How do I set up rigging?

Support Animation and Rigging
1

I have just started to rig, and I have found this tutorial: http://www.blenderguru.com/videos/introduction-to-rigging/
It has been very helpful, but the person in the video tutorial uses a premade armature. I have no idea how to do it from scratch. I need to because I am making a robot rig. I can give a screenshot if needed.

Could someone please direct me to a tutorial, and/or tell me how?

Also, in the tutorial, the model is one object. Does it have to be?

2

this guy has some pretty great tutorials http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcNGeIV0BsU

3

Hm, ok, I guess this is kind of situation specific, as I have no idea where to start.

I’m making a model of wheatley from the game portal 2:


I need the handles to move up and down, the eyelids to move up and down, and the front face panel to swing. Like I said, no idea where to start, esp. for the face panel.

4

Here is the basic set of bones to start the rig: you need eyelid bones for the top and bottom eyelid. The root of the bone needs to be at the center of sphere. Handle bar needs a bone to pivot. Here again the root of the bone needs to be at the hinge pivot. At the bottom is the main bone that parents all bones. Main bone is used to move the whole assembly around the scene.

http://i1135.photobucket.com/albums/m626/cabby24/Blender%20Pics%202013/eyelid_bot_zpse41c030f.png

5

Thank you! But how do you suggest the face panel swinging?

6

Okay, I’ve set up the handles, now what? How do I make it attach to the object?

7

Make sure your bones are in “Pose Mode” (your bones should have a blue outline if this is so)…

Now select one of your objects… (the face panel for example)…
Shift Select the bone that is to control that face panel…
Hit Ctrl+P… choose ‘Bone’ …

that bone should now control that object…

8

Okay, I get it now. I will try it in a little bit. But my face panel is the same object as the ball, is there a way short of separating the mesh?

9

yep… In Edit mode… select all the faces that you want separated into there own object… then hit ‘P’… and pick ‘selection’…

Also if you don’t want to separate it out into its own object… you can select those same faces and create a vertex group … then name the vertex group the same name as the bone you want to control it…
But you will need to add an Armature modifier to the Mesh…

10

I’ll just do the separator thing!

11

Blend on…