10. Skeletons and Rigging

Once you model a character, you need to place a skeleton inside it in order to animate it (Figure 10.1). The skeleton is built as a hierarchy of individual joints connected by bones.

Figure 10.1. Inside this eyeball character, you can see the skeleton, which is used to pose and animate the character.

Image

These bones typically aren’t used directly to animate. Instead, you place a set of constraints on the bones. These constraints limit or alter the movement of the bones and allow you both greater control of the whole skeleton and the ability to pose the character with just a few bones or curves.

In general, nature serves as ...

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