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[edit] Adding an Armature

[edit] Description

Armatures are like articulated skeletons, that allow you to pose and deform the geometry that surrounds it. An armature is made of a series of bones connected to each other via parenting or constraints. Armatures are most often used in character animation, as a manipulatable skeleton to pose a character, but they can also be useful in other situations too.

An armature is like any other object type:

• It has a center, a position, a rotation and a scale factor.
• It has ObData that can be edited
• It can be linked to other scenes, and the same armature data can be reused on multiple objects.
• All animation you do in object mode is only working on the object, not the armature's contents like bones.

An armature has 3 modes. You can switch using the dropdown menu in the header of the 3Dview or use ⇆ Tab to switch between Armature Edit Mode and Object Mode. When in ObjectMode, you can switch the Pose Mode on and off with Ctrl⇆ Tab. Rather than being an explicit mode that excludes all others, Pose Mode is a state of the armature you can switch on or off. So when in PoseMode, you are still in ObjectMode (you can select another object, contrary to the EditMode).

[edit] Options

Object Mode

Your armature is like any other Object, you can move it around the scene, scale it, rotate it and edit options in the Object button window (F7).

Edit Mode

Your armature is in what we call rest position, you can move, add and delete the bones it contains.

Pose Mode

Your armature is ready to be animated, each bone can be moved, scaled or rotated relative to the rest position defined in Edit Mode. Constraints can be applied, you can pose your character, add keys and animate the bone's behavior over time.

[edit] Armature Datablock

[edit] Description

Armatures consist of an Object and an Armature data block. These can be manipulated in the same way as other objects

[edit] Options

AR

Rename the armature Datablock. The dropdown is a quick way to select which Armature datablock you want to connect to this armature object. You can keep more than one version for the same character. Useful when you have a special move to achieve in a shot, you can turn on an armature for special purposes.

F

Assign a fake user to the Armature. This is very usefull for when you have more than one armature for your character. An armature that is currently not assigned to a character will not be saved in your .blend file! However, if you assign a fake user, it will always be saved. You can always do batch fake-assignement of armatures by opening the Datablock browser (⇧ ShiftF4), go back one level (..) to see the root of your project, then go in Armature datablock, select all the armatures you want to keep and press the F.

OB

Rename your armature object to something more cool and useful than Armature, Armature.001, etc...

[edit] Armature Display Options

[edit] Description

Various methods to control how Armatures are displayed in the 3D View are available. Also note there are some specific options and features that relate to the display mode you're in.

[edit] Options

X-Ray

The same as in the Object Context, this lets you see the armature through anything in the scene, solid or not. It's useful to see where your bones are in your character so you can select them.

Display Options

Much like Object Layers, an Armature element (bone, for example) can exist on one or more layers. To work on only those bones of interest to you, select which layers to display and unclutter your view.

Octahedron

This is the default view. Nothing exciting except you have a good idea of the rolling of the bones.

Stick

This display mode is really useful when you have a lot of bones in your view. It lets you "unclutter" the screen a bit. It draws the bones as tiny sticks.

B-Bones

It's more a feature than a display mode. This is useful to visualise the effect you get when you activate the B-bones (Bezier-Bones). Each join between 2 bones acts like a curve handle and lets you get extremely curvy poses. This is explained further in the Posing Armatures section.

Envelope

Again it's more a feature than a display mode, using envelopes lets you deform all vertices within a bone's proximity, rather than having to explicitly define and weight paint vertex groups. In this case the visualization will be useful to tweak your rig, showing you which part of the mesh that a bone will move. It's possible interactively change the zone of influence in this display mode. The zone is only visible in EditMode or PoseMode though.

Octahedron

Stick

B-Bones

Envelope

Draw Axes

To draw the axes on each bone of the armature when you are in Editmode of PoseMode. Handy when you want to know where you are, and which axis to use in a constraint for example. Mental note: Y is up, Z is depth and X is side, contrary to object for which Z is up, Y is depth and X is side. (Draw Axes)

Draw names

This lets you see names of bones whatever the mode you are in. It's useful again to edit your armature, create parent dependencies or add constraints. (Draw names)

Ghost

Shows a transparent 'ghost' of the armature N frames behind and over the current time. This only works when you have an action linked to the armature, as we will see in the Posing Armatures section.(Ghost)

Step

The frame interval between ghost instances.

[edit] Armature Deformation

[edit] Description

Armatures can deform meshes either through a parent relationship or through modifiers. There are various options to control this.

[edit] Options

Vertex Groups & Envelopes

Those two toggles let you choose if you want the armature to deform your character using the Vertex Groups and/or the Envelopes. These are used when the Armature is deforming via a parent relationship. If you are using an Armature modifier, these controls are available per modifier in the modifiers panel.

Rest position

This will show the character as factory default (as defined in EditMode), no actions will be applied to the armature so you can easily edit it in the middle of an animation.

Delay Deform

This was useful before when the old system was very slow. What it does is when you do a manipulation to the rig, it waits until you finish to update the view.