rigging machinery

Artistic Support Animation and Rigging
1

I’ve been using blender for over a year, but I never needed to rig beyond the automatic weights until now. How do I rig motion within an object without getting the usual bending/warping deform effect? Animating pistons and hinges if that helps.

2

I typed “blender rigging machinery” in google and found a ton of tutorials…

3

In essence, there are two things you need to do differently:

  • make each part of the machinery a separate object, and
  • when you parent those objects to the armature:
    • select one or more objects (parts of the machinery),
    • select the bone you want it/them to move with, and
    • Ctrl-P and select ‘Bone,’ the last item on the pop-up menu.

That will put 100% of a bone’s weight on the object(s).

4

thanks much!