How to rig armour? Specifically fixed joints that rotate (knee, elbow)?

Hello.

How do you rig joints like armor plates on an elbow/knee?

I am trying to rig an elbow joint, and found this method using transformation constraints which seemed promising:


However, there is subtle change in the origin of rotation that I would like to avoid. Really, the 3 elbow pieces need to be “joined” and rotate at the same point as the elbow itself.

Is there a better way to do this? (with a rig, not shapekeys, etc.)

Also, just a quick “omg how the hell did they figure this out” to medieval armorers. I can’t even figure this out with a simple joint yet real armors are way more complex and well fitted.

Hi, make sure the knees bones are unparented and add copy rotations(make sure it set to local space both for target and owner) one for the lower bone and one for the upper bone and adjust the amount of influence until you get the desired results.
Look at this file:
knee_armor.blend (914.1 KB)



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That works really well, especially when I limit the axis rotation and extents.

Thanks!

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i am glad it worked for you.

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