Where do you start?

[Scottj3d]

I am ready to rig my character now. Should I lay in the spine first then arms ,wings and legs. I know I can drag and drop for the hierarchy, but is there an order people generally follow when laying out bones to minimize the need to do so?

[3DArtZ]

Hey Scott, cool good to hear your getting your stuff moving!!!

I usually start with the legs. But you can start anywhere.

I would put the base skeleton in first, but in your case you might want to go limb by by limb.

You know, put say the arm in. Then whatever your constraints and mesh deformation method will be and test it before moving to the next stage.

 

Any screen caps to show us might help us if you need comments or crits down the road.

Mike Fitz

www.3dartz.com

[Scottj3d]

I'm sure you will hear from me this weekend. This model is getting pretty heavy so if I have problems I may get the lighter version going first. I want to animate him but I also want one just for better detail. This will be the challenge! Thanks Mike!

[Scottj3d]

Ok here's my first "difficulty" I am following the cog tut Mr Fitz posted all the arm bones are in and I am adding the constraints. On fig "A" I have added the scale to reach constraint but do not see in the properties "Z axis only" and on fig "B" I have added in the properties min and max X=0 Y=90 and Z=0. When I try to add the kinematic constraint from RT Forearm to RH Target I get a blinking circle with a slash through it instead of the eyedropper and a "to none" under kinematic if I click the null. Here is a shot of my hierarchy. The only bone that is not on the tut is the shoulder fan which is there only to control the mesh for the shoulder armor to keep it from stretching (child of shoulder)(should it be child of Bicep?), I plan to do the same for the knee armor. What do I need to check? I am running version 11.1b. Thanks.