My question is: will it cause problems in the long run if I have “floating bones”? That is, if I add bones that are disconnected from the rest of the rig? Could I have floating bones for fingers on a hand, or on any other kind of mesh? Is this a common thing to do when rigging, or completely unacceptable? What kind of problems/inconveniences could this cause during the animation process?
There is nothing wrong with disconnected bones. The only thing that I would say it to make sure everything in the rig has a parent. You will want a “master” or “root” bone. I used to always have my bones connected and then realized that it’s unnecessary!
I agree, “connected bones” structure is not always required, just make sure you have a root bone and parent any unconnected bones to it, or some other logical structure. All rigs for soft body models, especially if you have IK chains need a root bone to “catch” any unparented/unconnected bones.
