Blender Basics for Animation: Simple Rigs with Armatures and Basic Controls

What a Rig Is (Animator View)

A rig is a set of controls that lets you pose and animate a character predictably. In Blender, the most common rig foundation is an Armature: a hierarchy of bones that can deform a mesh or drive objects. For animation outcomes, the goal is not “many bones,” but clear controls, stable rotations, and easy resetting.

Core Terms You’ll Use Constantly

• Armature Object: the container you select in Object Mode.
• Bone: a single joint segment inside the armature.
• Head / Tail: the start and end of a bone; the tail often connects to the next bone’s head.
• Parent / Child: bone hierarchy; moving a parent affects children.
• Deform vs Control: deform bones move the mesh; control bones (often non-deforming) are what animators grab.

Modes You Must Not Mix Up: Edit Mode vs Pose Mode

Rule of thumb: Edit Mode defines the rig; Pose Mode animates the rig. If something “breaks” while posing, check you didn’t accidentally edit the skeleton in Edit Mode.

Adding an Armature and Understanding Bone Display

Create an Armature

1. In Object Mode: Shift + A → Armature → Single Bone.
2. With the armature selected, in the Armature Data properties (green stick icon), enable In Front so bones remain visible through geometry while you learn.

Bone Display Tips (Animator-Friendly)

• In Armature Data → Viewport Display, try Display As: Octahedral (clear head/tail) or B-Bone (nice for spines).
• Turn on Axes display temporarily if you’re troubleshooting rotation directions.

Guided Build: Minimal Stick-Figure Rig (Spine + Arm)

You’ll build a tiny rig that is easy to animate: a spine bone, an upper arm, a forearm, and a hand IK controller. This is not a full character rig; it’s a clean learning rig that produces an animation (a wave).

Step 1 — Build the Spine Bone

1. Select the armature → go to Edit Mode.
2. Select the bone. Rename it to spine (Bone Properties → Name).
3. Position it roughly upright: move the head near the pelvis area and the tail near the chest area (use standard transform tools).

Step 2 — Extrude an Arm Chain (Upper Arm → Forearm)

1. Still in Edit Mode, select the tail of spine.
2. Extrude a bone for the upper arm: E and move it sideways. Name it upper_arm.
3. Select the tail of upper_arm, extrude again for the forearm. Name it forearm.
4. Select the tail of forearm, extrude a short bone for the hand. Name it hand.

Because you extruded from the spine tail, the parenting is already correct: spine → upper_arm → forearm → hand.

Step 3 — Keep Rotations Stable (Bone Roll Basics)

Unstable or “twisty” rotations often come from inconsistent bone roll (the bone’s local orientation). For a simple rig, you want the arm bones to share a consistent roll so bending behaves predictably.

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1. In Edit Mode, select upper_arm and forearm (and optionally hand).
2. Use Armature menu → Bone Roll → Recalculate Roll.
3. Try a consistent method like Global +Z (or another axis that makes sense for your scene). The goal is consistency, not a specific axis.

Quick test: switch to Pose Mode and rotate the elbow (forearm) on a single axis; it should bend cleanly without unexpected twisting.

Animator-Facing Controls: Selecting, Posing, Resetting

Selecting Bones Like Controls

• In Pose Mode, click bones to select them. Use Shift to add/remove from selection.
• Use the Outliner to find bones by name if the viewport is crowded.
• Consider enabling bone groups/colors later; for now, naming clearly is your “UI.”

Pose Transforms (What Animators Actually Do)

Most character posing is rotation on joints, not translation. For this learning rig, rotate upper_arm, forearm, and hand in Pose Mode to create poses.

Resetting Poses (Essential for Iteration)

Resetting is how you return to a neutral pose quickly while experimenting.

• Clear rotation: Alt + R
• Clear location: Alt + G
• Clear scale: Alt + S

Use these on selected bones in Pose Mode. If you build IK controllers (next section), clearing location on the controller is often the fastest “return to default.”

Parenting a Simple Object to a Bone (Prop Attachment)

Sometimes you want a rigid object (like a simple hand block, a wrist cuff, or a tool) to follow a bone without deformation. That’s bone parenting.

Step-by-Step: Attach a Simple “Hand” Object

1. Create a small object to represent the hand (for example, a cube scaled down) and place it near the end of the arm.
2. Select the object first.
3. Shift-select the armature.
4. Switch to Pose Mode.
5. Select the hand bone.
6. Press Ctrl + P → Bone.

Now the object follows the hand bone’s motion. This is ideal for rigid props. (For a deforming character mesh you’d typically use Armature Deform, but this chapter focuses on simple animation-ready outcomes.)

Basic IK for a Two-Bone Chain (Simple Arm)

Inverse Kinematics (IK) lets you move an end controller (like a hand target) and have the arm bend automatically. For a basic arm, you typically want IK to control upper_arm and forearm, with the hand following.

Step 1 — Create an IK Controller Bone

1. Select the armature → go to Edit Mode.
2. Add a new bone (or duplicate a small one) near the hand but not connected to the chain. An easy approach: select hand, then duplicate it (Shift + D) and move it slightly away.
3. Name this new bone hand_IK.
4. With hand_IK selected, disable Deform (Bone Properties → uncheck Deform). This marks it as a control bone.
5. Ensure hand_IK is not connected to the arm chain (it can be parented for organization later, but keep it separate from the deform chain for clarity).

Step 2 — Add the IK Constraint

1. Switch to Pose Mode.
2. Select the bone that should receive the IK constraint: typically the last deform bone in the chain. For this setup, select hand (or forearm depending on your preference). A common beginner-friendly choice is to put IK on hand.
3. Go to Bone Constraints (chain icon) → Add Bone Constraint → Inverse Kinematics.
4. Set Target to your armature object.
5. Set Bone to hand_IK.
6. Set Chain Length to 2 so it affects forearm and upper_arm.

Test: select hand_IK and move it. The arm should follow and bend.

Step 3 — Control the Elbow Direction with a Pole Target (Optional but Recommended)

Without a pole target, the elbow may flip unpredictably. A Pole Target gives the solver a stable “elbow points this way” reference.

1. In Edit Mode, create another small non-deforming bone in front of the elbow area. Name it elbow_pole. Disable Deform.
2. In Pose Mode, select the bone with the IK constraint (e.g., hand).
3. In the IK constraint settings: set Pole Target to the armature and Pole Bone to elbow_pole.
4. Adjust Pole Angle (often ±90°) until the elbow points correctly.

Animator habit: keep the pole controller easy to grab and positioned so it won’t intersect the arm during common poses.

Keeping Rotations Predictable While Animating

Prefer Rotations on Joints, Locations on Controllers

• Rotate deform bones (upper_arm, forearm) for joint articulation when not using IK.
• Move the IK controller (hand_IK) to place the hand; let the solver handle joint rotations.

Rotation Mode: Avoid Surprise Flips

For stable animation curves, many animators prefer Quaternion (WXYZ) to reduce gimbal issues, while others prefer XYZ Euler for readability. The key is consistency per control.

1. In Pose Mode, select your control bone(s), especially hand_IK and any bones you’ll rotate often.
2. In Bone Properties → Transform, set Rotation Mode (e.g., Quaternion (WXYZ) for stability or XYZ Euler for clarity).

If you notice flipping during a wave, try switching the waving control to Quaternion and re-key the motion.

Guided Animation: Pose and Animate a Wave Using Controllers

You will animate primarily with the hand_IK controller (and optionally a small hand rotation) to create a readable wave.

Step 1 — Prepare a Neutral Pose

1. Go to Pose Mode.
2. Select all pose bones you’ve moved before and reset: Alt + G, Alt + R, Alt + S.
3. Pose the arm into a “wave ready” position: move hand_IK up and outward so the elbow bends naturally. If needed, adjust elbow_pole to aim the elbow.

Step 2 — Keyframe the Controllers

Keep it simple: key the controller’s location (and optionally rotation) at a few frames to create the wave beats.

1. Frame 1: select hand_IK (and elbow_pole if you plan to animate it). Insert keyframes for the transforms you want to animate. Common choice: Location for hand_IK. Use I → Location (or LocRot if rotating too).
2. Move to frame 10: move hand_IK slightly left (or up) to start the wave arc. Insert the same key type.
3. Frame 20: move hand_IK slightly right (opposite side). Insert key.
4. Frame 30: move hand_IK back left. Insert key.
5. Frame 40: return hand_IK to the starting position. Insert key.

Step 3 — Add a Little Wrist/Hand Rotation (Optional)

A wave often reads better with a small rotation at the end. If your hand bone is part of the IK chain, you can still rotate it in Pose Mode for a wrist twist.

1. At frame 10/20/30: select hand and rotate slightly back and forth (small angles). Insert I → Rotation.

Step 4 — Quick Troubleshooting Checklist

• Arm bends the wrong way: move elbow_pole to the other side of the arm, or adjust Pole Angle.
• Elbow flips mid-animation: add/animate a pole target, and avoid moving the IK controller through the shoulder line.
• Controller keys don’t seem to work: confirm you keyed the controller bone (hand_IK) in Pose Mode, not the armature object in Object Mode.
• Reset doesn’t return to expected pose: you may have keyed the “rest” pose; clear transforms and re-establish a neutral pose at frame 1.