Rigging a Hand

[Rick fetish]

hello i am trying to make a hand replacement for the engineer but I do not know how the hand should be rigged a little help?

[ShinobiFreedan]

Oh joy, rigging. Never fear, I can help you. :)

First, you need to use the bones from the original hand model. This is the easiest way to get the correct number of bones and to ensure that they are all properly named. To do this, have the engineer model file on hand (excuse the pun).

Go to your hand model, and then to file > append (Append allows you to put objects from one 3D file into another). This will bring up a filepath menu. Find the engineer's file. Click on it.

The file will then open, revealing specific objects within it such as the engineer model, the engineer skeleton, etc. You will want to select the engineer's skeleton. Once you have his skeleton, select it in object mode. Then, Tab into Edit mode and delete any bones that do not control the hand.

Now, take the "hand bones" and (still in edit mode, NOT pose mode) proceed to move them into your hand model. The reason for doing this is edit mode is that changes in pose mode do not reflect in edit or object mode, while changes in edit mode do. Once you have your bones positioned the way you like them, you are ready for the next step.

For the next step, go to object mode, and select the hand model, then the bones (in that order). Then, press Ctrl + P. A menu will appear. Select the option "With Empty Groups." You can use Automatic weights if you want to, but they can be messy at times. Once you have parented the bones to your hand, go to the groups tab, which is right next to the materials tab. Its icon is a little white triangle.

In this menu, you will find a section named "Vertex Groups." Now, select the hand mesh and tab into edit mode. Go back to the Vertex Groups menu. Within it, you will find the names of your bones. Select one, then select the part of the hand mesh you think it should control. E.G. if you selected a pinkie bone in the Vertex Groups menu, select the pinkie in the hand mesh. When you are happy with your selection, Click "assign" (Under the Vertex Groups menu). Anything that was selected when "Assign" was pressed will now be controlled by the bone you selected in the vertex groups menu. To undo this, click "remove." You can double - check your selections by clicking on the bone name, then on "select" to highlight whatever that bone is controlling.

Repeat the above for all of the hand bones.

Once you have rigged all of the bones following the instructions above, you are ready to test your rig. Go into pose mode and rotate the fingers a little bit. If you see that a bone is deforming the hand incorrectly, check your vertex groups first. If that looks okay, you will need to do some weight painting. To do this, select your hand in object mode. Go to the menu that says object mode, and change your mode to weight paint mode.

[IMPORTANT: Before you weight paint, save a backup!!!]

In weight paint mode, select the faulty bone using the Vertex Groups menu. You will now see a mess of blue and red appear on the hand. Here's how it works: Anything that is dark blue will not be affected by the bone at all. Anything that is bright red will be completely affected by the bone (E.g. If the bone turns 90 degrees, the red area will also turn 90 degrees). Anything in between those two colors will be affected in varying degrees. You have probably already figured that green will be mildly affected by the bone, and orange very affected but not completely.

Now, find the area that was having problems when you moded the faulty bone. Look at its colors. Use the weight paint menu to adjust the color of your brush, then paint over the faulty area. Test the model again in pose mode, then weight paint again if you see problems. Continue until you are happy with the way your hand mesh deforms.

Congratulations, you have now successfully rigged a hand!
Sorry if that seemed a bit overly complicated. I tried to make it as easy to follow as I could. If you need help, reply to this message with any questions you might have.