Rigging - Blender Foundation

This tutorial is the workflow for rigging as defined in the book Blender Foundations.  It's a brief summary of the major steps.

PREREQUISITES:

• Ensure all transforms are applied [Ctrl + a]
• Set origin to the center of the object [Shift + Ctrl + Alt + c]
• Origin to Geometry

CREATE SKELETON:
Add bones [Shift+a],  Armature >> Single Bone
Make the bones viewable through the mesh by enable X-Ray in the Object pallete for the bone object.

It is common and useful to have an overall parent bone to provide control of the entire skeleton.

EDIT SKELETON:

In Edit Mode, you can select either node of the bone to extrude [e] or to use the normal transform functions.                  

To create a disconnected bone, select the two bones and parent by [Ctrl+P], and choose Keep Offset, to create a disconnected relationship.

Connecting Bones (Parent selected last):  [Ctrl + P]

Disconnecting Bones: [Alt+P]

POSING THE SKELETON:
Enter Pose Mode [Ctrl + TAB]
Enable Auto IK to have child bones affect parent bones

SKINNING:
Select the mesh, then [Shift+Click] the Armature.
Parent the mesh to the armature [Ctrl + P].  Armature Deform: With Automatic Weights

      Enable Quaternion in the Armature pallette.

For weight painting, select the mesh (in Pose Mode) then hit [Ctrl + TAB] to enter Weight Paint Mode.