Rigging Practice

To learn how to rig & add weight to a character. I modelled a basic stick figured person to practice with.

 First thing I did after creating my model was use the joint tool, to create the bones. I started this with the root bone (bottom of spine) and worked my way around the body. Making sure there were joints in the areas of where an arm would bend etc. It's also important to name each joint appropriately so they're easier to find later on if needed.
 

 

Next I selected the Skin and Bones and used the bind smooth tool. This merges them together. I then placed the bones on a separate layer to the mesh in order to avoid selecting the wrong objects.

 

After that I had to add weight to parts of the body's vertices, this is important to do as it prevents overstretching of the mesh and controls exactly how much can move when animating.

 

In order to make the bones moveable, I added an inverse kinematic using the IK handle tool. In the spinal area I used IKSP solver, since the back doesnt need to fully rotate. And for areas like the limbs I used the IKRP solver, since these areas will need to be most felixble with bends and rotations.

 

Lastly, I added a controller which was made using Circle Nurbs. Once parented to the bones, these are able to control the set of bones each circle nurb was applied to, making it easier to animate rather than having to select each bone and rotate them.