How Would I go about rigging the wing?

  • Wayne Dixon replied

    Oh that's super easy......kidding.


    Here's a couple things to point you in the right direction but it isn't an easy task at all. I've never had to rig a wing in my career before but first look at any solutions that have been done before and see what you like about them.

    (The closest I have come to a wing was the frill on a frill necked lizard - which had to puff up stiff and go floppy which turned out to be very technical)

    I can't remember how Kent rigged the wings in the Piero course, but that would be the first thing I would look into.

    https://cgcookie.com/course/short-film-character-production

    (Yes it's an old version of Blender but you're smart enough to see past that ;)  - just look into the wing stuff)


    Also have a look around the internet to see any other wing designs.

    It doesn't even have to be Blender, you're just looking about possible solutions.


    Then I would start my rig.  First think about how I would want to build my versions, starting with what the animator would want/need to control this.

    What would they expect to animate and what would they not want to touch (unless they really needed to)

    My thoughts would be that a wing is just an arm and hand (with really long fingers)

    So it would mostly be an IK arm (with FK switching), and then have a control to open/spread the fingers and also 1 to control the pitch of the fingers (this could be the IK pole target).  Also each control should have the ability to be animated onto of all the other stuff (not locked by the constraints).


    Now you have a list of problems you need to solve, but if you tackle them 1 by one and think in a modular way you can make it easier.

    First, the FK system on top of your DEF bones. (DEF are controlled by the FK)

    Then the IK system, and add the switching.  (you can add MCH bones where you need to control the switching - that means the FK can be parented to the MCH bones and the MCH bones are the ones that do the actual switching by driving the constraints)

    Then the finger spread.  Figure out the easiest/best way of opening and closing them with a bit of trail and error.  (is that transform constraints on the MCH bones? action constraint? Copy rotation? IK on each finger?)  But whatever the mechanism is underneath, it should be controlled by 1 control for the animator.  It should be as simple as it needs to be, but no simpler (Einstein)

    Is it getting hard yet?

    Then the next problem on the list. etc

    There will always be a lot of trial and error when designing something for the first time, but try to keep it modular and you will have an easier time.  

    I speak about this modular concept in this video.  The idea is to think about the systems as different modules that you can connect together rather than trying to think about the entire thing at once.


    I hope this helps, San.