Bones, bones, and more bones
Rig & pose
A skeleton lets you pose a model like a jointed figure. Start from the humanoid or quadruped rig, or build your own bone by bone. Geometry attaches to bones with automatic binding. Drag a bone to rotate it (forward kinematics), or drag a tail handle to pull a chain toward a point (inverse kinematics). You can save poses by name and apply them again later.
Use it for characters, creatures, toys, or anything with joints that you want to see in a few positions without re-modeling it each time.
How to use it
Add a skeleton
Add a skeleton from the shape palette: Skeleton (humanoid), Skeleton (quadruped), or Skeleton (single bone) for a custom rig.
Enter build mode
Select the skeleton and click Build in the skeleton tool palette (left sidebar), or run .
Shape the bones
Drag a bone body to move it, or its tail to aim and resize it. To add a child bone, click Extrude (or press E) and drag a tail. Delete bones with Subtree or Reparent.
Bind geometry
In the Properties panel's Skeleton section, set a Radius factor and click Preview to see which bones match which parts. Uncheck any you don't want, then click Apply. Or just click Auto-bind.
Enter posing
Click Pose in the tool palette, run , or press P.
Pose in the viewport
Drag a bone body to rotate it (FK), or drag a green tail handle for IK. You can also turn on the Rotate gizmo (key 3).
Mirror or reset
Mirror copies the pose left↔right. Reset returns to the rest pose.
Save a pose
In the Properties Poses list, type a name and click Save. Click Apply to use it again, or the trash button to remove it.
Switch modes or exit
Switch between Pose and Build with the mode buttons or Tab. When you're done, run or press Escape.
Tips
- Turn on X-ray in the tool palette to see bones through the geometry.
- Set per-bone Joint limits (swing cone half-angle, twist min and max) and an IK pole angle in the bone editor to keep poses believable.
- Height (mm) rebuilds a humanoid or quadruped rig to size. It resets pose and bindings, and it's disabled for custom rigs.
- Editing bones in build mode marks the rig as custom, so after that you edit bones directly instead of using the height rebuild.
- No geometry yet? Generate body (SDF) in the Skeleton section grows tapered capsules along the bones.
- Skeletons are an Enhanced feature.