Rig: Blender's Character Rigging Playbook

by CG Cookie in Training


Rigging a character in Blender can be pretty daunting.

There is a lot of technical wizardry that needs to be understood to effectively achieve your goal of having a character rig that can move in the way you want and is also easy to animate. RIG aims to make that achievable for you.


Don’t you hate it when you try to learn something from a video tutorial only to forget everything by the time you go to put that learning into practice? Nobody wants to watch all that content again just to remember a few of those small bits you can’t quite remember.


RIG is a little bit different in that regard.


The aim of this course is 2 fold. First it aims to teach you the why and how behind some of the most common setups you will need to master for rigging a biped character. Secondly it aims for you to never have to watch the tutorials again by providing you with all the detailed schematics of each of the setups and teaching you how to read them.

It’s like having the recipe book full of all the main meals you’re going to need to make. If you forget how to make that meal, you can look it up in the recipe book and get an instant reminder.

This is the first of many releases, with this initial launch focused on all the parts that are common to most biped characters you are likely going to rig. Later releases will focus on modular parts that are more style specific. (for example, different types of facial setups etc)


What you will learn

In RIG, CG Cookie instructor Wayne Dixon will pick up where he left off in the Fundamentals of Rigging Course and deepen your understanding so you can learn to rig a biped character.


CHAPTER 1  How to think like a Rigger

You won’t simply be following along. You will learn how to think like a rigger from how to name your bones all the way to how to do complex things like parent switching or custom property drivers.


CHAPTER 2  Small parts of the bigger picture


Before putting together some complex setups (like a bendy IK-FK switching Leg) you will learn all of the smaller parts that go into this. Then you will build upon your existing knowledge and practice to create more complex setups.


CHAPTER 3 Reading the schematics

Remembering all this stuff is taxing on those brain cells. So until your knowledge is been internalized you can refer back to the schematics without having to watch hours of tutorials again and again.

CHAPTER 4  Rig a biped character

By the end of the course you will know how to build a top quality character rig with UI controls that you will be proud to animate.


FREE DOWNLOAD of the  Luna Helmet Rig with LED Face Setup FREE

Download the complete rig file for Luna's helmet, complete with a UI for toggling through different faces. This file can be used as a learning example to see how it all works!

What people are saying

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️  "Been struggling with rigging for the past few months now and I love how this course gives you the proper approach and structure to rigging. I have had a lot of rigs that would just break but now been properly equipped with the knowledge from this course as to not make it happen again. This makes a lot more sense now. Thank you so much for this wonderful course."

Want more CG Cookie Courses?

If you get inspired and would like to become a CG Cookie member after purchasing this course, send a message to support@cgcookie.com and we will be happy to help you set up an annual membership while discounting the amount you paid for this course on Blender Market.  A membership will give you access to our instructors, our community and 100+ CG Cookie Blender courses.  Be sure to mention your Blender Market Order ID and we will take it from there.

For more information, visit cgcookie.com or head over to our Creator Profile here on Blender Market.


Meet Your Instructor

Wayne Dixon, CG Cookie

"Hey, guys! I'm the head animation instructor at CG Cookie. I have 18+ years of experience in animation, my mentors included some of the world's best animators from Dreamworks - and I love to teach Blender. I believe learning should be a fun adventure, so I make sure there's never a dull moment in my courses. If you have any questions, just ask away. Together, we can do this!"


Sales 60+
Dev Fund Contributor
Published 7 months ago
Blender Version 4.0
License Royalty Free
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