If you want to learn Rigging in Blender, read on.
After years of effort CGDive now offers a complete guide to Rigging starting from Absolute Beginner and progressing towards Advanced levels. To offer an even more complete resource, I’ll also help you discover great content by other creators!
There isn’t a single path for everyone. Below, I’ll outline what lessons to focus on depending on your experience level and goals.
Watch the video overview
Start Here
If you’re new to rigging, start with my practical fundamentals course, Rigging isn’t Scary, Levels 1 & 2.
Rigging isn’t Scary, Level 1 FREE
Rigging isn’t Scary, Level 1 (Absolute Beginner) is ideal for newbies. 5 easy lessons will give you solid rigging foundations. If your needs are modest, this course may fully meet them. But if you want to go deeper, keep going with Level 2.
Rigging isn’t Scary, Level 2 FREE
Rigging isn’t Scary, Level 2 (Novice) will teach you more about rig automation while keeping things simple.
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Beyond the Basics
If you completed Level 1 & 2 or you already know the basics, your learning path will start to branch out depending on your preferences and goals.
- Did you enjoy Rigging isn’t Scary so far? Then you may like to keep learning Manual Rigging!
- Did you find manual rigging slow or frustrating? Automatic Rigging may be the way to go for you. It is much faster and simpler overall. In exchange, you give up a little bit of freedom and control.
- Additionally, there are Specialized Skills you can add to your toolbox such as Mocap & Retargeting, working with Game Engines and more. These can be studied alongside either Manual or Automatic Rigging.
Choose your learning path on CGDive
Manual Rigging is the most challenging path, but it offers the greatest level of flexibility and control. It’s ideal for those who combine artistic vision with solid technical skills.
Recommended next course:
Rigging isn’t Scary, Level 3 FREE
Rigging isn’t Scary, Level 3 (Intermediate). The goal of this course is to take you to self-sufficiency as a rigger. Once you complete it, you’ll be familiar with the most important rigging tools and workflows. While there will be still plenty to learn, you’ll be in a good position to dive into more advanced techniques without getting confused. Or even figure out new techniques yourself.
From this point on, I believe you’re a capable rigger. Therefore, it’s not as easy to recommend specific courses in a particular order. The most important question now is: what are you interested in? Below you’ll discover my specialized courses. If you would like to keep learning with me, they could be the perfect next step for you!
Rigging Unleashed PAID
Rigging Unleashed (Advanced): this course picks up where “Rigging isn’t Scary, Level 3” left off. You’ll implement more elaborate rigging techniques like squash & stretch, advanced face rigging, rig UIs and more!
Battle Drone Rigging PAID
Battle Drone (Mechanical Rigging) : dive deep into mechanical rigging and learn how to rig hard surface objects, pistons, and implement ground detection.
More to come!
Specialized Manual Rigging courses are the main focus of CGDive in 2025! To give you an idea what we might cover:
- dynamic bones
- rigging lose clothes
- muscle simulation
- specific rigs such as wings, tails, tentacles, etc.
Would you like me to cover something specific? Get in touch: cgdive.com/contact/
Auto Rigging is a great choice for people who want to rig quickly and efficiently without the burden of learning complex techniques.
Here you’ll be met with another choice. Which auto rigging addon should you use?
The most common options are Rigify and Auto-Rig Pro. Here is a quick summary (more information in the sub-categories below).
- Rigify is a free and powerful auto-rigger. It is the first choice for most people. Its main drawback is the UI which can be unintuitive at first.
- Auto-Rig Pro is a paid addon but it is trusted by thousands of Blender users. It offers a great UX and a more extensive feature set.
- Mixamo: the simplest way to get a humanoid character rigged and animated.
- Other: Blender has many more auto-rigging addons that you can play with. You can find more information about them below.
Rigify is by far the most popular rigging addon in the Blender community. The UI and workflow may not be entirely intuitive but CGDive’s tutorials will quickly get you through the initial learning curve. Fun fact: CGDive began when I decided to cover Rigify in-depth. To this day, our Rigify content remains unmatched. 🙂
Rigify Basics FREE
The Rigify Basics course will help you get started with Rigify and learn its main features as fast as possible. You’ll quickly go beyond the pre-built Human rig, and be able to customize your rigs with a high degree of control. (If you’re using Blender 4.0 or newer, start with the updated course. For earlier versions, the original course still applies.)
Rigify Basics for Blender 4
This is the new and updated Rigify Basics course for Blender 4.0 and later.
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Rigify Basics for Blender 2.8~3.6
This is my original Rigify Basics course. While it is a bit older, I’d still recommend it if you’re using a Blender version prior to 4.0.
If you want to keep learning with me beyond the basics, check out some of my Advanced Rigify Courses below:
Two-Headed Ogre Rigging FREE
This is an advanced step-by-step tutorial. Key takeaways: rigging dual heads and faces, shoulders and armor, belly and props.
Dragon Rigging PAID
This is an advanced step-by-step tutorial. Key takeaways: long torso, neck and tail rigging and a fully custom face rig.
Skeleton Rigging PAID
This is an advanced step-by-step tutorial. Key takeaways: tweaking the Rigify default settings for Skeleton rigging.
Rigify: a Video Manual PAID
If you want to learn every single setting that Rigify has to offer, this course is for you.
Modular Face Rigging with Rigify PAID
Blender 3.6 introduced a modular system for rigging faces. This course is currently the only one that covers this topic in any depth.
Auto-Rig Pro is a commercial rigging addon available on Super Hive Market (formerly Blender Market). Although it’s a paid tool and shares many similarities with the free Rigify, it has been purchased over 54,900 times. That makes it the most popular premium Blender addon.
How is this possible? In short: Auto-Rig Pro streamlines the rigging process with better UX, faster workflows, and various quality-of-life enhancements.
Does that mean it’s “better” than Rigify? Not necessarily. Both addons have their strengths, and much depends on personal workflow and preferences. I regularly use both and I love each one. For casual users however, picking one and sticking with it is a smart move. So, if Rigify felt limiting, Auto-Rig Pro might be worth exploring.
If you want to know more, here is my detailed comparison: Rigify VS Auto-Rig Pro.
If you decide to make Auto-Rig Pro your go-to rigging solution, CGDive’s free YouTube Playlist is here to get you through the basics and beyond!
Auto-Rig Pro Course FREE
Here is a taste of what you’re going to learn:
- human rigging
- animal, dinosaur and bird rigging
- face rigging
- rig customization
Course Preview
While Rigify and Auto-Rig Pro are highly versatile auto-riggers, many people use Mixamo for all of their rigging and animation needs. Many users also combine Mixamo with other rigging solutions.
Why is the Mixamo platform so popular?
Mixamo is the easiest way to rig and animate a human character, hands down. The service is also 100% free (and so are my tutorials).
Here’s a quick overview of the Mixamo-Blender workflow:
- rig your character on the online mixamo.com platform with a couple of clicks
- download and apply thousands of pre-made animations from the Mixamo library
- bring them back into Blender for layout, animation tweaks, and rendering
- (optional) automatically create a control rig in Blender using a free addon
You can learn the entire process using CGDive’s Mixamo Playlist on YouTube:
Mixamo Course FREE
Rigify, Auto-Rig Pro and Mixamo are not the only auto-rigging solutions for Blender. The, Blender auto-rigging scene is experiencing significant growth, which shows that more and more people are choosing Blender for their rigging and animation work.
If you would like to check out some of the lesser-known tools in this category, head to the CGDive’s Blender Addon Directory https://addons.cgdive.com/ and navigate to Rigging > Auto Rigging category. Here is a direct link:
👉 A list of Blender Auto Rigging Addons
You can also watch my video review of various Blender Auto-Riggers:
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Independent of your rigging approach (Manual or Automatic), you may need some specialized workflows. Here is what CGDive has to offer.
Blender and Game Engines FREE
If you want to export rigged and animated characters from Blender to a game engine (Unreal, Unity, Godot, etc.), you’re going to need specialized techniques. This massive free course offers solutions to all common issues you’re likely to encounter.
Mocap & Retargeting in Blender FREE
If you work with motion capture data, this course will help. It covers a wide range of topics, from Mocap Suits to AI Video to Mocap solutions, as well as solid Retargeting workflows.
Essential Animation Concepts FREE
Whether you’re a rigger or an animator, there are technical aspects of animation that you need to understand. This course covers the various animation editors with a focus on the NLA (non-linear animation) Editor.
Master Weight Painting in Blender FREE
A big struggle for many rigging enthusiasts is Weight Painting. That is why I created this series. It will help you understand weighting (a.k.a. Skinning) in Blender on a fundamental level.
Learn from other creators!
I would love you to watch MY videos and buy MY courses (don’t we all enjoy being appreciated). But I’m just one guy with limited time. I can’t cover everything, no matter how hard I try.
That’s why I’m sharing additional high-quality resources that may support your rigging journey!
At the link below, you’ll find an unbiased* list of Blender courses focused on Rigging and Animation:
*unbiased means the courses are listed regardless of who made them (CGDive or someone else), or whether they’re free or paid.
👉 Blender Courses Recommended by CGDive
Learn from Old Tutorials & Courses
Here’s one more CGDive resource I truly believe will help you out: In the video below, you’ll learn how to navigate Blender’s ever evolving User Interface: from version 2.79 to 4.5 and beyond. While some changes may seem dramatic at first glance, the truth is you can follow older tutorials using newer Blender versions (and vice versa). You just need to know how to translate the UI differences.
If there’s something I haven’t covered, feel free to let me know. I’ll do my best to help!
With this understanding, you’ll be able to follow virtually any Blender rigging tutorial or course – whether it’s brand-new or from a slightly older version.
If you’d like to discover even more old but still good resources, here is a video I made in 2021 showing some of the best channels and courses for Rigging and Animation!