an update to an internal system was made at Blender, that they would not break a part of that system and not at least give us a way to fix it (as you have done here)

[@ageofgar]

Thanks for the heads up ! I will definitely need this when I switch. Thank you so much for taking the time to break this down ahead of the release. I wonder if and how Rigify will be updated to create the buttons UI with these new bone collections. The current way is a bit confusing. I hope it's easier now.

[@romanNood1es]

It seems that the updated Trident Rig ui script has a bug. Where the face and face secondary layers button trigger the root layer. It's an easy fix thanks to this video, but I thought you should know.

[@PierrickPicaut_P2DESIGN]

Yes! Saw that a few days ago and updated the script to be dowloaded on p2design-academy.com

[@ZOL6199]

Thank you so much. I was freaking out

[@reubenstarsky7328]

Im using ur alive course any chance we can use the new animation workflow for 4.0 or its the same for 4.0

[@enginyuksel8667]

We are waiting for the new Course.. we are grateful.

[@Bgv-jm1sc]

@PierrickPicaut_P2DESIGN I bought the "art of effective rigging" course from your site and am in the process of watching it. Will the course be adjusted/changed to be more in line with Blender 4.0?

[@AnityEx]

you saved my life right now i know it

[@yehonamgeker]

Can you please show us how you displayed the rig custom properties in 8:53 in python?

[@Atomic_Lynx]

Thank Youuuuuuu!!!

[@bloodmico]

Thx. From this video i learned HOW to create custom rigUI xD

[@JC-ov8ko]

Incredible!

[@RandomGuy34-j1u]

Hey is your alive animation course which is on your website still effective ?? i am planning to buy that course but i cant risk my money as i am not sure if it is suitable for blender 4.0 too ?!?!?!

[@CDR472]

hello pierrick picaut, will you be updating your rigging course since bone layer manager are no longer supported for blender 4.0. man i hope the add-on is updated in near future

[@_TetKaneda]

Great contribution. Great tutorial. You have my like. Thank you so much. Greetings

[@joieboyy]

Hello ! Are you planning a discount for your course? I would like to buy Alive and Ronin but it's too high for me

[@nuhankhan2394]

Hey man, One small suggestion can you do lip sync and facial animation to your course and also use pose library in that manner.

[@superscaryguy01]

Is there a way to do this that doesn't take a needlessly long time?

[@ceejey1586]

Do it once and then you'll have a template to copy and paste in the future I guess. It's what I'm doing.

[@phm6834]

5:20 saved my life!

[@marcopetreti2121]

Great video as usual! I didn't know about the snap utilities; is it available somewhere?

[@PierrickPicaut_P2DESIGN]

It's the script used on my trident rig. You can have it for free on dowloading the rig

[@marcopetreti2121]

@@PierrickPicaut_P2DESIGN Thank you!

[@_omar2709]

Hi What is the best thing about animation? 1:auto rig pro 2:rigify

[@SergbelStudio]

thank you very much !!!

[@FunTheMental-Studios]

Hi did you got something for rigify? I want to add more bone layers on ui. It had option on metarig to edit ui and regenerate the rig with all those modified ui button but i don't want to regenerate the rig. Im really confused 🥴

[@OcielGonzalez_mx]

Will you updated yur copurses to the new version of blender sir?

[@Ademar440]

Can I ask what parts of the course were updated? or was the whole course?

[@PierrickPicaut_P2DESIGN]

all course The files, not the videos.

[@Ademar440]

@@PierrickPicaut_P2DESIGN Got it, thanks for the reply.

[@jadonmullinex9389]

You mentioned snap utilites by Fin. Is that available somewhere that we can use it for any rig?

[@PierrickPicaut_P2DESIGN]

It's the script on my trident rig, available for free

[@jadonmullinex9389]

@@PierrickPicaut_P2DESIGN I see. This is a custom script built for this rig, not an addon

[@stormk-1130]

This is the new bone layer system right?

[@NokaSRuzenberg]

hooray. Finally removed these stupid layers for bones. They gave me a headache.

[@BadManiCZ]

hello, im currently working on a rig in blender 4 with rigify and i have generated and edited the generated rig. Do you know of a way to add rig layers without regenerating the rig? the new script is way more complex in the part of the rig layers

[@322ss]

Interesting - I've missed the part about being able to nest bone collections later - do you happen to have a link? I did skim through the release notes, if it was there I must have missed it.

[@PierrickPicaut_P2DESIGN]

I don't know if it's documented yet, but I often discuss with the devs, and it's part of the plan.

[@NoobHit]

Speaking of rigging, I have a problem. I want to rig a breakable character lets say Humpty Dumpty. It breaks down and then gets back to normal as seen in various cartoon 3d videos. I have tried shape keys but badly failed. Could you please do a tutorial on this in any blender version Preferably 3.6 ??? Many thanks.

[@WackyFaunatics]

and what happend if you dont use rigify? what can i do?

[@Вершитель_судеб]

Hi. What field of application is your courses designed for - cartoons or game dev?

[@TheBLACKX72]

Im still on 3.6, I wonder why they don't notify you for updats on the same software. Or maybe its just me, and I don't pay enough attention.

[@UlfricStromcloak]

Pierrick , I mostly do modeling, but I was looking to start your rigging course. Is Blender 4.0 a complete overhaul for Blender's rigging system or your rigging course can still be followed with Blender 4.0?

[@PierrickPicaut_P2DESIGN]

If you’re a perfect beginner, it can be a little confusing because of what explained in this video. This is the only major difference.

[@Damian_DH]

do you think is worth updating to 4.0? Im using 3.6 and this version feels great so far.

[@PierrickPicaut_P2DESIGN]

I won't switch for production yet. I don't know how FBX will react, I don't know how bade retro compatibility is yet. Think it's safer to wait for 4.1 where a lot of bug might be fixed

[@Damian_DH]

@@PierrickPicaut_P2DESIGN Thanks.

[@عالمعبودي-د1ض]

Unfortunately, I purchased the course, but I did not find the transfer of the character from one place to another?

[@PierrickPicaut_P2DESIGN]

What do you mean?

[@عالمعبودي-د1ض]

I mean, why didn't the character run forward and how to prevent slipping?

[@cg_lexus]

I can't find this rows in Blender 4.1, something wrong :(

[@waltervolbers3443]

Thanks you for for showing the new functions and the resulting problems. do you know how I can scale the B-Bone thicker thinner, Ctrl Alt s, now my workaround in 4.0 is s and the Shift z to exclude the z-axis!, before I found it more ergonomic or could be done with one hand

[@PierrickPicaut_P2DESIGN]

Thanks for your kind words. Using "S" is a mistake because you actually scale the bone. CTRL+ALT+S only scales the bbone display. but the bone sscale remains 1.0;1.0;1.0

[@waltervolbers3443]

@@PierrickPicaut_P2DESIGN Hi Pierrick, thanks for the reply, : ) what is the shortcut to change the BBone thickness visually, that's what I meant in my previous post, that's how I learnt it from you (youtube-vids)Ctrl Alt s, in the new version 4.0 it saves the scene. It's a pity that this has changed now, isn't it?

[@PierrickPicaut_P2DESIGN]

Good point! just found it : CTRL+ASLT+SHIFT+S@@waltervolbers3443

[@waltervolbers3443]

@@PierrickPicaut_P2DESIGN Thanks master! last question! will you use this combination or will you make your own hotkey for it or will you change to the old combination?

[@Wenedi]

When it comes to exporting rigs to Unity, do you scale it up by 100 when exporting or do you just keep the scale different inside Blender?

[@obi_anyaibe]

Hi, I just started using Blender for 2D animation, and one thing I haven't figured out yet is how to insert a frame in-between two frames. For insurance, say there's 0, 1, 2 frames on the timeline, and I want to insert one more between 0 and 1 so the new frame is the new 1 and the old 1 is now 2, how do I do that?

[@SergbelStudio]

Hi Pierrick, thanks for the video and Best Wishes in 2024. I followed the tutorial to convert the rig so it is usable in Blender 4 but it looks like the layers are still locked and I cannot select DEF layers. DO you knoiw how to unlock them at once, otherwise I need to go bone by bone and toggle select button again?

[@PierrickPicaut_P2DESIGN]

Their selectability is locked. You can unblock them through the outliner. Display selectivity through the filters.

[@SergbelStudio]

@@PierrickPicaut_P2DESIGN thank you =)

[@SamuelVaillancourt-z5z]

Hi Pierrick, I am a high school teacher and I teach 3D Modeling & Animation. Would I be able to use your rigs for educational purposes? This would entail my students receive the file. They would not earny any kind of money using them and it is strictly to learn. Thanks!

[@PierrickPicaut_P2DESIGN]

Your student can get my rig for free on p2design-academy.com and use them for their portfolio if they want 😌

[@damianocondello1445]

I was finally going to buy your art of effective rigging course, but After this update i have doubts. Will i be able to follow along? Will you update your tutorial for Blender 4?

[@PierrickPicaut_P2DESIGN]

You can follow along if you double check this video. The main difference are bone collections replacing bone layers, so you won't need the bone manager addon anymore

[@murdocklesban6836]

with this change i m not gonna buy it

[@michaelmellor3D]

@@murdocklesban6836 I just started it a couple days ago and am currently halfway through. I really recommend going for it. He teaches what could be complicated stuff in a really easy to understand manner. And honestly, Blender 4.0 just makes things simpler and you really don't need the Bone Manager addon to follow along. I downloaded the free version of Rig UI by not_that_NDA to organize my bone groups (though you don't need it) and put it in the Item panel where I can also see the custom properties I create (like IK/FK switching) when my custom properties bone is selected. All of that will make sense in context of the course. Alternatively you could just buy the Rig UI pro version for Blender 4.0 which has more and better features than Bone Manager did - its 15 bucks.

[@GordonBagshaw-GBEnglishClass]

is rigify not working with 4.02?

[@CG-nk6qi]

Hi Pierrick! Thanks for this video. Currently taking your animation course via Gumroad. Will you be updating the files there as well?

[@PierrickPicaut_P2DESIGN]

It's already the case. Dowload the course files again :)

[@CG-nk6qi]

@@PierrickPicaut_P2DESIGN thanks sir!

[@granul555]

Where can I get this python code?

[@322ss]

I wish they would focus more on fixing the glaring issues with bones, armatures and exporting/importing skeletons instead of putting effort to things like bendy bones and grease pencil. I don't know how many people actually benefit of those features, but in general I feel updating core features to level that is comparable to other softwares would be way more helpful.

[@chitamule9040]

Dude, grease pencil is been used on commercial projects. The was a whole talk on how they used it on Across the Spider-Verse at the Blender Conference, it's got the attention of a lot of animation pros The studio that did the Klaus movie, I believe is also using it amongst others.

[@322ss]

@@chitamule9040 Not your "dude" - anyway talking abou the big picture, not a few big companies like Disney or whatever. It does not matter if some "pros" use it for some specific niche purposes (storyboarding, concepting, some animation movie) - Blender dev team is quite small, so it would be better IMO they put the effort into making the core 3D animation related features more usable and even to such standards that Blender can be used with other softwares without workarounds.

[@322ss]

Bone collections view makes it somewhat obvious, that eventually bone collections view has to be like the outliner, and maybe it could be better that whole system of armature containing bones would be replaced with a proper system of collecting a bunch of any object types to create a rig and then package that somehow along with its animation curves as one, instead of this nonsense that that each object has its own action, with the exception of armature (which basically is a container from a bunch of bone objects). I know they are working on updating how animation data is stored, BCON 2023 videos had a talk on this topic.

[@espeethia6427]

My script does not look like that at all, what should I do? D:

[@espeethia6427]

And the bone collecctions are not abble or visible neither

[@ITheSuperior]

Any chance bone manager will be updated to be compatible for the new update?

[@PierrickPicaut_P2DESIGN]

I don't know. But I don't think it's as critical as before. Because now we can name collections and I'm sure there will soon be addons to generates UI for B4.0

[@alexburn9520]

@@PierrickPicaut_P2DESIGN Very hope the bone manager can get a update to suit 4.0,because I am a new hand to python code ,and it is some difficulty to me ,but your add on give much help to my workflow

[@PierrickPicaut_P2DESIGN]

cHECK THIS OUT / github.com/not-that-nda/Rig_UI_Bone_Collections/releases/tag/beta @@alexburn9520

[@PierrickPicaut_P2DESIGN]

cHECK THIS OUT / github.com/not-that-nda/Rig_UI_Bone_Collections/releases/tag/beta

[@alexburn9520]

@@PierrickPicaut_P2DESIGN thanks!!!!!! This is really helpful for me !!

[@kiprotichtony7561]

Can't click bones in weight paint mode help

[@WaterShowsProd]

The hot-key has changed. I think it's alt+click now, but you can double check in the preferences.

[@medmel2160]

Hey! I feel like you improved your english speaking!

[@PierrickPicaut_P2DESIGN]

I took classes for the past 2 years

[@genericscottishchannel1603]

Ah UIs, no problem there, probably

[@neakybrown6088]

I love your course but it look like your course lack of face animation like HOWTOANIMATE course

[@PahtCrack]

I have a hair animation I made out of damped tracks . It’s acting funny on 4.0 any help will be appreciated .

[@dyoanima]

they broke my rigs, they changed my shortcuts, my addons that I normally use stopped working or worked with errors, fuck blender 4, you were more of a problem than I thought.

[@rohitd-d5o]

Anyone purchased alive animation course from India?

[@alchemy5750]

To be 100% honest, I feel like every single Blender update since 3.6 was absolutely awful. Perfect example of "change for the sake of change and not for improvement". Like, what was so incredibly wrong with the bone layer system?

[@PierrickPicaut_P2DESIGN]

Well, the fact taht you couldn't name them and that their number are limitated is pretty terrible. Now, I hear you, don't get me wrong, but this one is a great step forward.

[@alchemy5750]

@@PierrickPicaut_P2DESIGN Honestly, yes. What I should've said is the integration between the two system should've been seamless, and 4.0 shouldn't just break every single rig generated in previous versions.

[@crashbandit0483]

@@alchemy5750 Yep you're absolutely right on that case

[@zergidrom4572]

4.0 is like intentional attempt to make blender harder, this stupid new modifier menu, this stupid new bone collections. Stupid new bsdf shader. just everything to make user unnecessary click and scrolling, like wtf

[@XINN1X]

another amazing video! you videos are the best for animators! your instagram link doesnt work btw

[@PierrickPicaut_P2DESIGN]

Thanks, updated.

[@XINN1X]

it still doesnt work hehe @@PierrickPicaut_P2DESIGN