Rigify rig does not influence character mesh, even though metarig is properly weighted

Support Animation and Rigging
1

My human character is already parented to a metarig that influences the mesh. I was originally having some difficulty getting automatic weights to work for the metarig, but was able to transfer weights from a lower poly duplicate of my character (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2f_JoUA0ec), so the metarig seems to be good to go and influences the mesh how I would expect. But, when I generate the rig from the metarig, the rig does not influence the mesh at all. Is that normal?

I found a video or two where people also parented the full rig using automatic weights, but that didn’t work (couldn’t parent). Tried it again with the lower poly duplicate, and it parented, but several of the controls don’t influence the mesh. The finger controls seem to work fine, but if I try to move the upper arm, for example, the rig/controls move, but the mesh doesn’t move with them. Does the full rig not use the same vertex groups as the metarig?

Is there a step I am missing in the transition from metarig to full rig? Any ideas what might be going wrong?

2

Clear the mesh parent from the metarig. You need to parent the mesh to the rig not the metarig if you want to use it for animation. Be sure to also delete the armature modifier from the mesh before you reparent it to the rig.

1 Like
3

Ah, okay. Not quite working yet - here’s what I’ve done:

  1. Cleared metarig from mesh parenting
  2. Removed armature modifier on mesh
  3. Duplicated mesh (to preserve weights)
  4. Parented original mesh to rig with empty weights
  5. Transferred weights from duplicated mesh to original mesh

After doing all of that, the rig still doesn’t move the mesh. Am I missing a step? Can’t do automatic weights on my mesh because the topology gives an error message, so that’s why I’m transferring weights.

EDIT: I should note that the transferred weights do appear on the original mesh while parented to the rig.

4

Put a blend in. real hard to see what you have done.

5

I just did an experiment with a lower poly version of the mesh and it was able to parent properly and the rig did move the mesh, so I think the issue is that my original mesh is too high poly. Guess I get to retopologize - fun! :grimacing:

1 Like
6

Got it! So, for anyone else having a similar issue who has a rather high poly mesh:

  1. Duplicate the original mesh
  2. Go to the Object Data tab (where vertex groups are)
  3. With the duplicated mesh, under Remesh, click Quad > QuadiFlow Remesh > change “Mode” to Ratio > try a Ratio of about 0.25 > click OK and let the Remesh run. The final result might be wonky, but as long as the basic anatomy is intact (arms, legs, head), it’ll be fine for a test.
  4. Parent the rig to the lower poly mesh using automatic weights (CTRL + P)
  5. Go into Pose mode in the rig and select a major bone (I used an arm bone)
  6. Tap “N” to bring up the side menu and, under Item > Rig Main Properties, turn “IK-FK ([bone name here]” up to 1
  7. Try moving the bone. If the mesh moves with it, congrats! Now you know the reason your rig wasn’t working before is because your original mesh has too many polys.
  8. Retopo!