ABSTRACT

This book is a comprehensive guide to using Blender to create character rigs for games, breaking down the technicalities of rigging tools and techniques into easily digestible chunks. It provides all the tools needed to go from a static character model to an animation-ready, high quality, and fast performing game rig.

Written to be accessible and easy to follow, the book covers character rigging theory that is supported by industry standard examples of how to apply that theory to character rigs for video games. It demonstrates the reasoning behind rigging decisions followed by instructions and examples on how to apply that knowledge to rig creation. It includes chapters that focus on the character deformation techniques that raise the visual quality of the model and subsequently of the animation and game it will be used in.

This book will be vital reading to those studying games animation as well as early-career rigging artists, character animators, modeling artists, technical animators, and technical artists.

chapter 1|2 pages

Introduction

chapter 2|2 pages

The Big Picture

chapter 3|4 pages

What Is a Game Rig

chapter 4|19 pages

Blender Tools and Concepts

chapter 5|8 pages

3D World and Transformation

chapter 6|7 pages

Armatures

chapter 7|14 pages

Bones

chapter 8|17 pages

Mesh Topology and Deformation

chapter 9|3 pages

Scene and Model Preparation

chapter 10|3 pages

Naming

chapter 11|3 pages

Rig Creation Approach

chapter 12|3 pages

Root Bone

chapter 13|19 pages

Body Deformation Skeleton

chapter 14|6 pages

Bone Orientations

chapter 15|8 pages

Body Skeleton Orientations

chapter 16|18 pages

Weights

chapter 17|8 pages

Weight Painting Method

chapter 18|9 pages

Weighting the Body

chapter 19|5 pages

Weight Transferring Techniques

chapter 20|8 pages

Bone Constraints

chapter 21|9 pages

Essential Constraints

chapter 22|4 pages

Dealing with Clutter

chapter 23|6 pages

B-Bone Rigging

chapter 24|7 pages

Drivers

chapter 25|8 pages

Rig Building Blocks

chapter 26|26 pages

Body Rig

chapter 27|4 pages

Correctives

chapter 28|7 pages

Facial Rigs

chapter 29|2 pages

Cloth and Hair

chapter 30|4 pages

Space Switches

chapter 31|2 pages

Props

chapter 32|5 pages

Rig Finalizing

chapter 33|5 pages

Animation

chapter 34|3 pages

Export