Help shorten my learning curve re: modeling?

Hi,

I am fairly new to blender, and while I have watched a fair number of tutorials and have fiddled around with it some, I have a specific process I would like to get jumpstarted.

I am helping to make some physical therapy instructional videos, and would like to make short animations of the skeleton and whatever muscles are under discussion in specific videos.

I have a file of a nicely-rigged human skeleton that I can use. What I would like to learn to do is draw muscles that are attached to the skeleton at the proper locations, so that I can then move the skeleton and have the muscles move correctly with that motion (so I can make short animations and refer to them in the video).

For example, if I was making a video about situps, I might want to draw a simple set of abdominal muscles that attach to the pelvis and the bottom of the rib cage, then be able to move the skeleton through a situp position and have the ab muscles curve/contract correctly as the spine curves up.

Any suggestions on steps to take to do this?

Thanks!

muscular animation is tough and complex. I would recommend modeling the muscle in its neutral state, then creating shape keys for contraction / extension. you will then need to set up some drivers to control those shape keys via skeletal motion.

Not a simple task, but it’s doable on a small scale. doing the full human musculature would be very system intensive, not to mention all the labor to get it set up.

Super, thanks for the reply. My goal is to make muscles as needed for specific discussions, not to make a complete model.