Rigging Chapter - Introduction #43382

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Daniel Houghton · 2015-01-22T20:23:32+01:00

Daniel Houghton commented

2015-01-22 20:23:32 +01:00

It looks like the Rigging chapter of the user manual needs a lot of work.
I'd be interested in tackling this.
I've gone ahead and begun a rewrite of the introduction. I'd like to go ahead and continue with this work, but before I do, I'd love a little feedback as to whether the tone feels right for the goals of this document.

Thanks!
Daniel

Diff file and images are attached:
daniel_houghton.diff

It looks like the Rigging chapter of the user manual needs a lot of work. I'd be interested in tackling this. I've gone ahead and begun a rewrite of the introduction. I'd like to go ahead and continue with this work, but before I do, I'd love a little feedback as to whether the tone feels right for the goals of this document. Thanks! Daniel Diff file and images are attached: [daniel_houghton.diff](https://archive.blender.org/developer/F138832/daniel_houghton.diff) ![rigging_introduction_animating_the_default_cube.png](https://archive.blender.org/developer/F138833/rigging_introduction_animating_the_default_cube.png) ![rigging_introduction_object_origin_bad.png](https://archive.blender.org/developer/F138834/rigging_introduction_object_origin_bad.png) ![rigging_introduction_empty_option.png](https://archive.blender.org/developer/F138837/rigging_introduction_empty_option.png) ![rigging_introduction_object_origin_good.png](https://archive.blender.org/developer/F138836/rigging_introduction_object_origin_good.png) ![rigging_introduction_armature_option.png](https://archive.blender.org/developer/F138835/rigging_introduction_armature_option.png)

Daniel Houghton commented

2015-01-22 20:23:32 +01:00

Changed status to: 'Open'

Daniel Houghton commented

2015-01-22 20:23:32 +01:00

Added subscriber: @DanielHoughton

Sergey Sharybin commented

2015-01-27 13:19:50 +01:00

Added subscriber: @Sergey

Sergey Sharybin commented

2015-01-27 13:20:15 +01:00

Added subscribers: @ideasman42, @GregZaal

Sergey Sharybin commented

2015-01-27 13:20:15 +01:00

Do you guys mind having a look? :)

Greg Zaal self-assigned this 2015-01-27 14:23:34 +01:00

Greg Zaal removed their assignment 2015-01-27 14:53:38 +01:00

Daniel Houghton was assigned by Greg Zaal

2015-01-27 14:53:38 +01:00

Greg Zaal commented

2015-01-27 14:53:38 +01:00

Hey Daniel - I can see you put a lot of effort into this!

This looks like a pretty great introduction, but I think it's a bit too personal and informal. Could you try to reword it more from a technical perspective?

For example, instead of "I want the door to rotate from its hinges, so I’m going to move the object origin to the edge." you could say "The door can be rotated from its hinges by moving the origin to the edge". Also avoid writing from a first-person perspective (e.g. "My rig...")

Some more info can be found in the style guide: http://blender.org/manual/about/writing_style_guide.html

Other than that, looks good to me. Just a note: We've recently decided to write this manual as a 'reference', rather than a user guide - this means less in-depth examples and step-by-step explanations. But it's good to briefly include that sort of info in the introductions of chapters (as you have here), so just mentioning that in future other pages you may write should be more like a technical explanation of what buttons do etc.

Hey Daniel - I can see you put a lot of effort into this! This looks like a pretty great introduction, but I think it's a bit too personal and informal. Could you try to reword it more from a technical perspective? For example, instead of "I want the door to rotate from its hinges, so I’m going to move the object origin to the edge." you could say "The door can be rotated from its hinges by moving the origin to the edge". Also avoid writing from a first-person perspective (e.g. "My rig...") Some more info can be found in the style guide: http://blender.org/manual/about/writing_style_guide.html Other than that, looks good to me. Just a note: We've recently decided to write this manual as a 'reference', rather than a user guide - this means less in-depth examples and step-by-step explanations. But it's good to briefly include that sort of info in the introductions of chapters (as you have here), so just mentioning that in future other pages you may write should be more like a technical explanation of what buttons do etc.

Daniel Houghton commented

2015-01-27 16:40:12 +01:00

Hi Greg,

Thanks for the feedback!

I agree with the points you make. It makes me think that if a reference manual is the goal, then perhaps the concept of "Rigging" is wrong as a chapter title. When I look through the chapter I see 22 sections dealing with Armatures, and then I see one little section called Constraints which secretly hides a huge amount of subsections on all the aspects of constraints.

This makes me think that rather than a chapter called "Rigging," the reference should have two chapters: "Armatures" which covers every button and panel and basic manipulation relating to armatures, and "Constraints" with its own similarly thorough coverage of constraints.

This will make the chapter on constraints easier to find in the table of contents. It will free it from the inaccurate suggestion that constraints only apply to armatures. It will give the chapter on Armatures a better title, a title that delivers what it promises to deliver: an overview of the basic vocabulary of Armatures. And it puts the more complicated craft of rigging where it belongs: in the domain of tutorials and in-depth case studies.

Does this make sense as a strategy?
If so, then the workflow on the chapters might look like this:

Get rid of the Rigging chapter and split the contents into two new chapters: Armatures and Constraints
Edit the Armatures chapter for clarity; fill in missing panel descriptions; update screen shots
Write an introduction that succinctly describes what is in the Armatures chapter.
Repeat 2-3 for the Constraints chapter.

Any feedback is welcome.
Thank you!
Daniel

Hi Greg, Thanks for the feedback! I agree with the points you make. It makes me think that if a reference manual is the goal, then perhaps the concept of "Rigging" is wrong as a chapter title. When I look through the chapter I see 22 sections dealing with Armatures, and then I see one little section called Constraints which secretly hides a huge amount of subsections on all the aspects of constraints. This makes me think that rather than a chapter called "Rigging," the reference should have two chapters: "Armatures" which covers every button and panel and basic manipulation relating to armatures, and "Constraints" with its own similarly thorough coverage of constraints. This will make the chapter on constraints easier to find in the table of contents. It will free it from the inaccurate suggestion that constraints only apply to armatures. It will give the chapter on Armatures a better title, a title that delivers what it promises to deliver: an overview of the basic vocabulary of Armatures. And it puts the more complicated craft of rigging where it belongs: in the domain of tutorials and in-depth case studies. Does this make sense as a strategy? If so, then the workflow on the chapters might look like this: 1) Get rid of the Rigging chapter and split the contents into two new chapters: Armatures and Constraints 2) Edit the Armatures chapter for clarity; fill in missing panel descriptions; update screen shots 3) Write an introduction that succinctly describes what is in the Armatures chapter. 4) Repeat 2-3 for the Constraints chapter. Any feedback is welcome. Thank you! Daniel

Daniel Houghton commented

2015-01-27 16:58:56 +01:00

Quick followup.

If it feels important to keep the Rigging chapter title, perhaps the following structure could make sense out of the topic:

Rigging
- Armatures
- Panels Overview
- Bones
- Edit Mode
- Skinning
- Armature Deform Modifier
- Vertex Groups
- Weight Painting
- Constraints
- Copy Location
- etc...
- etc...

However, they way that Armatures and Skinning go hand in hand suggests that Constraints are somehow tied to Armatures as well. So I still feel that the structure outlined in my comment above would be ideal. It would look like this.

xxxxx_Rigging_xxxxx

Armatures
- Panels Overview
- Bones
- Edit Mode
- Pose Mode
- Bone Constraints
- Link to chapter on Constraints
- specific quirks of Bone Constraints
- Armature Deform Modifier
- Vertex Groups
- Weight Painting

Constraints
- Copy Location
- Copy Rotation
- etc...

The only other change in this last outline is to get rid of the word "Skinning" because the word is never used in Blender itself. Rather it is called Parenting with the Armature Deform Modifier as far as I can tell.

Thanks again!
Daniel

Quick followup. If it feels important to keep the Rigging chapter title, perhaps the following structure could make sense out of the topic: Rigging - Armatures - Panels Overview - Bones - Edit Mode - Skinning - Armature Deform Modifier - Vertex Groups - Weight Painting - Constraints - Copy Location - etc... - etc... However, they way that Armatures and Skinning go hand in hand suggests that Constraints are somehow tied to Armatures as well. So I still feel that the structure outlined in my comment above would be ideal. It would look like this. xxxxx_Rigging_xxxxx Armatures - Panels Overview - Bones - Edit Mode - Pose Mode - Bone Constraints - Link to chapter on Constraints - specific quirks of Bone Constraints - Armature Deform Modifier - Vertex Groups - Weight Painting Constraints - Copy Location - Copy Rotation - etc... The only other change in this last outline is to get rid of the word "Skinning" because the word is never used in Blender itself. Rather it is called Parenting with the Armature Deform Modifier as far as I can tell. Thanks again! Daniel

Greg Zaal commented

2015-01-27 17:52:02 +01:00

That sounds great indeed! Agree with your last idea for Rigging to be the main chapter, and Armatures and Constraints as two sub-chapters inside Rigging.

Constraints actually used to be its own chapter, but we decided they are only ever used for rigging and hence put it inside there.

Vertex groups and weight painting play a big role in rigging with armatures, but they're also used for particle systems and many modifiers, so we can leave that inside modeling/meshes/vertex_groups.

That sounds great indeed! Agree with your last idea for **Rigging** to be the main chapter, and **Armature**s and **Constraints** as two sub-chapters inside **Rigging**. Constraints actually used to be its own chapter, but we decided they are only ever used for rigging and hence put it inside there. Vertex groups and weight painting play a big role in rigging with armatures, but they're also used for particle systems and many modifiers, so we can leave that inside `modeling/meshes/vertex_groups`.

Aaron Carlisle commented

2015-12-06 22:20:24 +01:00

Added subscriber: @Blendify

Aaron Carlisle commented

2015-12-06 22:20:24 +01:00

What is the status here? @DanielHoughton are you still interested in working on this? If so you may want to get commit access from @ideasman42

Aaron Carlisle commented

2015-12-06 22:23:53 +01:00

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Rigging Chapter - Introduction #43382