Generating the Rig
With the bones in the correct positions, jump back in Object Mode, go to the Armature tab, scroll down to the bottom and click on the Generate button to finalize the rig creation. The generation process will take from few seconds to one minute depending on rig complexity and hardware specs of your machine. If the generated rig needs tweaking, you can modify the meta-rig accordingly and then click again on the generate button. If the rig already exists, Rigify will simply overwrite it retaining all your modifiers and constraints and – where possible – all the previously generated features.
If you need to generate more than one rig in the scene or update a specific one (when there are more than one in the same file)
Tip
Rig Updating
To make the rig overwriting work as expected, you need to have both the rig and the meta-rig visible before generating again.
Warning
As with all Python add-ons, Blender interface cannot be updated until the Python script execution is over. Wait until the rig appears to see the results.
Binding the Geometry to the Rig
To bind the geometry to the rig you can use your preferred tools. Just few things you have to know:
- All the deforming bones are on the armature layer 30.
- Eyes and Teeth bones are not deforming. You are supposed to bind the eyes and teeth geometry through Child Of constraints.
- Usually, armature deform with automatic weights do a really good job out of the box if you correctly place your bones (and there’s enough topology to work with!).
For more detailed information on armature layers, armature modifier and weight painting refer to the Blender manual.
Rig Features Description
After human rig generation a new armature named “Rig” will be added to your scene. This is the character rig you have generated from the human meta-rig and will contain all the features.
Limbs
Each limb will have a gear widget at its base. This is the utility bone that contains all the sub-rig properties. The rig features will be displayed anyway when the affected bone is selected but if you are looking in the Graph editor for those properties’ animated values, this is most likely the bone to look at. Rigify’s super limb will list the following features:
IK/FK Snapping
To snap one chain to another just select the control you want to snap and in the Sidebar panel the snap buttons will appear. Click on the snap you want, and it’s done!
FK Limb Isolation
Slider (0, 1)
When set to 1 the FK arm will not rotate with the torso and will retain is rotation in world space instead.
IK Following
Boolean (0=False, 1=True)
When the IK follow is set to 1 the IK limb will follow his parent depending on the Root/Parent slider. When set to 0 the IK limb will stay fixed in space whatever the rest of the rig will do. This is a useful option if you want to create your own Child Of constraint on the IK limb toward another part of the rig itself (like parenting the hand to the head).
IK Limb Domain Space Select
Slider Root/Parent (0=Root, 1=Parent)
When set to Root the IK limb will move with the root, when set to Parent will move along with the torso. This value depends on the IK Follow option.
IK/FK Limb Interactive Blending
Slider (0=IK, 1=FK)
When set to IK the arm will follow the IK controls, when set to FK the arm will follow the FK controls.
Pole Vector Type Switch
Boolean (0=Rotational Pole, 1=Standard pole vector)
When set to 0 the IK arm will use the rotational pole vector (the arrow at the base of the limb). Rotating/translating/scaling the arrow will control the IK limb base. When set to 1 the classic pole vector will be displayed and used to orient the IK limb. The arrow will continue to handle the scale and the location of the IK limb base.
Pole Vector Following
Slider (0= Root, 1=Limb)
If pole vector switch is set to 1 (standard pole), then this value defines the pole’s parenting. If Pole Following is set to 1 then the pole vector will be parented to the limb, if set to 0 will instead follow the root. This properties also depends on the IK follow control. When the general IK follow is set to 0, then the pole vector following will have no effect.
IK Auto-Stretching
Slider (0=No stretching, 1=Full Stretch)
When set to 0 the IK limb it’s constrained to his rest length. When set to 1 the IK limb will stretch until it reaches the IK effector.
Bendy Bones Flexible Tweaking
For each limb – depending on the user defined meta-rig options – multiple bone segments will be created. Each bone can be controlled by controls placed at the respective bone’s head/tail. Tweaks movement will depend on the general IK limb position, but they can be moved apart, twisted and scaled freely, even reaching virtually impossible limb shapes.
Just select the desired tweak control and do whatever you want with it.
Torso
Neck Follow
Slider (0=Neck Follows Torso, 1=Neck Follows Chest)
This slider controls the rotations isolation for the neck bones. When set to 0 the neck will stay oriented as the Torso (the big box control). When set to 1 the neck will be oriented as the Chest (the big circle in the shoulder area).
Head Follow
Slider (0=Head Follows Torso, 1=Head Follows Neck)
This slider controls the rotations isolation for the head. When set to 0 the head will stay oriented as the Torso (the big box control). When set to 1 the head will be oriented as the neck.
Face
Mouth Lock
Slider (0=Free Lips, 1=Lips Sealed)
This slider controls the mouth opening. When set to 0 moving/rotating the jawbone will result in mouth opening, when set to 1 the lips will stay sealed while the jaw is moving.
Eyes Following
Slider (0=locked eyelids, 1=automatic eyelids)
This slider controls the eyelid automation. When set to 1 the eyelids and the lower eyebrow will follow the eye movement giving a realistic effect to the character, when set to 0 no automation will happen.
Advanced Usage
- Add a single bone from theAdd ‣ Armature menu.
- Go in armature Edit Mode and build the meta rig by samples or Rigify-types.
- Define Rigify layers, bone grouping and selection sets.
- In the armature properties click on the Generate button to generate the rig.
How Rigify Works
Rigify Meta-Rigs are split in multiple Sub-Rigs
A meta-rig is an assembly of bone chains. A bone chain is identified by the Connected attribute. Bone chains can be further connected together by parenting them without using the Connected attribute (i.e. using the Keep Offset option while parenting).
A custom attribute is set on the first bone of the sub-rig chain
Each first bone of a bone chain has a custom attribute on it which is a Rigify custom property that identifies the sub-rig type. At rig generation time Rigify will determine which controls and deform bones will be created processing the meta-rig from the first bone to the last of each chain.
New meta-rigs are created assembling sub-rigs samples
Since a meta-rig is just a collection of sub-rigs, new meta-rigs can be built assembling sub-rigs in different ways. This way an infinite number of meta-rigs can be built from the same rigging blocks.
All the mechanics, deformation bones and widget are created on a single click
The meta-rig contains more information than the visualized bones. In fact, at generation time Rigify will identify each sub-rig type and depending on the selected options will create all the sophisticated controls, switches, and deforming bones with a single click.