[Thomas]

Third part: Bones creations

Here we go for one of the longest part of this tutorial! Before starting the creation of each bone, it is important to consider how your bones network will be build for your character. A structure with a Hierarchy will be created with parents and children and an error at the beginning will corrupt your entire model at the end. Keep in mind that this step is not easy, even for users who have good 3D skills. If you are not agreeing with your hierarchy and position, do it again, until you are pleased with it. First of all, the first thing to take in consideration is the parent for all of the hierarchy, which will move all the other bones connected when it will be moved, like a tree trunk which bring all the branches and leaves. In most cases, this bone is on a par with the umbilicus and is called "Pelvis". From this bones will start the legs, the spine, the head and arms. On the screen capture below, the arrows show you the direction of creation of each part of the bones hierarchy and in the red circles, the pelvis.

First, switch to an orthogonal view (front or left by example). Start by the pelvis and continue with the leg : pick the bone tool and click on the middle of the pelvis (1) to create the beginning of the bone, and click a second time, around the groin. If the size of the bone is too important, you can change it display size in the property panel, effect tab. Without quitting the tool, continue clicking to add your bones: third click for the knee, fourth for the ankle. Switch to a side view if you were in front view (or vice versa) and add the bones for the foot (2) Please, consider that the future rotation of your characters members will be around the bone starting position (these kinds of spheres). Then, with the move tool, move the bones to put them in a good position (3). Don't create the other leg, it will done later.

Second part, the spine: pick the pelvis bone, the Bone tool and add the new bones. We don't need to create the same number of bones as in our spines vertebra! Two bones are enough, but take care of their position. One on the waist (1), the other at the basis of the clavicle (2). The two reds lines show the axis of rotation for the new bones.

Let's continue with the shoulders, the technique is now always the same. Take care of the position of the shoulder bone, because it will impact on the future deformation when you will rotate it down or up (1). And finish by the hand (2). Seeing that the hands are like simplified gloves, don't create too many bones.

For the neck, take care of the basis (1) and the internal bones (2), to create more natural movements later.

A little tip to know: it is really necessary, sometimes, to add extra bones which help you later control your skinning and or potential deformations on your character, or more often, on animals. For the character, you can add two bones, on for each breast.

Now, we have half of the body, but before doing the opposite part, add some constraint to the bones.