Nope, that’s not the problem. You can have very well “one” bone per rib but you don’t need 5 bones per rib unless you want a rib that breaks. I can not explain it better than what I wrote above. The breathing motion is a rotation around X ( and perhaps Z depending on the strength of the breathing ). The motion sidewards is a rotation around Z. The rest is done by the weighting. Can not describe it better. Just poke at some game model rigs and you see how this form of reduction works well. You can later on always insert more bones to do motions you can not do using a single bone.
I understand what you are saying but it seems BlackBoe is using envelopes to control the mesh rather then weight painting them (therefore the bones in envelope view ? ). I mean the ribs will probably never be a part of any direct control system for the rig … And it’s not like he’s adding a thousand new faces to a mesh which would be more of a resource strain then a few dozen armature bones .
In fact I actually developed a sort of roll/ angle system of ribs using a single rod for a real world sculpture of the human body I did a few years ago so I perfectly understand what you are talking about and then some .
And not to seem confrontational by any means but since I am still somewhat new here could you provide some links to those game model rigs that have ribs as a part of the armature ? Because other then BlackBoe’s and a thesis site by a Maya user Warwick Mellow (link here) I haven’t seen any rigs which accounted for ribs in them .
I don’t have some links around right now but many modern games have one “rib cage bone” which just takes the job of raising and lowering the chest area so the player gets the impression of the character breathing ( or living as long as this is useful for the player ). But such an example could be quickly “cooked up” ( one with a bone for ribs to model a rib cage ) if the need exists for it.
i would like to see an animated shot of this rigged character to prove its efficiency ;P.
I actually find this WIP useful to myself 
And that is so great !!! And as some of the others here, I would also like to see how such an armature deforms your mesh …
Oh and also did I missed something or you really aren’t using any weight painting?
BlackBoe, did you get the PM I sent you?
Looks pretty cool… why don’t you try pose in a few different poses and repost?
Odjin: Actually, you’re probably right. Though there is a cartilage band half-way through the lungs, as I recall, there are some dummy bones in this skeleton, mainly just to give me a reference to hang other muscles on to.
Freak: I am using weight painting, I just showed it in envelope mode because envelopes have volume as opposed to sticks, which makes the shapes easier to pick out.
Jeremy Ray: No, which one? 
Calvin: I’m flattered that the rigging genius likes it. :] That means quite a bit. Anyway, though, I’m working on a few deformation tests right now, actually.
Anyway, I’ve been suffering some burnout, but I’m picking back up, I think.
I think you can take the controversy as a sign that you’re taking new ground with this project, and we are all fascinated by where it’s going. So, recharge, refresh, reinvigorate, hell, just keep breathing! and keep going. You’re blazing a trail here, man.
I pm’d you again.
Hey, Greboide. I do have animations and poses and stuff, but I’m not sure if I should wait until things get more coherently finished or not.
Orinoco: I wish I was as confident as you. 
Anyway, there’s been some delays and Real Life stuff in the way, but here’re a couple things to show you it’s not dead on the front. The legs were complete devils to make cause of the amount of muscle mass that needed to be properly deformed, but in the end, just one, much more simple system fixed it for me.
There are a few new dummy bones in here, the ilia, for example, but I don’t give them any deforming powers, they just give me guidelines. Most of the new bones serve a full and complete purpose, however.
Also, since I’m not sure anyone got it in my previous post, I’m sticking this up as an image instead of a link. These are the main puppet controls, they’re all the end user will have to see.
No, it hasn’t died, it had just stalled for a while, while I worked on a couple other things.
Anyway, most of it’s pretty much done, I think. There are just the elbows and a few little tweaks left, I figured I might as well pose so people can actually see what the rig does instead of hearing me talk about it.
Anyway, there it is so far. It may not be perfect, but I’m amazed I’ve managed to get this far, seeing as this is my first rigging attempt ever. Anyway, if anyone sees anything to add to the list of ‘Stuff To Fix’, feel free to lay it on.
–John
Holy crap. Amazing-and chaos.
i admire your rigging skills.
BTW…a render could come in handy…
Really cool stuff. I would love to play with this rig. Nice icon set in blender too 
Its certainly coming along nicely from the last set of renders. Is it still quick enough to preview with Alt-A at all?
I’d like to see the mesh now - btw when did u start learning 3d stuff? Can you draw well?
Spen13: Through long hours of me working on it, you’d expect it’d make sense to me, and it does–just barely–but yeah, it’s kinda chaotic.
trak wrecka: I could render a picture, but she has no textures or fur, or really anything besides the mesh and the armature.
thedaemon: Thank you. The icon set just came with the build I’m using. I got it from graphicall.org, which may or may not be one of the greatest sites ever.
BenDansie: I don’t know what you mean. Heh, it’s quick if I turn off subsurf, but if you mean ‘does the armature deform the mesh quickly’ then yes, I haven’t noticed anything in the way of a slowdown.
MagicMyshu: I think I have the WIP thread somewhere, though I’ve adjusted the mesh since then a bit.
I started Blender–and really working at 3D as a whole–a year and a half ago, I’m not sure why, it just caught on. Actually, I tried working with gmax for about a month before that and gave up. Then I tried working with Blender for a month and gave up again (Argh! Millions of buttons! Why won’t the left mouse button do anything!) Then I tried AGAIN and finally got the hang of it, and have been using it a fair bit, since.
I’d like to think I can draw well, but since I’m biased for myself, I’m probably mistaken. /
–John
http://zombiedog.spindash.net/Re_Arc/reskelwip/0001_0429.mp4
A short animated shot. Just a test. If anyone can see anything that looks wrong, please tell me, I’d hate to get half-way through the face set-up and find I’d have to go back and change something. This is really my first rigging project, so I don’t know how good it is. It’s a quicktime mp4. If that’s too weird a format, I’ll get it in something else.
i must say the shoulder and arm deformation is spot on and fluid, good job