Rig Anything with Rigify
The easy way to create advanced rigs in Blender.
This is a video series for Rigify, an addon that greatly simplifies rigging in Blender. If you’re new here I recommend you start with the course INTRO for Blender 4.0 (or 2.8 if you are still using an older version of Blender between 2.8 to 3.6). Down below you’ll find a menu that will take you to any part of the course you choose.Β
There are three modules:Β
-Rigify Fundamentals is where you’ll learn the most important aspects of Rigify. This module is FREE and it may be all you need.Β
-Video Manual is available for purchase. This is for people who want to understand every single option in Rigify.Β
-Advanced Sessions are available for purchase. There are three sessions: Dragon, Two-headed Ogre, and Skeleton. Each shows different advanced or unorthodox Rigify technique. You will also learn how to combine Rigify with traditional, manual rigging techniques giving you the best of both worlds: the speed of auto-rigging and the flexibility of manual rigging.
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Rigify Fundamentals
FREE
Video Manual
$
Advanced Rigify Sessions
$
Short articles
I wrote a couple of short articles that cover mostly obsolete information that people seem to be searching for anyway. With these blog posts I am trying to point people to information that is actually useful. π
Is there any way you can provide the workflow MindMap you show in Basic Chapter 2 for download? It’s a very good reference.
Out of interest – which MindMap app do you use?
Hi John! Good suggestion! I just added the mind map to the free resources. If you haven’t downloaded them yet, check https://gumroad.com/l/rigify_free .
The software is https://www.xmind.net/
Hello I’m Gerald, I just by your formation and it’s good.
But I have One question for you. I would like to build a leg rig and add trhee bones and it for the constraint. Do i have to use spine.basic_tail to do that?
(thank for your formation it’s really good)
I think I replied on youtube but here it is again. I don’t think what you want is easily achievable with Rigify. You have to look for information on how to manually create this type of rig!
Why use tail, there is a leg rig right?
I think GERALD is trying to achieve something that’s not there in the default leg rig type.
Most types can be expanded i believe, but i have not tested that yet. I do see some types have a integer setting for the number of bones, but if that also allows extra control, I’m not sure. I guess that’s what he’s after. Pehaps a leg with more bones and add a control bone type. But that still would need manual work afterwards i guess
The B-Bone Segments dont really do what i hoped they would do. Actually i don’t really see them do anything. There is some kind of calculation done with other bones perhaps. I guess it only works when bendy bones are somewhere used. I check a paw and didn’t see any bendy bones. I check the 2.81 API B-BOnes part, the segments is for the tweaks i saw.
https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/2.81/addons/rigging/rigify.html#id1
Some Rig Types can be expanded but the Leg and Paw can’t. They always have the same structure. The Limb Segments options gives you more tweak bones and the B-Bone Segments create Bendy Bones. Paw does use Blender bones from my tests.
In fact, I would like to add double joints on the knees and the elbows of my mesh. I have to add too, clipping drivers an pelvis weight paint drivers.
I learn alone Blender until this point and I Don’t know how to do. Thank you for your help.
I think this will be a great course. And time saver. Bought. Thanks.
Thank you, JAYRAJ! I hope you enjoy it. If you have any questions let me know!
Does or will this course in the later updates cover any facial rigging for talking etc.
Hey Piet,
I’ll definitely cover the Rigify Face rig in the Advanced Sessions (Two-Headed Ogre). I may include a free chapter on the face rig alone but that’s not decided yet.
To be honest I haven’t used this rig extensively and have to do more experiments to gauge how good it is. It might be better to rig your face manually or with Shape Keys. This remains to be seen.
we you be touching on fbx character import onto rigify rig?
Yes, it’s on my list! Are you interested in exporting to game engines? If so which ones?
actually i want to export 3ds max cat animation into blender
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ev4mtnNxpfc&t=58s
That’s interesting. I haven’t touched MAX in a while. But I think the process wouldn’t be that different.
Why did you share the CAT video tho? I don’t understand what you’re hinting at?
just incase you didn’t know the 3ds cat system , I have a few characters rigged with walk and run motions i’d like to bring motions over to rigify.
now moving all my projects into blender now
Hmm, Rigify and CAT are similar insofar as both are modular rigging systems. But I don’t think they are cross-compatible.
You may have to re-rig your characters. I am sure there is a technical way to transfer the motion but it’s not exactly my area of expertise. Keep us updated!
Awesome course on rigging with rigify! Totally worth it! I just finished watching all the basics and following along. I have to say that I am completely blown away by rigify’s possibilities in Blender. Would totally recommend watching this to any 3d artist. Thank you Todor! Waiting for the advanced section!
Thank you, Chingiz! I also think that Rigify is mind-blowing. I’m also blown away by the community response so far. I’ll do my best to offer new chapters soon!
Awesome course , Bought, Is there any plan to explain how to export unreal engine especially with face movement?
Thanks!
Exporting to UE4 and other game engines is something I definitely want to cover. I’d say it’s in the top 3 things after completing the course.
Thank u man ,Awesome course & Awesome Creator
Glad you liked it! We’re just getting started! π
Like!! I blog quite often and I genuinely thank you for your information. The article has truly peaked my interest.
This is what I had been looking for!
Thank you so much for this class, was totally worth paying for it!.
Thanks so much for the purchase and positive words, Jason. I am in the middle of recording more Rigify videos. Keep an eye out for them.
Will you be showing how to export to unreal? Because there are scale issues with unreal
Definitely a topic that I want to cover. I think the issues are not only with scale but also with the bones that are exported. Thanks for your comment!
Definitely a topic that I want to cover. I think the issues are not only with scale but also with the bones that are exported. Thanks for your question!
Yes please cover Exporting to Unreal as the scale, bone rotations plus fbx options are a mine field to me and other peeps learning. Im sure covering this info would really help your sales.
Will do. There are a few other things that I have planned before that but it’s definitely something I want to do. So many people are interested and I myself want to use UE4 more so it has to happen.
Will you do a video on how to use Rigified Characters in other Blender files via links? Thank you very much for these tutorials they are so helpful!
Hey Doro. Yes this is on the list! π
Like the others, thank you for these tutorials.
Thanks for your interest and for taking the time to comment!
amazing course I just finished module 1 and I can say I am sooooo happy I started your course I am experiencing a feeling I never felt before, I am bring characters to life that have never moved before. its so cool you break it down so well I love it I don’t have any fears now approaching rigging a creature I was able to adapt what you taught to modify a rig with extra controls just watching your series. I am very grateful you made this, I am now a huge fan of your stuff! please keep it up I have never experienced this level of fun rigging before. I go onto turbo squid and find models i think would be a challenge and try my hand at rigging them. what would be really cool tut would be that daz studio just updated there blender bridge and you can convert their rigs to rigify. I been using auto rig pro to remap the controls from rigify to mixamo rig for animation with very limited success. could you do a mini series on this? it would benefit so many people who use blender and daz.
Oh man, that’s what I like to hear! π
Remapping/retargeting is on my list of video ideas but it will take time to make. I am also keeping in mind integration with other apps like daz and mixamo. I don’t know much about them but we’ll see…
Have fun with the rest of the course π
yeah I been hitting some walls rigging daz characters with rigify keep on getting error like bone heat warning its either overlapping verts or normals that need to be recalculated. the daz to blender bridge only supports Genesis 3 and 8 characters so I been trying other ones. have you ever though of getting a discord would be really cool to be able to connect with other folks that have gotten the course or others interested.
There is a cgdive discord, and I think you already found it lol
https://discord.gg/YFH5HUv
Hi
I am currently “rigging the dragon – may I just say what an excellent course this is.
I do have a problem however. I am nearing the end of chapter 3 and am at the section where the orientation of the controls for the rear fingers is corrected. Whatever I do, the orientation is bad, but the fingers seem to be working correctly.
Is there somewhere that I could share my blend file to so that someone might tell me what I am doing wrong ?
Thanks,
Ben Woodcock
Hi Ben,
I am not sure I understand the exact problem so sharing the file would be a good idea.
There are many ways to share a file, like dropbox, GDrive, wetransfer etc.
In this case you can probably just attach it to an email and send it my way. If the file is too big you could actually delete the character and save it as a new file. I only need to see the bones in order to check for the problem.
One important thing I want to say is that things don’t have to happen exactly as in the tutorial. Sometimes very small deviations will create different results. You say that the fingers “seem to be working correctly.” At the end of the day, that’s the important part. π
I’m gone to convey my little brother, that he should also pay a visit this
blog on regular basis to get updated from most up-to-date reports.
Just finished your free chapter 1 & 2 and jumped to buying your course immediately. I found it very resourceful and high clarity in every aspects of your explanation. Just for clarification please. Would rigify be able to do remapping/retargeting similar to auto rig pro as well? If so, would you have a course on this subject?
Hi, Koma. Thank you for buying the course!
The simple answer is, no, retargeting the rigify rig isn’t possible out of the box.
But I believe there is a workaround. A lot of people are interested in retargeting and I want to cover this, most likely on my YouTube channel.
Hi Todor. How does it work to access the course bought? I thought I bought the course on Oct 23th when I ordered and paid for a purchase through the link at the bottom of this page. However, as of today, I still havenβt got any feedback from my purchase nor access to any paid modules? Please let me know if something wrong with my purchase and how do I check if the purchase is properly processed through. Thanks.
Hi Koma,
if you can’t access your purchase something is definitely wrong.
If you have a Gumroad account, please go to https://gumroad.com/library and see if “Rig anything with Rigify” is listed under your purchased products.
And you should definitely receive a confirmation email from Gumroad after your purchase. Please check your “Spam” folder just in case.
If that doesn’t solve it please email me. Find my email here https://cgdive.com/contact/
I may have to ask you for some personal info, so it would be better to do this over email.
I got this error. Your address email in the contact form was not found and email could not be delivered by gmail.
Dear Todor
Should it be safe to repurchase again without a risk of double payment?
Very nice article. I definitely appreciate this site. Stick with it!
Hello Todor,
I just purchased the complete course. Module 1 was excellent. The addition of Chapt 8 on posing characters was greatly appreciated by me! Thank you for developing such a wealth of information on Rigify and Rigging.
Allen
Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment, Allen. I hope you have even more fun with the other two Modules!
Love the course! Any ETA on the wing rigging tutorial?
Sometime in 2021. From the start, I considered it a Bonus session that wanted to do but I didn’t want to put too much pressure on myself to get it done quickly.
I’m just starting with the playlist in youtube but man, this is pure gold! I will eventually buy the advance sessions for sure!
Learning so much. Thank you!
I have been terrified of rigging anything in Blender before: it just looked so complex and I didn’t have much. Your approach, however, is so simple and beginner-friendly that I cant wait to learn. Thank you for your time and effort in this. I plan to purchase the intermediate and advanced courses as soon as Im done with the beginner section.
So awesome! Thanks for the kind comment.
hi sir,I I went to buy your course, but I don’t have any dual currency card, can you help me.