Rigging: Digital Orthopedia - Blender Foundations: The Essential Guide to Learning Blender 2.6 - page 247

Figure 9.6 The different kinds of bone relationships.
You can also create parent-child relationships between bones after they are created, in the same way that
you do at the object level. RMB select the bone that is to be the child, Shift-RMB select the parent-to-
be, and press Ctrl-P . When you do this with bones, you are presented with a choice of Connected and
Keep Offset . Obviously, the first option moves your bone and attaches it to the parent, forming a con-
nected relationship. The second option creates a disconnected relationship. Also similar to Object mode,
the relationship can be broken with Alt-P , which gives you the option of removing it altogether, or just
“downgrading” a connected parenting relationship to a disconnected one.
As we construct this armature, we'll note which kind of parenting we're using and why. Before we proceed,
RMB select the very first bone we created, which now sits facing downward inside the pelvis. Use the G
key to move it. Be sure to cancel the move with the RMB. Notice that none of the other bones follow
it or are affected by it in any way. It is not a child of any other bone in the armature at the moment.
Note
The rig that we are building here is relatively simple. It has few shortcuts or automatic controls.
Neither its spine nor its neck are particularly flexible. This is because all of those “features” a rig
might have really raise the complexity of the process. What this chapter will do is prepare you to
create simple but effective rigs of your own, and perhaps more importantly, to examine and
understand the complex rigs that have been created by some extremely talented artists and
technicians.