Rigging for Realistic Movement - Game Character Creation with Blender and Unity - page 175

Figure 7.27
Creating and posi-
tioning eye bones
with the 3D cursor
This will do for now. Save your file, and then look at Ch07_Zombie_ReadyForConstraints
.blend to see how your model should look at this point.
In the next section, you will finish your armature by adding constraints to it so you
can better animate it in the next chapter.
Finishing the Armature with Constraints
When creating characters for movies, Blender artists will use shape keys , which are changes
to geometry that Blender records and sets to work with interface elements. These are
incredibly useful when creating dialogue for movies and prerendered cutscenes. Since
many game engines do not support shape keys or their equivalents in other animation
programs, however, 3D game artists must rig their characters' faces with armatures.
To enable you to have shape key-like animations with your armature, we'll turn to bone
constraints. These constraints limit how bones in the armature can move. Constraints
can also link bones together so they can move in chains. You will begin by adding con-
straints to the armature's arms and legs.
Adding Inverse Kinematics to Limbs
The first constraint you will add to the zombie armature will be inverse kinematics.
Doing so allows you to manipulate arms and legs by manipulating only the hands and
feet at the end of these bone chains. This will save you valuable time as you animate your
zombie and help you create more believable movements.