This is an amazing rig. Probably the best I have used in Blender. Nice work with the animation, it has some nice touches.
Wonderful contribution, thanks!
Q: What’s the license on use of the file? PD?
I just love this rig! Great work!
I really liked this rig and it’s one of the few free ones I’ve found that are rigged in such away that it’s compatible with the bone-based approach the Machinima plug-in I am working on uses so I put together a quick demo of some head controls - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gT8BqZhIdTc (please note that the video is a test of a real-time control system and not keyframed animation).
Oh, and if anyone is interested in hearing more about the Machinima plug-in please check out this thread.
Thanks,
I’ve used your mouse for a game splash screen I needed to write for my school. I will send the URL of the final product as soon as we will have the site up and running. (It’ll be in dutch though).
The rig was easy to use in order to get the scared pose I’ve used in the image thanks, thanks, thanks… The replies from other students where good an overwhelming and it’s more your part of the design then my implementation of its pose…
:yes: :yes: :yes:
I almost missed this one…thanks a lot for this excellent rig…
Thanks for the comments, everyone! Sorry about the long reply…
TheDaemon: Best? Well, I tried to make it easy to pose, but there are several other rigs that handle facial expressions much better than mine (my model could also be better). Thanks for the kind words, though. 
Pterandon: I haven’t assigned him an “official” license, yet. I’d like to make him as possible, but still prevent the possibility of selling the model by itself (putting it on turbosquid, for instance). That’s probably not a huge problem considering the quality of this model and rig, but I’d still like to prevent it if possible.
A Creative Commons: Public Domain license is tempting… any information or advice in this area would be appreciated! Right now, I think you can use the model for pretty much whatever you like without worrying about it.
Whatever license I decide on, I’d like it to be as short and concise as possible. I don’t like reading pages of text just to use some resource…
Buck-Beaver: I was really excited when I saw your project (I first heard about on Keith Lango’s blog). I’m glad the rig works for you, and I’ll be sure and check out that video.
Arjok: That looks nice! I’m glad the rig helped you with your project, and I look forward to seeing your product.
ecgilboy: Thanks! I’m glad you like it.
I thought I would post this question here so that if someone else answers my question it will save you answering it yourself.
I have been studying this beautiful mouse and have noticed that the toes are connected but are also children of none. How do you do that? Whenever I press ‘child of none’ the ‘Co’ box disappears. Cheers, johnh
Hmm, I’m not sure how you’re seeing that. When I select any of the toe bones, they all show as being children of foot.L/R.
What version of Blender are you using?
I’m using the current 2.43. But I think you’ve answered my question anyway when you said any of the toe bones. You see I only have one toe bone on each foot. I’m wondering whether I have a complete version of the file. I might download it again… Thanks for you help!
1 Like
I have downloaded it again, and same problem. The toe bone in edit mode is connected but has nothing in the child of box.
The armature’s bones are split up on “armature layers”. Select the armature in Pose mode and either press SH-M to display the floating armature layers box or look in the buttons / editing (F9) / Armature Panel / Display Options … there is a row of 16 buttons.
The “outer” and “inner” toes are on armature layer 16.
Hmm, now I see what you’re talking about (I loaded the original file). If “armature layer” 16 is turned off, then the “Toe inner”, “Toe outer” and “foot” bones (which are on that layer) are not displayed, and when you select “toe middle”, you get the blank parent box (Toe middle is on amrature layer 1).
This looks like a bug to me, as it doesn’t happen in 2.42a.
Albeit a rather harmless “cosmetic” bug, that can be a bit puzzling / annoying.
*EDIT
I just loaded the rig in a CVS build and this bug looks like it’s been fixed.
If you want to run a (Windows) CVS version, you can download one from here :
The “Inner” and “outer” toe bones have been put on Armature layer 16 to hide them, as when you select one of them, you’ll see that they have copy rotation constraints with the “middle toe” as the target. The idea here is that you only have to rotate the middle toe and the other toes will follow. If you want to rotate them individually you can turn off or delete the copy rotation constratints.
You can also move those bones to another armature layer if you want. Armature layers are just a visibility feature and have no functional effect on how the armature operates. You can either use the “M” key while in POSE mode, or in POSE or EDIT mode, click on one of the layer-select buttons in the SelecteBones panel.
Mike
Mike you’re a legend. (as we say in Australia) Thankyou for all you did to contribute to my education. I have learned heaps from this tutorial and your comments. Cheers mate.
Mike, I have just completed a model using Ryan’s rig and I have just realised that you are the other genius who offered the improvements to it. I am now feeling quite privilaged that you have spent all that time on my education. I have also added the base bone from this magnificent Mouse rig to your “improvements” and I’m quite happy with the result (for a beginner) All the best from downunder… John
You’re welcome.
Ha ha “genius”. I’m just persistent, and have too much free time 
For more rigs, check out my “best of blender thread” (in my sig) (Note none of the rigs are created by me … the real geniuse’s are the people who have created those rigs).
Mike
Great rig, Clean 3D! Took the liberty of modelling another head, but whole thing works like a dream. Have a look at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nt927UZ-0D4 for a short test animation.
i find this link link dead