Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
Rig Testing and Adjustment
Let's test things out. You animate and manipulate rigs in Pose mode, a mode unique to armatures. You
can always get to Pose mode by using the mode's pop-up on the 3D header, or by using the Ctrl-Tab
hotkey. This one is worth memorizing.
Using Ctrl-Tab turns all of the bones blue, which is the best indicator that you are in Pose mode. The
armature as presented in Pose mode begins its life just like the one in Edit mode. However, regardless of
how you transform the armature in Pose mode for animation or testing purposes, the Edit mode armature
remains exactly how you left it. It is the baseline for Pose mode. To get a feel for how things work, RMB
select one of the upper arm bones. Use the G key to move it, and the R key to rotate it. It moves freely,
and however you transform it, the lower arm and hand bones follow. Select the lower arm bone, though,
and you'll see that due to its status as a connected child, it can only rotate.
Now, select either the upper or lower back bone and rotate it. While the spine bones up the chain move
along, the arms and shoulders do not. We need to fix that. Out of Pose mode and back into Edit mode, then.
Remember that Pose mode is only for animation, not for tweaking an armature that was designed in Edit
mode. Any structural changes should always be done in Edit mode. To return to Edit mode, hit the Tab key.
In Edit mode, RMB select the upper arm bone, then Shift-RMB select the corresponding collarbone. Use
Ctrl-P to create a parent-child relationship, choosing Keep Offset from the menu that pops up. This
makes the upper arm bone a disconnected child of the collarbone. To have made it a connected child
would both change the location of the head of the upper arm bone to merge with the tail of the col-
larbone, and removed our ability to independently move the bone itself when animating. Repeat this
process, this time making the collarbone the disconnected child of the upper spine bone. As you do this
on one side, the X-Axis Mirror feature keeps pace with you on the other side of the rig.
Go back into Pose mode (Ctrl-Tab) and try rotating either the lower or upper spine again. This time, the
arms should follow along.
As you proceed through your own rigging tasks, remember to frequently drop into Pose mode to make
sure that your bones are working the way that you intended. It's not uncommon to make a minor adjust-
ment in Edit mode, jump to Pose mode to test, then back again for another tweak, a number of times to
get things just right.
Adding Basic Controls with Parenting
When we eventually get to animating, some shortcuts will make your life easier. In particular, it will be
nice to have a way to move the entire upper body and the tops of the legs at once. It will also be useful
to move the entire rig within Pose mode (i.e., not as an object in Object mode). Right now, you would
have to move the upper leg bones, the pelvis, and the lower spine bone simultaneously every time you
wanted to move the whole character in space. An extra bone and some parenting can fix that.
Back in Edit mode, simply hit Shift-A to add a new bone at the 3D cursor. We don't need this one to
be mirrored, so no need to extrude from an existing bone. It doesn't really matter where this bone goes,
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