Animal Rigger ProQuestions
Short answers to the questions people ask first.
Before you start
Which Blender do I need?
Blender 5.1 or newer. Version 0.1 was tested on Blender 5.2.2 LTS on macOS.
Does it work on Windows and Linux?
It is expected to, since it is plain Python with nothing built for one system. It has not been tested there for 0.1.
Which animals can it rig?
Four-legged animals with paws (dog, wolf, fox, cat and the big cats) or a single hoof (horse, pony, donkey, mule, zebra). For another animal like these, pick the closest species.
Not in 0.1: two-legged animals, bears, cows, deer and pigs (split hooves), birds and elephants.
My animal is sitting or lying down. Can I rig it?
Not as it is. The mesh check refuses a sitting or lying animal, because the rig's rest pose must stand. Pose the mesh standing first, then rig it. See Prepare your mesh.
Do I need to clean up my mesh first?
Usually not. Press Check this mesh on Setup and it tells you what, if anything, needs fixing, with a button for most fixes.
Marking
How many joints do I click?
About twenty for the body: head and spine, the four legs, and the tail if you want it (two marks, plus up to four points for a tail that curves). The whole face adds about fifty more, and a hoofed animal adds five per hoof. With Both sides match on, you click one side and the other copies itself.
I clicked a joint in the wrong place.
Drag its dot to the right place, or press CtrlZ while marking to undo the last click. Every dot can be dragged at any time, even after the rig is built.
My animal has a curled tail.
Add Tail points. On Mark, open More joints, then press + beside Tail points in the Tail group, up to four times. Click the points along the tail from the base to the tip, and the tail's bones follow the curve. To pose it differently later, use Tail curl and Tail side curl on the tail control. See Mark.
The rig
Do my animators need the add-on?
No. The rig is plain Blender. Anyone can open the file and animate it without the add-on installed. Only marking, building and the sidebar tools need it.
Can I change the rig after I have animated it?
Yes. Move a mark or change a feature and rebuild. Your animation, your painted weights and your settings are kept. See Rebuild.
Some skin creases when the animal bends.
Fix it on Weights: play the test poses, find the crease, then Smooth or paint it. See Weight painting.
A part of the mesh does not move with the rig.
It may be a loose piece with no weights. On Weights, press Find problems: it selects the points no bone moves. If the part is a separate object, such as a collar, bind it with With selected parts on Generate.
The Problems list shows a code. What does it mean?
Every code is listed, with what to do, on the problems page. Must fix stops the build; Warning and Note do not.
Export
Which engines does it export for?
Unreal, Unity (as a Generic rig), and anything that reads glTF, such as Godot and the web. See Export.
Can I use Unity's Humanoid or Mixamo animations?
No. Humanoid and Mixamo are for two-legged people, and an animal does not fit them. Import into Unity as Generic. The Mixamo bone name option only changes the spelling of the names.
Why are there so few bones in the exported file?
The export carries only the bones that move the skin. The controls stay in Blender: an engine plays back the result, it does not need the controls that made it.
Buying and licence
Is it free?
Animal Rigger Pro is a paid add-on. The code is under the GPL-3.0-or-later licence, like Blender itself.