RIGGING L1-5 : Horse Rigging Challenge

0:00Amazing work so far. You learned so

0:03much. Bones, IK, weight paint, even

0:06animation. Wow. Now, what if I told you

0:09that you can also rig a horse and many

0:12other creatures using only what you

0:14already know. Rigging this course will

0:17be our final challenge at this stage. It

0:20is meant to get rid of the idea that

0:22what we learned so far can only be

0:24applied to rigging a human. That's

0:27simply not true. The horse model will be

0:29in your downloads. Get it and open it.

0:32And if you want a serious challenge, try

0:34to rig it all by yourself based only on

0:37these visuals of the final armature. I

0:41highly recommend this exercise. Even if

0:43you fail initially, it will force your

0:46mind to bring this new rigging knowledge

0:48closer to the surface. When you just

0:50learn something, it's passive knowledge,

0:52but when you apply it on your own, it

0:55becomes active knowledge. You can also

0:57follow along with my time-lapse. The

0:59pace will be much faster than usual, so

1:02it will be a nice challenge either way.

1:05All right, here's the time-lapse. With

1:07my 3D cursor in the center of the world,

1:09I'll create a new armature. Go to edit

1:13mode. Enable in

1:15front and inside view, create bones for

1:18the spine, neck, and head, paying

1:22attention to anatomy.

1:28I'll create a new chain of bones for the

1:30tail and align

1:35them. And a chain of bones for the hind

1:38legs based on

1:46anatomy. One more chain of bones for the

1:48front legs.

1:57Select all leg

2:02bones and move them on the X-axis so

2:06that they align with the

2:13model. Let's also add an earbone just

2:16for fun.

2:21Name the

2:24bones. These are my bone names. Feel

2:27free to name your bones whatever you

2:28like. Just don't forget the L

2:36suffix. Now I'm going to parent my

2:39bones.

2:50I'll set up IK exactly how we did it for

2:53the human. Extrude the iate target and

2:57unparent

2:59it. Then extrude the pole target and

3:02because of the anatomy of the hind leg,

3:04it will be pointing in the opposite

3:06direction. But otherwise, the setup is

3:08the same. Unparent it and move it away

3:10from the leg.

3:14and then set up the IK

3:24constraint. I'll set chain length to

3:26two. IK with more than two bones gets a

3:29little bit complicated, so we'll keep it

3:30to two here. Set up the pole target and

3:34pole

3:36angle. And then you can go ahead and set

3:38up the IK for the front leg in the same

3:41way and using the same IK settings.

4:05Parent the poles to the

4:11IK. Make the IK and poles

4:21non-deforming. Select all bones. Right

4:23click

4:33symmetriize. In object mode, select the

4:35body. Shift select the amateur. Ctrl P.

4:38Automatic

4:42weights. Looking great. I just don't

4:44like the behavior of the hoof. Let's fix

4:46them exactly how we fix the foot in the

4:48human

4:51character. In edit mode, parent each

4:53hoof to the closest I target.

5:01In pose mode, give them copy location

5:04constraints following the previous

5:08bone and head tail to

5:18one. After setting up copy location on

5:22both left hoofs, select and symmetriize

5:25them. And that will symmetriize the

5:27constraint.

5:36Let's give this rig a root as well.

5:39Shift A to add a new

5:42bone. Name it

5:45root and parent the hips and the IK

5:49bones to it.

5:56And in pose mode, it should move the

5:58entire horse. And to test the rig, I

6:01made this running animation. It is done

6:03with the exact techniques that I showed

6:05you in the previous videos. I made a run

6:08cycle in place following some reference

6:10footage, and then I made it move forward

6:12using the root bone. You've quickly

6:15learned some of the most essential

6:17rigging techniques. Mastering the basics

6:19can be incredibly rewarding. But as

6:22useful as they are, if we take a step

6:24back and look at the bigger picture, we

6:26are still in the valley. This means

6:28there are still plenty of challenges

6:30waiting if you attempt something more

6:32complex. So the bad news is we still

6:35have a way to go. But the good news is

6:37the path is already mapped out for you.

6:40Just follow the course. Next up is the

6:42nova section which focuses on

6:45fundamentals, fundamentals, and more

6:48fundamentals. While keeping things

6:50simple, we'll create some cool

6:52mechanisms like automated wristbones,

6:56better hip control, and a nice foot rig.

6:59Along the way, we'll dive deeper into

7:02constraints, weight painting, rigging

7:04theory, and yes, even some face rigging.

7:08This will be a major step toward

7:10clearing up any confusion you might have

7:12about rigging. I hope you're excited.

7:15Let's keep going.