Learning Blender: A Hands-On Guide to Creating 3D Animated Characters

Creating Custom Shapes

So, the rig is finished, but it’s still not looking very intuitive. To fix that and to make the model easier to use, you can add custom shapes to the bones (see Figure 11.16). You can use any model or curve as a custom shape for the bones.

Figure 11.16 Using custom shapes for Jim’s rig

When you select a bone in Pose Mode, on the Bone tab of the Properties Editor, in the Display panel, there is a field for Custom Shape. Just insert the name of the shape (any object) you want to use instead of the bone. This is only an aesthetic feature; it has no influence in the functionalities of the bone. Once you set it, there is ...