Blender Character Rigging 7 of 10

Now that we have the deform bones in place and the character mesh weighted, we can start creating the foot roll rig and the knee control. We go over creating the bones for the foot roll rig and the proper constraints needed. And we set-up a pole target for the knee control.

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[Kabbotta]

If anyone else is having the problem where the foot will not roll backwards, then you need to roll the heel bone around by 180 degrees (not rotate it, but use the roll option in edit mode). When the heel bone was rotated during the tutorial it caused the axes of that bone to be facing the wrong direction. I'm not sure why it works differently in the video. The z-axis of the heel bone should be pointing upwards just like it is for the foot roll control bone.

Thanks for these great tutorials, Darrin. They have been extremely helpful.

[megtwin]

7 years later I still come back to this for IK rigging! Thanks Darrin!

[RezPlease]

I just cannot tell you how often I come back to this video. Every time I rig a new mesh, I watch this series. lol So incredibly well done.

[cyberfalcon]

I'am still amazed about how some parts of the tutorial series got old and some like this are more detailed and advanced than most tutorials to this day

[EGeorgev]

This looks so complicated. I was overwhelmed the first time I watched it. Back then I just watched it without following along, as my character wasn't ready yet. Now I'm following along with the character and I did everything correctly, but it will still probably take me a while before I can do this on my own without returning to this video.

[theLegendofSamuel]

Darrin you have the best way of explaining the character development process. In my past I have hit so many walls and found myself frustrated and confused. However your videos have brought me to my first fully textured, fully rigged, and fully animated character without any bit of stress or confusion in the process. I appreciate your work. Please keep uploading new content!

[finnianrm]

If anyone's having a problem getting the toe to point up when rotating the footRollCTRL.L bone, but all the bone constraints are correct, CHECK YOUR AXES. Mine would lift the foot up instead of pointing the foot down--found out the toeRoll.L bone's axes had Z pointing upwards instead of down like the rest of the roll bones. Worked like a charm once I lined it up (by rolling -180).

TL;DR: Before adding any bone constraints, check the new bones' axes and make sure they're aimed the same direction.

[matarloum]

Great tutotrial, for the right leg i'll go to copy the left one: edit mode, select all the left leg, shift c to be centered with 3d cursor and mirror it with s than x than -1 (in the end flip names).

[Veerseloth]

This tutorial was so incredibly helpful. In depth, but clear with great pacing for someone new to blender and rigging. Thank you for this series!

[MBPerdersen]

I little tip, instead of going through the process of making the bones, linking and adding constraints again on the right side, then you can mirror it all :)

(it did for some reason not work out right for me at first try, where I just mirrored the new parts. In second try I deleted the bones already made on right side, and mirrored the full left leg, foot, foot roll rig and knee control, and that worked out perfectly for me) :)

[AstroRobyn]

Perhaps a helpful tip: Make sure that when making the IK when you go in to pose mode to create the bone constraint select the bone that is part of the armature NOT the new IK handle. Otherwise you're putting the IK constraint on to the IK itself, and nothing will happen. This was the only thing that wasn't explicitly said in this wonderfully easy to follow tutorial.

[MrJuancho]

Omg this one is the best tutorial i ever see, thanks a bunch!

[infrahate]

thank u for the continued interest in making theese videos mate, they are helping me alot, thanks!

[thresholdseven]

To specify that 180 turn in the heel bone to make it work correctly: click on heelroll.l, then at the top of the TRANSFORM pull-out tab in EDIT mode, change roll to 180. (it's below the head/tail xyz section between radius and envelope. And also make sure to put the rotation limit constraints on both the toe and heel or it will not roll properly with the "ground" because it will clip through it.

[monkeyrobotsinc.]

excellent foot rig. you are a champion.

[rithikkumars]

This is the first tutorial that I understood completely. Keep up the good work!

[alakazizam]

I started modeling with this series YEARS ago and STILLB come here any time I need to rig up a foot and apply the same thing to hands. If you are having issues with the knee bending all funky and the shin rotating in a weird way, select the shin bone with the IK constraint and look under the bone tab ( green bone tab in properties window) and there is a section called 'Inverse Kinematics'. It has options to lock IK axis'. You'll want to lock 2 of the axis', in my case the Y and Z axis but depending on how your bones are facing you may need to lock 2 different axis'.

[harrysanders]

I always find creating a foot rig to be hard. Each time I need to create one with a new character I rewatch some tutorials, to learn it better and to look for a solution which is not too unnecessary complex but has jus the right amount of controls and non chaotic bone placement to do the job for a game rig. This is the setup I like the most and which I will internalize from now on. From all the tuts I came across, this one makes the most sense to me. Its jus awesome. Thank you very much for your time to make your videos! They are all a blast. I remember making my first moves in Blender years ago while watching some of your older tuts. I enjoyed it so much and learned a lot.

[methyllithium]

1:55 you made that poor bone an orphan :(

[MBPerdersen]

Awesome, I really like the control, this gives over the foot :)
and enjoy very much, learning what I learn from your tutorials, and every day I follow them, I look more and more forward to animating my little guy :D