Character Design and Creation - Animating with Blender: How to Create Short Animations from Start to Finish - page 72

Bind Pose

A character modeled for a still image can often be created from the ground up near its fi nal pose. When working
with animation, you have to create the character in a neutral position so that it can later be rigged and then
posed with the animation tools. The optimal position in which to create your character looks like Figure 5.34.

Figure 5.34 The unposed mom character mesh

Figure 5.34 is called the bind pose because it is the pose to which you will bind the armature or other rigging
tools that will make it capable of animation. Notice how each of the joints is slightly fl exed. This gives the
eventual armature, which we will look at in Chapter 9, some guidance when deciding how to move.

Modeling in the bind pose, called Rest
Position in Blender and sometimes called
the Jesus or T Pose in online documenta-
tion, can save you time because it begins
its life symmetrically.

When creating your character model, be
sure to use the Mirror modifi er, at least
in the early stages. Figures 5.35, 5.36, and
5.37 show the Beast during the creation
process with the mirror modifi er in place
and with symmetry removed after the
modifi er is applied.

Figure 5.38 shows the mirror modifi er
settings that are most useful. The Do
Clipping button makes any vertices of Figure 5.35 The half of the Beast that was actually modeled