Pretty new to rigging and this happened. Can’t figure out how to fix it. The legs move together. I’d usually just completely restart but I’m really happy with this mesh for once and would prefer to keep it.
He used to have a skirt which originally caused the problem, but then I went and deleted that skirt and redid his legs, but it still does the same thing.
Hello and welcome to the forum!
That is clearly a weighting issue. For blender to know what parts of the mesh should move with which bones, the mesh is ‘weighted’ to the bones. Basically a vertex group is created for each bone, and yours appear to be screwed up.
So I am assuming originally, his legs were working ok? Then you added in a skirt and problems started? And you also used auto-weighting?
If so, here’s what I think happened. Once the skirt was added and auto-weighted, that screwed things up. Auto weighting is very limited in what it can do. IMO, even on a simple mesh like you have, it does a poor job of weighting the mesh. Then, when you add in another mesh, like a piece of clothing, it just totally fails.
What you could try for a quick fix is this - Delete all vertex groups on the mesh. Do this by selecting the mesh, then look in the Object Data Properties panel (it’s icon is an upside-down triangle with dots on each point) for Vertex Groups. Select to top vertex group, should be the name of a bone, and hit the ’ - ’ button to delete that group, then keep hitting the button until all groups are deleted. Then save the file and reopen it.
You really shouldn’t need to do that, it’s an extra step to ensure success. By deleting the vertex groups, saving the file, and reopening it, you’re making sure the data for the vertex groups is gone, deleted, removed from the file.
Now go ahead and auto weight the mesh again. That should fix the problem.
Also, since you are new around here and a newb at rigging, I’ll assume your new to blender too, so here’s a bit of advice. When working on a project, get into the habit of saving your file with incremental file names as you hit certain milestones in the project. Model the character mesh, save as File1.blend, rig the character mesh, save as File2.blend. Now you add in a skirt, and screw everything up, save as File3.blend. Now you have the option of going back the File2.blend before you screwed it up and work from there.
Hope this helps!
Feel free to ask questions,
Randy
Two other things you can check: Make sure your scale is applied. Random/Negative scales, even -1 can cause issues. After applying scale, check your face orientation. Faces with the normals pointing in can also cause problems.
okay, i did everything you guys suggested but it’s still doing the same thing.
if it helps i started the mesh with the skirt, i didnt add it later. i do already save incrementally like you said. heres a pic of the file that still has the skirt.
thanks for the suggestions but i feel like i might just have to restart if you have no other ideas. that or i might just completely delete his legs and redo them completely and see if that helps.
Before you start over, you can share the file here. Having a hands on version will help people figure out what’s wrong, and maybe save you the hassle of redoing everything.
What’s the scale on your rig while it’s in object mode?
Agreed. Please share the file!
Randy
Steps I took to fix the issue:
1: Put the rig in object mode.
2: apply the scale (CTRL A, scale)
3: apply the scale to your man
4: Turn on face orientation: You’ll see the man’s legs, the problem area, are red, which means they’re facing in, which is likely what’s causing your problem.
5: Put the man in edit mode, then select everything and reset the normals. (Alt N: recalculate outside)
6: Reparent with automatic weights
