Blender 2.5 Character Animation Cookbook

Chapter 5. Hands Down! The Limbs Controllers

In this chapter, we will cover the following topics:

• Controlling fingers
• Creating IK legs with a three-pivot foot
• Stretch those limbs!
• Setting up the shoulders
• Cartoon bending for arms and legs
• Different spaces for IK hands

Introduction

In your animations, your characters will often need to walk, run, hold things, fight, jump, or just express their feelings. These, and countless other actions, can be achieved even in pantomime using arms, legs, and hands.

We've already seen some techniques to control our characters' eyes, face, head, and torso. Now it's time to take a look at how to create the limbs controllers and finish our basic set of character rigging recipes. Now, let's get hands on!