--- title: What Is 3D Rigging? How Rigs Work and What a 3D Rigger Does description: "3D rigging explained: how bones, skin weights, FK/IK and facial rigs work, what changes for games, and what a 3D rigger does in a studio." image: https://cada-edu.com/hubfs/Artwork/characterDesign/cecilieK_gameCharacter_elf_pose05.jpg --- [Go Back Up](https://cada-edu.com/guides/rigging#top) [Skip to Content](https://cada-edu.com/guides/rigging#body) [![Copenhagen Academy of Digital Arts](https://cada-edu.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Logo_CADA_White_AlphaHD.png?width=200&height=60&name=Logo_CADA_White_AlphaHD.png "Copenhagen Academy of Digital Arts")](https://cada-edu.com/) Toggle Menu - [Educations](https://cada-edu.com/educations) Toggle children for Educations Main Menu (Press to Return) \> Educations - [Certificate in 3D for Games](https://cada-edu.com/certificate-in-3d-for-games) - [Diploma / BA (Hons) Degree](https://cada-edu.com/3d-digital-artist) - [Courses](https://cada-edu.com/courses) Toggle children for Courses Main Menu (Press to Return) \> Courses - [Free 3D Bootcamp](https://cada-edu.com/3dbootcamp) - [3D Animation Essentials](https://cada-edu.com/3d-animation-essentials) - [3D Portfolio Essentials](https://cada-edu.com/3d-portfolio-essentials) - [Sculpting in ZBrush](https://cada-edu.com/sculpting-in-zbrush-course) - [Unreal Engine for Filmmaking](https://cada-edu.com/unreal-engine-filmmaking-virtual-production) - [Continuing Education](https://cada-edu.com/continuing-education) - [Contact Us](https://cada-edu.com/contact) - Resources Toggle children for Resources Main Menu (Press to Return) \> Resources - [News](https://cada-edu.com/news) - [Guides](https://cada-edu.com/guides) - [Book Meeting](https://meetings-eu1.hubspot.com/adam-mayes) - - [English](https://cada-edu.com/guides/rigging) - [Danish](https://cada-edu.com/da/guides/rigging) # What Is 3D Rigging? How Rigs Work and What a 3D Rigger Does [mailto:?subject=What%20Is%203D%20Rigging%3F%20How%20Rigs%20Work%20and%20What%20a%203D%20Rigger%20Does&body=https%3A%2F%2Fcada-edu.com%2Fguides%2Frigging](mailto:?subject=What%20Is%203D%20Rigging%3F%20How%20Rigs%20Work%20and%20What%20a%203D%20Rigger%20Does&body=https%3A%2F%2Fcada-edu.com%2Fguides%2Frigging) ## What Is 3D Rigging? 3D rigging is the process of creating a digital skeleton and controls for a 3D model, which animators then use to create motion. Without a rig, a character model cannot bend or deform, so it cannot walk, fight or talk in a game. Rigs are not only for characters. Vehicles, weapons, doors and mechanical parts are rigged too, usually with simpler hierarchies of bones or pivots. That framework of bones and joints is what lets animators control how a character moves, bends and interacts with its environment. The person who builds that framework is called a rigger, and in game studios the work often sits with technical artists. If you are completely new to 3D, [the free Blender 3D Bootcamp](https://cada-edu.com/3dbootcamp) gets you started: you learn your way around Blender, model a small scene, give it colours and materials, render it, and walk through it in Unreal Engine. **Table of contents:** - [Rigging process](https://cada-edu.com/guides/rigging#rigging-process) - [FK and IK](https://cada-edu.com/guides/rigging#animating-with-rig) - [Facial rigging](https://cada-edu.com/guides/rigging#character-rigging) - [Rigging for games](https://cada-edu.com/guides/rigging#rigging-for-games) - [What a 3D rigger does](https://cada-edu.com/guides/rigging#3d-rigger) - [Learning 3D rigging](https://cada-edu.com/guides/rigging#learning-rigging) ![Rigged 3D elf game character in a pose](https://cada-edu.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Artwork/characterDesign/cecilieK_gameCharacter_elf_pose05.jpg?width=663&height=373&name=cecilieK_gameCharacter_elf_pose05.jpg) ## The Rigging Process: From Model to Motion Rigging a 3D model starts with the skeleton. A rigger uses rigging software, such as Autodesk Maya or Blender, to add a skeleton made of bones and joints to the model. These bones define the structure and movement points for the character, from limbs to facial features. Each bone is responsible for moving part of the 3D model, simulating the way a real skeleton controls motion. Bones are linked in a hierarchy: rotate the upper arm and the forearm and hand follow, because they are its children. Once the skeleton is in place, the next step is skinning: attaching the mesh to the bones. Weight painting then decides how much influence each bone has over the surrounding geometry. Weights that blend smoothly across a joint reduce collapsing shoulders and pinching elbows; riggers fix what is left with extra twist and corrective joints or corrective blend shapes. The shoulders, hips, wrists and neck are where most deformation problems show up. Constraints make one object follow another: a hand that stays on a weapon, eyes that aim at a target, a knee that points at its pole control. Riggers also set rotation limits so joints cannot bend the wrong way. On top of the skeleton, the rigger adds controls: simple shapes around the character that animators grab instead of selecting bones directly. The combination of bones, weights, constraints and controls is what turns a model into something an animator can work with quickly. ![Rigged 3D elf game character posed for animation](https://cada-edu.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Artwork/characterDesign/cecilieK_gameCharacter_elf_pose02.jpg?width=663&height=373&name=cecilieK_gameCharacter_elf_pose02.jpg) ## FK and IK: How Animators Use a Rig Two techniques sit at the centre of rigging in animation: forward kinematics (FK) and inverse kinematics (IK), which give different kinds of control. In forward kinematics, the animator rotates each bone in the chain to generate movement. For example, when animating a waving arm, the animator adjusts the shoulder, elbow and wrist joints in sequence. This method offers precise control over each individual movement and suits loose, swinging motion. It can be slow for more complex actions, as every bone needs to be adjusted separately. Inverse kinematics works the other way round. The animator moves the end of a limb, such as a hand or foot, and the software calculates the positions of the joints above it. This makes IK particularly useful for actions like walking, where a foot must stay planted on the ground while the body moves over it. Move the foot control, and the knee and hip follow. A pole vector control in front of the knee or behind the elbow sets which way the joint points. A good rig offers both, with a switch between FK and IK on the arms and legs, so the animator can choose the right tool for each shot. Throughout production, animators and riggers work closely together. Animators report where a rig is slow, breaks or limits a pose, and the rigger fixes it. The quality of a character's performance depends a great deal on how flexible and reliable the rig is. ![Rigged 3D game character in a pose](https://cada-edu.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Artwork/characterDesign/hopeAldred_gameCharacter_Khonshu_pose02.png?width=663&height=373&name=hopeAldred_gameCharacter_Khonshu_pose02.png) ## Facial Rigging In character work, rigging enables not only body movement but also facial expressions. Facial rigging lets animators control emotion, lip sync and small movements like eyebrow raises, smirks or frowns, which carry a character's personality. Facial rigs usually use bones, blend shapes, or a mix of both. A blend shape is a sculpted copy of the face in a new expression, such as a smile or a blink, that the face can blend towards. Unreal Engine calls them morph targets, and Blender calls them shape keys. Bones are usually cheaper to run and easy to share between characters; blend shapes give the sculptor exact control over the shape of each expression. To rig a face well, you need to understand the anatomy of the face and the emotional range the character has to show. A well-rigged face can smile, grimace or cry convincingly. That matters in games with dialogue and cinematics, where players watch faces up close. ![Rigged 3D game character posed for animation](https://cada-edu.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Artwork/characterDesign/mathiasLV_gameCharacter_Barry_pose_02.png?width=663&height=373&name=mathiasLV_gameCharacter_Barry_pose_02.png) ## Rigging for Games: What Changes A rig for a game has to do everything a film rig does for the animator, and then run in real time alongside the rest of the game. That adds some rules. - **Bone budgets.** Every bone costs performance. Main characters can afford detailed hands and faces; background characters get far fewer bones. - **Influence limits.** Engines and target platforms limit how many bones can move a single vertex. Keep weights clean and within the limit your project sets. - **A lean export skeleton.** The skeleton you send to the engine should be mostly deforming bones, plus the few the game needs: the root, attach bones for weapons and props, and IK target bones. Animation controls and helpers stay in the control rig, in Maya or Blender, or in the engine itself with Unreal Engine's Control Rig. Many game rigs are built as two layers: a simple export skeleton, and a control rig on top that drives it. - **One root bone.** The whole skeleton hangs from a single root bone, usually on the floor between the feet. Gameplay often uses it to move the character through the level. - **Shared skeletons.** Studios often give many characters the same skeleton, or one that can be retargeted, so a single library of animations works across them. Changing bone names or the hierarchy late in a project breaks that. Our guide to [rigging a character in Blender for games](https://cada-edu.com/guides/rigging-in-blender-how-to-rig-a-character-for-games) walks through building a game rig in Blender, from the first bone to exporting it to Unreal Engine. ## What Does a 3D Rigger Do? A 3D rigger builds and maintains the rigs that animators use. In a game studio, a typical week might include: - building a new character rig from a finished model, including skinning and controls; - fixing deformation problems an animator has found, such as a collapsing shoulder or a knee that pops; - setting up a facial rig and the expressions needed for dialogue; - making sure rigs export cleanly and behave the same in the engine as in Maya or Blender; - writing small Python tools that build parts of a rig automatically, so every character is set up the same way. Job titles vary. You will see rigger, rigging artist, character technical director (TD), technical animator and technical artist used for overlapping roles. In smaller studios, one technical artist may cover rigging alongside shaders and tools. Our guide to [what a technical artist does](https://cada-edu.com/guides/what-is-a-technical-artist-role-skills-and-how-to-become-one) explains the wider role. ### Skills a rigger needs - **Anatomy.** You need to know how joints rotate and how muscle and skin move over them, for humans, animals and creatures. - **Animation sense.** The best riggers know how animators work and what slows them down. Animating with your own rigs is the quickest way to learn this. - **Software.** Maya is common for rigging in game studios. Blender is widely used and a good place to learn. You also need to know how a game engine imports and plays a skeletal mesh. - **Scripting.** Python lets you automate repetitive setup work. Many studio riggers build their own auto-rigging tools. - **Problem solving.** Much of the job is finding out why something deforms badly and fixing it without breaking the animation that already uses the rig. ### What studios look for A rigging portfolio should show rigs in motion, not still renders. Include a short video of each rig being posed through extreme ranges, with the controls visible, and a breakdown of how it was built. Show the deformation at the shoulders, hips and face up close. A simple rig that deforms cleanly and is easy to animate is worth more than a complex rig that breaks. ## Learning 3D Rigging If you want to learn **3D rigging**, build up in this order: 1. **Learn the basics of 3D first.** You need to be comfortable with modelling and topology, because a mesh without enough edge loops at the joints cannot deform well, however good the rig is. 2. **Rig simple objects.** Start with props or mechanical parts, such as a desk lamp or a robot arm. They teach hierarchies, pivots and constraints without the problem of skin weights. 3. **Rig a simple character.** Build the skeleton, skin it, paint weights and add IK legs and FK arms. Pose it hard and fix what breaks. 4. **Animate with your own rig.** A short walk cycle will show you very quickly what an animator needs from a rig. 5. **Get it into a game engine.** Export the character, import an animation and check how it looks in a real game camera. 6. **Add scripting.** Once you have built a few rigs by hand, start automating the steps you repeat with Python. A common beginner mistake is to start with an auto-rigger and skip building rigs by hand. Auto-riggers, such as Rigify in Blender, save time in production, but if you do not understand what they build, you cannot fix them when they go wrong. Another is spending weeks on facial rigging before the body deforms well. Get the body right first. ## Learn Rigging for Games with CADA If you are new to 3D, start with CADA's free [Blender 3D Bootcamp](https://cada-edu.com/3dbootcamp). It is six live, one-hour online sessions over three weeks, starting in Blender and finishing in Unreal Engine, and you need no experience to join. When you are ready to commit, the [Certificate in 3D for Games](https://cada-edu.com/certificate-in-3d-for-games) is a 60-week online programme. You try 3D Art, Tech Art, Animation and Procedural before choosing your specialisation. The Tech Art specialisation covers rigging, facial rigging and skinning in Maya, then Python scripting. Each term you work in a team on a game project, from a walkable story environment to a playable level and a vertical slice. ## CADA ## Ready to Transform your Business with Little Effort Using Brightlane? 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From creating digital skeletons to optimizing rigs for animation, this guide will help you master the art of rigging for 3D models.", "headline" : "The Complete Guide to 3D Rigging", "image" : "https://cada-edu.com/images/3d-rigging-guide.jpg", "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://cada-edu.com/guides/rigging", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://cada-edu.com/images/cada-logo.jpg" }, "name" : "COPENHAGEN ACADEMY OF DIGITAL ARTS" } } ```