Never touched the gradient tool, until
@bclark_cgchar
talked about it. Now I can't go without it.
It can be aggressive so pair it with vertex selections to isolate areas you want to be affected.
#b3d
#rigging
#gamedev
#animation
Calling blocking done. Are you liking these frequent updates and seeing the process of should I shut up and post the final once it is done?
#b3d
#rigging
#animation
#gamedev
The holy trinity of perfect lowpoly deformation: topology, bone placement, weights.
There is a lot more to it than straight edge loops, bone in the center and smooth weights. I am writing entire chapters on each of those for my book.
#rigging
#b3d
#animation
#gamedev
Animation done. I am going back to the rig to finalize the deformations and once all is done I will get it into Unreal and try some cloth physics.
I hope you enjoyed seeing it come together. I certainly enjoyed making it.
#b3d
#rigging
#animation
#techart
#gamedev
Haven't shared a book teaser in a while. This is a sneak peek at what I wrote over the weekend. About half a year left to wrap this thing up.
#b3d
#rigging
#animation
#gamedev
#ue5
I guess I will do a pass on everything before I revisit areas to improve them.
Here you can see the progress on the wrist and elbow. Will probably go over the fingers next.
This turned from a small test into a really fun learning experience.
#b3d
#rigging
#animation
#gamedev
Some leg correctives made using ActionPoser. A handful of bones can do wonders to the silhouette.
Under the hood the pose reading is done using drivers, which are triggering action constraints on bones.
#b3d
#gamedev
#techart
#animation
#UE5
As promised, here is the addon:
It is very much a work in progress but the core feature is there. Will also make a proper tutorial soon.
Planned extra features: support for shape keys, setup of correctives and much more
#b3d
#rigging
#techart
#animation
GameRig, my game auto-rigging extension for rigify, is ready!
I have just finished adding support for all rigs and metarig types and things are ready for testing. Download now and report any bugs or suggestions.
#b3d
#rigging
#gamedev
#animation
#techart
I developed a super simple setup for an auto foot roll. With almost no math skills required.
First constraint rotates at the ball, when it reaches the roll angle, the front bone starts rotating. At the same time it drives the ball bone back.
#b3d
#rigging
#animation
#gamedev
🎊New rigging tutorial🎊
Check it out to see how I used a Limit Distance constraint and a couple other ones to drive this setup:
👉👈
I would appreciate it if you share it around so more people get to learn this stuff.
#b3d
#ue4
#rigging
#animation
Shoulders are by far the toughest area to get right. I've been messing with this for two days. Looks alright but there is, as always, room for improvement.
Like with the hips, there is one twist bone in there and no other correctives or helpers.
#b3d
#rigging
#animation
#gamedev
I just made ALL the tutorials on my Patreon FREE, go learn how to rig:
A huge thank you to the Patrons, this exists because of you.
Consider joining them, and retweet to help share the knowledge. Thank you!
#b3d
#UnrealEngine
#rigging
#techart
#gamedev
Made a tool to streamline action constraint driven rigging. If anyone is interested I will put it on my github once it is finished.
Also, the first glimpse at the character for my book, Nnema.
#b3d
#rigging
#techart
#animation
#UnrealEngine
Pro tip, when you switch to spline first do a quick timing pass to tighten things up again. This is exactly the same as the last video plus 15 minutes of experimenting with moving key frames.
#b3d
#rigging
#animation
#gamedev
Added this to my Blender, shortcut buttons to switch between armature Pose and Edit and mesh Weight modes. Also basic armature controls in Weight Paint mode.
Can totally recommend it.
#rigtip
#b3d
#rigging
#animation
Bones can have a different axis orientation for location and rotation. Just disable the Local Location property and the bone will use its parent's orientation. Useful for having clean, world aligned, location curves on IK controls.
#rigtip
#b3d
#rigging
#techart
#gamedev
Another Monday = another rigging tutorial! This time tackling the arm. Twist bones setup included. One using a Damped Track and another using a b bones twist. Going live later today:
👉👈
#b3d
#UE4
#rigging
#animation
#rigtip
#techart
Felt like animating tonight, and I need a test animation for Nnema, so I started blocking out something based on a video by
@all_F808Z
. This is about 2 hrs in. Very rough posing to get a feel for it.
#b3d
#animation
#gamedev
Pro tip, when you switch to spline first do a quick timing pass to tighten things up again. This is exactly the same as the last video plus 15 minutes of experimenting with moving key frames.
#b3d
#rigging
#animation
#gamedev
I have released an update for GameRig.
Biggest change is the addition of the new modular face components. And the fact that GameRig works in the latest Blender versions.
Get it here:
#b3d
#rigging
#animation
#gamedev
Added support for correctives. They allow you to trigger an additional action when two other are mixed.
Correcting correctives isn't implemented. Will add that in another update.
#b3d
#TechArt
#rigging
#animation
#gamedev
#UE5
The GameRig UI update is done.
Next up, parent switch system overhaul. Rigify has all of parent switching hardcoded and no way of adjusting things. I will strip that out and make something customizable.
#b3d
#rigtip
#gamedev
#animation
#techart
Some custom UI work. Will probably reuse it for future rigs.
Clicking toggles visibility, shift clicking selects the layer and ctrl click deselects.
Will probably add keying as well.
#b3d
#rigging
#animation
#gamedev
This might be the most important tutorial for any new rigger, the "why" of creating a skeleton. I go over every bone and explain my thought process and give you some tips for laying a strong foundation for a natural looking motion and good deformation.
👉👈
Hey all! I'm continuing my quest of sharing rigging knowledge that is hard to find elsewhere, so here is a guide for easily adjusting the bind pose.
And as a bonus, how to apply modifiers to meshes with shape keys.
👉👈
#b3d
#rigging
#rigtip
#gamedev
🎊New tutorial 🎉
"Rigging for Games"
What is a game rig? How is it different from other rigs? What can you do and what is not supported? Why do my stretchy limbs break in engine? Find the answers to those and more here:
👉👈
#rigging
#animation
#techart
I am back with a new tutorial everyone!
This time I am kicking off the one thing that will change your whole rigging world, scripting.
Come join me:
#rigging
#animation
#b3d
#Python
#rigtip
Live shape keys using geometry nodes.
I posted a tutorial for my subscribers on Patreon, which includes some theory, a demo file and a video in which I make the entire setup.
#b3d
#rigging
#animation
#techart
Procedural weighting using
#geometrynodes
experiment.
It uses mesh shapes to block in areas of influence. Not sure if it is worth pursuing further as I am getting some mixed results.
I can make a tutorial if you want to learn how to make this.
#b3d
#gamedev
#rigtip
#techart
My Blender Python tutorials could use a little more love, maybe this little sneak peak at where the series is heading will help 🙂
Come learn rigging and scripting with me, or just became an early supporter of Rigify GameRig
👉👈
#b3d
#rigging
#animation
Here is a teaser for the next tutorial. We will build on top of the live shape key setup and add support for UV based matching, which allows blending between completely arbitrary topologies.
#b3d
#rigtip
#techart
#geometrynodes
Robotic inverse foot. Check it out
This one is a freebie again, just follow the link and see how this foot was made. No coding, drivers or fancy math, just a handful of bones and a few constraints.
#b3d
#rigging
#animation
#rigtip
#techart
ActionPoser 1.0 addon is out. Action constraints play animation clips on bones. This add-on allows you to quickly set those up to drive anything, like a facial rig, corrective shape or complex mechanics.
Grab it here:
#rigging
#b3d
#techart
#gamedev
(1 of 3) The announcement for this tutorial created way more hype than what I expected. Thank you all for the likes and shares, much appreciated.
So without further ado, here is the weight painting tutorial you have all been waiting for: [in the thread]
#b3d
#rigging
#animation
I am starting a game rig course on YouTube for
#UnrealEngine
in
#b3d
. I will cover the whole process, and make the rig compatible with existing UE animation assets. Coming soon!
Here is a small teaser/intro:
Sharing and subscribing is much appreciated!
Working on a UI overhaul for GameRig.
Mainly cleaning things up and making info easier to process. And migrating everything to the 3D view sidebar.
Will be ready for the next release.
#b3d
#rigging
#animation
#gamedev
#ue4
This entire facial rig is set up using ActionPoser. The video shows a combo that triggers a corrective action when the blink and squint are both activated.
You can even set up combos driving combos.
It is free but you can support me on Patreon:
Passed the 100 page mark. These include chapters explaining 3D space and how location, rotation and scale work, all about armatures and bones, deformation skeletons, mesh topology, constraints, space types and more.
Still much to cover.
#rigging
#b3d
#animation
#gamedev
Not being able to work for months made me go rusty. Took me a few days to get back in the zone.
Here is Nnema again. Really looking forward to doing some test animations soon.
(Cloth is not done, hence the wonkiness)
#b3d
#rigging
#gamedev
#techart
#animation
IK stiffness
By messing around with the Stiffness parameter you can get a drastically different behavior with the same setup.
I most often do this on mechanical rigs to emulate different parts of limbs having different spring tensions.
#b3d
#rigtip
#techart
#gamedev
#animation
Starting a 🧵for a new idea: Weight Paint Layers.
The plan is to store layers in attributes and assemble them using
#b3d
#geometrynodes
, but I need some custom overlays and lots more helper functions that move data between vertex groups and attributes.
This is a early prototype:
Excited to announce that I am starting work on a book! Y'all are getting a complete guide to character rigging for games!
When I say complete, I mean COMPLETE
#b3d
#rigging
#animation
#gamedev
#techart
Learned a hack in my own tool.
Needed a way to combine mouthClosed with jawOpen. Solved it by making an empty pose and used it to trigger a corrective with jawOpen.
Download ActionPoser here:
It's free.
#b3d
#rigging
#techart
#ue4
#animation
I unpublished my Patreon. Thank you all for the support you gave me over the last few years.
All the tutorials are saved and I will think about how to migrate them to my website.
And I will keep sharing cool rigging and animation stuff here.
The 3D cursor is your friend. Here is how I use it to quickly snap bones to geometry.
Shift+S is the shortcut for the snap menu
#b3d
#rigging
#rigtip
#techart
First video of my new rigging course for
#UnrealEngine
in
#b3d
is live! 🎊🎉
👉 👈
As always, if you don't mind, show your support by sharing, subscribing and donating.
More of the low poly rig and topology dev. I added a twist bone in the thigh but other than that I'm keeping things simple and focusing on topology.
Definitely reaching the limits of this setup when at extreme angles...
#b3d
#rigging
#gamedev
#animation
The second part of my introduction to Python scripting in Blender is out. Check it out here:
With this we made a small utility script from start to finish and learned some important Python basics.
#b3d
#rigtip
#animation
#rigging
#gamedev
I'm looking to hire a 3D Character Artist for games to create the character for my book. If you are one, or you have someone to recommend, message me with some details. Ideally someone who can do semi-stylized models, similar to the Apex Legends style.
🎊NEW VIDEO!🎊
Learn how to make a spine that looks like spline IK but has neither a spline nor IK constraints. I make use of bendy bones to make a fully featured and fast game spine rig.
✅IK
✅FK
✅Stretchy
✅Game ready
👉👈
#b3d
#UnrealEngine
#rigging
Second rig tip:
Snap bones to center of geometry
In the video, I set the snapping method and use Shift+E to extrude from previous bone and I hold Ctrl to temporarily enable snapping.
This makes skeleton creation super fast.
#rigging
#animation
#rigtip
#techart
#gamedev
Feels good to be back to "normal". I got sick in July and this week was the first time I was able to sit at my PC again.
Due to this, my rigging book release will be delayed.
In the meantime, I will try my best to put out some tutorials. Gamerig update for 3.3 is almost complete
(3 of 3) And part 2 is all about the weight painting method. This is something I've been using for years and it makes the process incredibly simple. I hope it will work for you too.
👉👈
My book drops today and I planned to post some screenshots and a nice message but I am visiting my home country and don’t have a computer or the book.
I hope I did a good job in passing on my knowledge, and you enjoy reading the book. It is available at most big retailers.
Bones can have a different axis orientation for location and rotation. Just disable the Local Location property and the bone will use its parent's orientation. Useful for having clean, world aligned, location curves on IK controls.
#rigtip
#b3d
#rigging
#techart
#gamedev
I started this guy a while ago with the intention to rig and share him but he has been collecting dust since I started the book. Will start texturing him as soon as I find time for it. Until then, here is a quick preview render.
#TMNT
#3dmodeling
#animation
#rigging
#gamedev
(2 of 3) In part 1 you will learn all the tools and settings you need for my weight painting method. There isn't much really but it is important to prepare the scene and understand the tools needed.
👉👈
It's a bit of a hidden feature but
#b3d
Rigify can be extended through so-called "feature sets".
📺Just uploaded a video on where to get such extensions, and how to install and use them.
A couple of insanely generous people reached out and asked if I have a way to accept single donations instead of the Patreon subscription. I have now set up a thing on Gumroad. Check it out if you too are feeling generous.
Decided to make a video this time. Jump into my Patreon to watch me talk about barycentric coordinates as I explain a shape key setup for meshes with different topologies for 43 minutes.
#b3d
#rigging
#techart
#rigtip
Here is a teaser for the next tutorial. We will build on top of the live shape key setup and add support for UV based matching, which allows blending between completely arbitrary topologies.
#b3d
#rigtip
#techart
#geometrynodes
An annoying part of working with action constraints is that transformation can come from all kinds of places. The Edit Action mode removes all of it and only displays the action assigned to pose. When finished, it restores the original state