Character rig creation

In this section we will create a custom rig for the character. I recommend you watch the Rigi-All tutorial first to familiarize yourself with how it works. The specific steps for the Tarkov characters will be detailed below. After writing this I realize it’s a bit much and a video would be better, so only consult this if you’re stuck.

File cleanup

• Take the previous file with animations and save it as another file.
• Delete all useless objects (empties and meshes other than the character)
• In the Outliner, open the armature, right click on Animation and select Clear animation data.
• Go into Pose mode. Press Alt + R and Alt + G to reset the pose.

Fixing broken bones

Sometimes the models are broken, and a few steps are required to fix them. In this example the head and its associated bones are positioned incorrectly. To fix this :

• Select the problematic mesh(es) and make sure its coordinates are (0,0,0). The mesh is now back where it should be.
• Select the armature and enter Edit mode and move the problematic bones where they should be. In this specific example :
  • The neck bone must be scaled downed.
  • The head bone must be moved and scaled down. On the other models this bone goes from the base of the ear to the base of the nose when viewed from the side, so this is what I did here.

Adjusting the bones with Rigi-All

We will now use Rigi-All to adjust the bone structure and create a Rigify rig. I recommend you follow the steps below in this specific order to avoid issues, as the Tarkov models don’t follow the typical bone structure you could find in other games.

Connecting the bones

• Open the Rigi-All panel in the 3D Viewport.

• Select the armature and click on Initialize rig.

• In Edit mode, delete the Root bone as well as any useless bone (for example, the Paper bones for the paper sheets the character can hold).

• In Edit mode, for each side of the body :

  • Change the parent of the Palm (hand) bone from the Forearm3 to the Forearm1 bone.
  • Change the parent of the Calf (knee) bone from the Thigh2 to the Thigh1 bone.

    Note

    We must do this because the Tarkov models have extra bones on each limb. Without changing the parenting, Rigify would not be able to build the arm and legs correctly.

• Enter Pose mode. In the Rigi-All panel, activate Pose mirror and Edit mode mirror.

• In the Rigi-All panel, open the Fix Symmetry Name menu. Enter " HumanL" and " HumanR" as the left and right symmetry keys, respectively. Don’t forget the space before the first letter. This will rename the bones to make them compatible with Blender’s symmetry systems.

• With the Auto-complete other side option enabled, select all of the finger bones from one hand and click on Make fingers, and validate the default option. The finger bones should have changed position.

• Select the neck bone and the head bone, then click on Make neck/head.

• Select the spine bones (from the Pelvis to Spine3 included) and click on Make Spine.

• Disable the Auto-complete other side option.

• Select the Collarbone.R bone and click on Make right Shoulder. Do the same for the left side. Do this step now to avoid forgetting it later.

• For each side of the body :

  • Select the UpperArm, the ForeArm1 and the Palm bones, then click on Make left Arm or Make right Arm depending on which side you are working on.
  • Select the Thigh1, the Calf, the Foot and the Toe bones, then click on Make left Leg or Make right Leg depending on which side you are working on. This will create a new Heel bone.

• In Edit mode, Move the newly created Heel bones to the rear of each foot.

• In Edit mode, connect the tail of the Collarbone (shoulder) bones to the head of the Upperarm bones. To do this precisely, use Armature > Snap > Cursor to selected on the head of the Upperarm, then Armature > Snap > Selection to cursor with the tail of the Collarbone.

The resulting rig should look like this :

Adjusting bone roll

In order for the Rigify rig to work correctly, we still need to adjust the bone roll so that they rotate in the correct direction. In general, you want the Local X axis of each bone to follow the natural rotation of the body. If symmetry is still enabled you only need to do this on one side of the body.

• In Pose mode, select all of the Spine bones from the Pelvis to the Head and click Set Roll to 0.

• Select the Toe, the Palm and the tips of the Finger bones, then click on Roll by -90° > -Z to make them point in the correct direction.

• In Edit mode, move the Toe so that it its tail is on the tip of the foot.

• Adjust the leg bone roll :

  • In Edit mode, select the leg chain from the Thigh1 to the Toe. Press Shift + N to open the Bone roll menu. Choose Local +X tangent.
  • Select the leg chain from the Thigh1 to the Foot, with the Foot as the active bone. Press Shift + N to open the Bone roll menu. Choose Active bone.

• Adjust the arm bone roll :

  • In Edit mode, select the arm chain from the Collarbone to the Palm. Press Shift + N to open the Bone roll menu. Choose Local +X tangent.
  • Select the leg chain from the Collarbone to the Forearm1, with the Forearm1 as the active bone. Press Shift + N to open the Bone roll menu. Choose Active bone.

• Adjust the finger bone roll :

  • In Edit mode, select all of the Digit (fingers) bones. Press Shift + N to open the Bone roll menu. Choose Local +X tangent.
  • Select the thumb chain from the Digit11 to the Digit13, with the Digit13 (tip of the thumb) as the active bone. Press Shift + N to open the Bone roll menu. Choose Active bone.

Creating the rig

Now we can complete the final steps and generate the Rigify rig.

• In Pose mode, select all the untouched bones. These include the extra limb bones, the Ribcage bone (that you could actually delete, because it’s not useful) and all of the clothing bones, as seen below with Therapist’s jacket :

• Click Make extras in the Rigi-All panel. Choose any shape, this can be changed later.

• In Object Mode, select the Armature and press Ctrl + A, then Apply all transforms (for some reason, if you don’t, the rig will be rotated).

• Click on Data > Rigify > Generate Rig to create the rig.

• Check if the mesh is set up correctly. For each mesh object :

  • Check if the Armature modifier points towards the newly created RIG object.
  • Select the mesh object. In the Rigi-All panel, click on Clean up > Add "DEF-" to Vertex Groups to make Rigify detect them.

• In Pose mode, check if the rig deforms correctly.

• Use the Bone > Viewport display menu and the Bone Widget add-on to adjust the bone position and shape. In the example below, I marked the extra limb bones as orange cubes. The jacket bones are blue spheres, the sleeve bone are green spheres. This makes the rig more readable and eaiser to use

• (Optional) In Object Mode, select all of the meshes (except the hat), then the armature and press Ctrl + P, then select

Posing and results

Now is the time to use the rig and make some great shitposts. To pose the face, select the head mesh and use Shape Keys in the Data > Shape Keys menu.