I'm a 3D animation student working on my first fully rigged character for a short film project. I've built the model and started the character rigging process in Blender, but I'm running into issues with the deformation of the shoulders and hips during poses—the mesh pinches and stretches unnaturally. I think my weight painting needs refinement, but I'm unsure of the most efficient way to smooth out these problem areas. For more experienced riggers, what is your workflow for clean deformations in these complex joint areas? Are there specific bone placement strategies or weight painting techniques you rely on? Also, how do you approach creating a user-friendly control rig for an animator that isn't overly cluttered but still offers the flexibility needed for expressive movement?
You're on the right track. Start with topology around joints: ensure 2–3 edge loops around the shoulders and hips to support bending. Then get a clean baseline with automatic weights (bone heat) and iterate by painting weights on key vertex groups (upper arm, forearm, thigh, calf, torso). Add a twist bone for the shoulder (clavicle/scapula) and for the hip to distribute rotation. This reduces pinching when you reach high angles.
Workflow steps you can follow: 1) build a small set of helper bones: clavicle and scapula for shoulders; hip twist for pelvis; 2) create IK/FK blend and an IK chain per limb; 3) parent controls to a clean rig; 4) test in a variety of poses; 5) create corrective shape keys for common poses; 6) iterate on weights until deformations look natural.
Weight painting tips: enable X Mirror; Normalize All Weights; lock certain bones; use a soft falloff brush; switch to Mask to paint only the affected vertex groups; check results at subdivision levels; use vertex groups to isolate problem areas; for shoulders, paint more weight on the deltoid area and scapula; for hips, ensure weights from torso to hip and leg connect smoothly.
Control rig approach: keep deform bones separate and use a compact set of intuitive controls: IK arms, IK legs, FK chain for regular posing; 2–3 main controllers for hips/pelvis; use pole targets; use drivers or custom properties to switch between IK/FK; consider starting from Rigify (Blender’s built-in auto-rig) or a lightweight, animator-friendly rig template and customize as needed.
If you’d like, share a screenshot or a screenshot of a pose that pinches and I’ll offer targeted tweaks for your mesh and bone layout.