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Okay, I’ve finished adding new posts for now lol 
Please continue the discussions from page 2 
Wow rigs and more rigs excellent! now if I could only download the brain cells with all the knowledge…
Jpbouza
Thanks for the valued feedback and tips I will definatly look into what is suggested.
Thats Amazing work on Blenrig :eek:
Sudai
The Rigging Scripts have been moved to: http://rigging-repo.blogspot.com/search/label/Scripts
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Sorry, I just realized I want to add a scripts link list as well… I think that should be good now lol
Hey Feelgoodcomics!
My intention is to do a quick but in depth tutorial on rigging a model from 0 with BlenRig when I finish working on the rig and on the illustration I’m planning to do with the character.
Meanwhile, there are two video tutorials/timelapses about BlenRig 2.0 that cover the aspects you mentioned. They are a little bit long and they may not be a useful as a straightforwards tutorial, but they surely have some tips about the technical conecpts behind BlenRig.
This one is a timelapse that show how I used BlenRig to create Zepam (the character from BlenRig 2.0) from the Bashful Dwarf. It explains how Mesh Deform works among other things.
This gives a more technical overview of BlenRig 2.0, and it explains several things about the facial setup.
Cheers!
hey jp!
Thanks for the links! I think what I’ll do is just make a single link to all of your vimeo videos because there’s a lot of good stuff in there! I’ll put the link in both the tutorials, and the rig repository.
In all honesty I would advise against making a tutorial for the whole character! That’s too involved in my opinion! People just need to see simple examples of how the setup is created (using primitives and very few bones), and then how it’s applied in the full character (which you have done very well in your videos!).
If you made some simple concept demo files to post to this thread (maybe even linking to the files from your video descriptions), showing the components in basic format, I think that would be enough
That would free you up to move on to other projects too… I don’t know about you, but I’m always excited to start something new
Hey FGC!!
Lets see, I don’t know about the demo files, hehe, I think that would be much more work than just showing up what I’ve done so far, hehe. My purpose with BlenRig is that people who doesn’t want to spend long hours rigging their character and figuring out mechanisms, can use the rig easily and quickly. So, the tutorial I want to make is oriented to usability, it will not be technical at all.
Besides, I always develop BlenRig versions for making some personal projects, now I’m eager to finish the textures of the character and making a Fantasy like Illustration with it!
I think I understand what you mean anyway, you are talking about making some kind of simple mechanism tutorial for people interested in rigging, aren’t you? We could do something like that and post it here…Well somehow we are doing that right now…
Hey guys, nice thread!
Wanted to share a few rigs…
Not to toot my own horn, well I guess I just did, but I haven’t played with any rig which I liked better than my own ones. They usually have to many controls, not “SimpleStupid” enough.
Rigs I like best:
My MTI_stickman rig, followed by MTI_Audine, the Jim rig by William Reynish, which is a derative of the biped rig by Nathan Vegdahl link.
Next up is Simpleguy by tobiasDN link, and last is the paloman rig by ToniB link.
I also like the pencil rig by (forgot the name, sorry)
I like blenrig too, for the deformation things, but I don’t like the controls as much. Hey Bouza, sorry mate, just personal preference. It’s a lot more straightforward than it used to be, but there are some things that are still not straightforward enough for me.
I have another rig, MTI_mammut… I like the control part very much, because it has all the good parts of stickman and Audine, but the deformation was kinda rushed/experimental and not as tweaked/tested as I usually do. If I stripped that rig from all the muscle and muscle mechanic helper bones, (and gave it a new character mesh) it would probably be my favorite rig…
Currently I like stickman best You can find him at my site: http://thelowlander.wordpress.com/
there’s also some movies that show him in action.
There are some nice ideas in other rigs around here (this thread) too…
There was someone who created a little robot which had LOADS of character, but the rig was not as optimal as it should be. It wouldn’t be hard to tweak that rig to be a lot simpler and straightforward to use, but I forgot who build it or how it was called. I think it was blendie, blender-rig, or blendie guy or something. He should really fix that rig up, just a number of small tweaks and it would’ve kicked ass…
I remember when you came to me asking for help FreakyDude…and this is how you pay me!!!
You Traitor!!!
Hehehe, 
Good to see your rigs in here!
My bandwidth is ok again. Keep in mind its a wip.
Great resources guy. I may have missed it but did anyone mention the Mancandy FAQ? You can get it over at the Blender E-Shop and if I remember correctly Bassam also uploaded a torrent of it. I am pretty sure you can find the videos on Vimeo as well.
I hope you really are joking Bouza,
When I started rigging with little fella, blenrig was the first rig I started to pick apart to study, and whenever I had a question about it you would answer. It helped, and I’m gratefull for that.
But I’m certainly not a traitor and I don’t really owe you anything either. Our rigging skills and interests are just different isall.
I forgot a few funny rigs:
Reegie and red nelb. they go after the paloman rig in my list.
Jaja., I was just kidding Freaky!! I really appreciate you mate!
Appreciate you right back there mate. Now before we get all mushy, let’s put on some heavy metal! :RocknRoll:
you are talking about making some kind of simple mechanism tutorial for people interested in rigging, aren’t you?
Precisely :yes:
FreakyDude:
Thanks for the links! 
I agree with you, rigs should be both easy for the animator to use, yet capable of very complex actions - hence the art, finding the right balance between capability and usability (along with designing the solutions themselves, of course).
I like the foot setup on your Little Fella. Very fascinating use of constraints, with a nice result 
That’s a lotta bones in your Mammut guy! Very interesting way of tackling the deformations of an obese character… I like the lines for the pole targets on the knees and elbows as well. I’ve seen it before, but for some reason it’s only registering to me now that this would be a good idea in my own rigs
Your stickman and the girl are also both very well done! Nice and simple
I will say though that I’ve never been a fan of translation based torso controls. That may just be my own preference, but I do find it harder to animate and think about that way. It seems to separate the torso, intellectually, as apposed to thinking about it as a single unit.
BenDansie:
Awesome! It looks really great! I will offer some suggestions in a moment…
linuxpimp:
Thanks! I wasn’t even aware the ManCandy DVD was available online for free! That is wonderful! I admire Bassam’s generosity!
Thanks again everyone for the links and info! With your help this thread may actually turn into a valuable resource!
P.S. jpbouza and FreakyDude, you guys are silly
BenDansie:
I would like to offer some suggestions for your rig. I have very limited experience with realistic rigging, so these are simply suggestions for approaching it.
Firstly, I’ve noticed your arms are handled using a position control, and a hand orientation control. I am guessing that you made this with walking in mind, but I don’t see it being a practical solution if your character is ever to move her body while leaning on a wall or table. Your solution is basically a blend between IK (the arm) and FK (the hand). This creates more work for the animator, having to use two controls to do what could instead be done with one (an arm IK control that also controls orientation of the hand). If you find it necessary to have the capability of your current setup, I would recommend configuring it as an option instead of the default. But realize that in reality the wrist will not stay pinned in space like that, so it is not a natural solution (in my opinion).
Secondly, there is the spine (which I also find to be the most difficult area to setup). I’ve noticed that the pelvis on your character’s mesh itself seems a little bit low, and this might be the reason you felt a need for a 3rd bone…
You might want to double check it because that can lead to mechanical problems (ie. trying to get the mesh to deform properly when the pivot points require different locations than they appear to in the model…).
Also, I would recommend separating the deform bones from the control bones. This will also allow you to use segmented B-Bones for your deformers, and simple bones for your controllers.
I’ve attached an example .blend I just threw together using your mesh. I removed the texturing and render stuff to make it small. The texturing on your model is exquisite btw, I can’t wait to see her in action! 
Thanks for providing an opportunity to discuss realistic spines! I would like very much to discuss alternative setups and suggestions :yes:
(you might also want to take a look at the other spine idea I created for Sudai, if you haven’t already)
EDIT: After more research on spine movement, I would now suggest using 2 bones for the spine as well. At the time of writing this I was searching for simple solutions. The solution I present here would work very well for a cartoony/simplistic character, but not for realism, since the ribcage and the lumbar section both have their own pivot points.
Attachments
FGC_Dansie_SpineRig.blend (341 KB)