🔹 Steps to Finish a Head & Neck Rig<br />1. Build the Bone Chain<br /><br />Add Neck bones (1–3, depending on realism).<br /><br />Add Head bone (parented to top neck bone).<br /><br />Add a Jaw bone if you plan on facial animation.<br /><br />2. Add Controls (Control Bones)<br /><br />Create a Head Control bone (often a circle or custom shape) placed around the head.<br /><br />Create a Neck Control bone if you want independent chest-to-neck motion.<br /><br />Parent/Constraint the Head bone to the Head Control.<br /><br />3. Set Constraints<br /><br />Use Copy Rotation or Child Of constraints so:<br /><br />The head bone follows the control bone.<br /><br />Neck bends naturally when the control moves.<br /><br />Optionally add Limit Rotation so the head can’t twist unnaturally.<br /><br />4. Weight Painting<br /><br />Make sure the head vertices are assigned to the Head bone’s vertex group.<br /><br />Neck vertices → Neck bones.<br /><br />Smooth the weights so deformation looks natural when bending.<br /><br />5. Optional: Advanced Features<br /><br />Look At Controller → Add a target object or bone so the head always looks at it.<br /><br />IK/FK Switch → Some rigs use IK for head aiming, FK for manual posing.<br /><br />Custom Properties + Drivers → For toggling options (like “Head Follow” ON/OFF).<br /><br />6. Testing<br /><br />Switch to Pose Mode → move the Head Control.<br /><br />Check if the neck bends smoothly and the head follows naturally.<br /><br />Fix weight painting if the mesh deforms badly.<br /><br />🔹 End Result<br /><br />Animator sees only the Control Bones (nice shapes like circles/arrows).<br /><br />Deform Bones stay hidden in another bone layer.<br /><br />The head can tilt, nod, rotate, and follow targets smoothly.<br /><br />✅ In short:<br />Finishing a Head and Neck rig means adding control bones, constraints, weight painting, and optional features so that the animator can move the head/neck easily without touching deform bones directly.
