Rigging Fundamentals in Blender

Take your animations to the next level by learning the fundamentals of rigging inside of Blender. In this series, you will learn the art of enabling your 3D models to move in a believable way by creating relationships between objects and an armature hierarchy system.

The easiest way to follow along

Standard video tutorials can be exhausting. We know, we’ve been there. The CG Fast Track tutorial format combines videos and screenshots so you don’t have to keep up with the video. Simply click through every step of the way with the screen shots. It’s an incredibly intuitive way to learn.

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Part 1

Learn the basics of working with an armature and build out a basic rig. Then, extrude out the bones, set up the controllers, and set up your first inverse kinematics constraint.

Part 2

Build out the body of the lamp rig with this multi-layered inverse kinematics armature. Then, set up the springs to automatically move, squash, and stretch as the armature is animated. Then get the entire movement down to a single controller that enables very intuitive motion within the rig.

Part 3

Next is to set up the head stabilization controllers with multiple layers of location constraints to attach them to the body. Then, add a look-at constraint to animate the head in a natural motion automatically. Finally, create a central root controller to add flexibility to your animations.

Part 4

Test out your rig by building a stylized jump animation. Next, animate a squash and stretch motion with the rig and troubleshoot any issues that arise. Finally, add a cinematic presentation to your scene with a silhouette lighting and compositing setup.