Rig a Whole Character

1The plan for a whole rig

Rigging a full character is not hard, it is just many small decisions in a sensible order. The plan: build the skeleton from the core outward, name and parent every bone as you go, add rotation limits so joints only bend the right way, bind the art so it deforms, add IK on the limbs that plant, and finish with dynamics on anything that should sway. Follow that order and a daunting job becomes a checklist. We will hit each step in turn.

2Enter Rig mode

On the vector surface, click Rig at the top. The banner reads Rig mode, which means every edit shapes the rest skeleton and nothing lands on the timeline. This is exactly where you want to be to build a skeleton: a workshop where you can add, rename, and delete bones freely without recording a frame of animation. Stay in Rig mode for the whole build; you will switch to Test only to check bends, and to Animate mode only much later.

3Start with the backbone

Every humanoid rig begins at the core. Pick Add Bone and drag out a root bone up the middle of the torso, from the hips to the base of the neck, this is your backbone and the parent of everything else. Drag from where the joint sits to where it ends; the bone you draw becomes the selected bone, and the next bone you draw will hang off it. In the Bones panel this root bone is tagged root, with Parent reading None (root bone).

4Add the head and neck

With the backbone selected so it acts as parent, use Add Bone to drag a neck bone up from the top of the backbone, then a head bone up from the neck. Because you drew them with the parent selected, they chain correctly. In the Bones panel, set clear Name values (Neck, Head) and confirm each Parent. The head bone is the one you will often want to keep steady, which is the next step.

5Isolate the head so it stays level

When the backbone leans, you often want the head to keep its own angle rather than tip with the body. Select the head bone and tick Isolate from parent in the Bones panel. Now the head holds the angle you give it regardless of what the backbone does, so a character can sway at the hips while still looking straight ahead. Untick it any time you do want the head to follow the lean.

6Build the arm chains

Select the backbone (or an upper-backbone bone) as parent, then Add Bone a shoulder, then an upper arm from the shoulder, then a forearm from the elbow, then a hand from the wrist, one continuous chain per arm. Set each Name (Left Upper Arm, Left Forearm, Left Hand), confirm the Parent follows the chain, and set a sensible Length so each bone spans its real segment. Do the same for the other arm.

7Build the leg chains

Legs hang off the hips at the base of the backbone. Select the root, then Add Bone a thigh from the hip, a shin from the knee, and a foot from the ankle, per leg. Set the Name, Parent, and Length for each just as you did for the arms. Draw each joint where the real joint sits: the knee at the knee, the ankle at the ankle. Precise joint placement now is what makes the legs bend believably later.

8Name, parent, and length: the discipline

Before you go further, sweep the whole skeleton in the Bones panel and make sure every bone has a real Name, the right Parent, and a sensible Length. The panel header shows the count, like N bones, so you can see the whole tree. This tidy pass feels unglamorous, but every later step, binding, limits, IK, dynamics, reads these names. A well-labelled skeleton makes the rest of rigging feel effortless.

9Limit the knees and elbows

Real joints only bend one way, and your rig should too. Select a forearm bone, tick Limit rotation in the Bones panel, and set Min angle and Max angle so the elbow can straighten and fold but never hinge backward. Do the same on each knee with the shin bone. With limits in place, you can pose fast and freely, knowing a stray drag can never fold a joint into an impossible shape.

10Flexi Bind every limb

Now tie the art to the skeleton so it deforms. For each limb, select its points over in Draw, then in Rig apply Flexi Bind along the bone chain so the points near each joint are shared between bones and the curve carries smoothly across the bend. Use Bind Points instead for anything that should stay rigid, like a held prop or a solid boot. If a bone reaches too far or not far enough, tune it with the Bone Strength tool or the Strength slider.

11Add IK targets on hands and feet

Inverse kinematics lets you pose a limb by its end instead of rotating each bone: drag the hand, and the shoulder and elbow work out their own angles. In the Bones panel, set an IK target on each hand and each foot so those limbs plant and reach naturally. Feet with IK stay stuck to the ground while the body moves over them, the key to a walk that does not slide, and hands with IK can grab and hold a fixed point cleanly.

12Set Max stretch on the IK limbs

Once a bone has an IK target, the Bones panel reveals a Max stretch field, a percentage that lets the limb lengthen slightly when it reaches. A small amount of stretch keeps a limb from snapping to a locked straight line at full extension and adds a touch of cartoon life to a reach or a stride. Keep it modest for a grounded character, or push it higher for something bouncy and elastic.

13Add Dynamic springs to loose parts

Hair, ears, tails, coat-tails, and antennae look lifeless if they move exactly with the body. Select such a bone, tick Dynamic in the Bones panel, and it gains springy secondary motion driven by Stif (stiffness), Damp (how fast it settles), and Inert (how much it lags). Now a ponytail swings and settles on its own as the character moves, no keyframes needed. There is a checkbox Ignore wind if you want a particular bone to sit out any sway.

14Test the whole rig

Before you call it done, drive the rig. Switch the vector surface to Test mode and drag bones through their full range: bend every elbow and knee, tug the IK hands and feet, tip the backbone and watch the dynamic bits swing and settle. Nothing in Test is saved, so push it hard. Fix anything that misbehaves back in Rig: a creasing joint wants better Flexi Bind, a backward-bending knee wants tighter Limit rotation, a floppy tail wants more Stif.

15What a finished rig looks like

You are done when the skeleton is complete and every part behaves: a named, parented backbone with head, arm, and leg chains; a head that holds level thanks to Isolate from parent; knees and elbows capped by Limit rotation; limbs that fold smoothly on Flexi Bind; hands and feet that plant and reach on IK target with a little Max stretch; and loose parts that sway on Dynamic. Save the rig on a character in the Codex and you can reuse it as a live instance in any scene.

Whole-rig questions