Rig UI ​

Every CloudRig rig comes with a sidebar panel chock full of functionality which is available even when CloudRig isn't intsalled. This is made possible by a Text datablock called cloudrig.py which is a chunky piece of code stored in the .blend file, and attached to the rig object.

  • Blender may ask for permission to execute the script.
  • The script will not execute automatically when the rig is linked or appended. The file has to be saved and reloaded.

This page describes the features included in the CloudRig panel. The UI is drawn dynamically based on what components are in the rig, so your UI may look different from the screenshots.

Settings ​

This panel contains a couple of operators, and houses built-in CloudRig features like IK/FK switching and snapping. It can also contain arbitrary properties and operators as defined by the rigger using the "UI Edit Mode" functionality, see below.

Keyframe All Settings ​

Inserts a keyframe on the current frame for all (except bone collection) properties drawn anywhere in the Settings panel and all of its subpanels.

Reset Armature ​

Powerful reset operator with a pop-up to specify what you want to reset:
  • Unassign Action: Only appears if the armature has an Action assigned.
  • Unhide Bones: Only appears if any bones are hidden. Unhides them all.
  • Viewport Display: If enabled, resets the rig object's "Show Names", "Show Axes", and "In Front" options.
  • Selected Only: Only appears if any bones are selected. If enabled, only selected bones will be affected by subsequent settings.
  • Transforms: If enabled, resets Location/Rotatoin/Scale of bones.
  • Custom Properties: If enabled, resets custom properties of bones to their default values.

UI Edit Mode ​

This option is aimed at riggers; It is only available on Metarigs, and only with CloudRig installed. It allows the rigger to create their own interface for custom properties, or in fact any properties, nested into panels, labels, and rows. To learn how to use this feature, see the Properties UI page.

IK/FK Switch ​

If your rig containts any IK/FK components, their IK/FK switch properties will appear here.
While you can simply use the slider to switch between FK and IK control schemes, this will not automatically preserve the existing pose.
Next to each slider (that supports it), is a Snap & Bake operator. This lets you snap the bones of the IK controls to the FK controls or vice versa. This will always insert a keyframe on all transforms of the affected bones, as well as the slider.
You can also do this over a frame range by enabling the Bake option.

IK ​

May contain various IK related properties. They will come with the same Snap & Bake operator as described above, when possible. Common ones are:

  • Spine Squash: Squashing factor of the Cartoon Spine rig.
  • IK Stretch: Whether limbs are allowed to stretch while in IK mode.
  • IK Pole Follow: Whether the IK poles should be parented to the IK master controls.
  • Parent Switching: Select the parent of the IK master controls.

FK ​

Mostly houses the FK Hinge sliders, which when enabled cause an FK chain to not inherit rotation from its parent.

Hotkeys ​

When CloudRig is not installed, this panel will show a limited set of hotkeys available for animators. If CloudRig is installed, this will show the same hotkey list as in the CloudRig add-on preferences.

Bone Collections ​

This shows a slightly tweaked version of Blender's built-in Bone Collections list. For the extra capabilities, see Organizing Bones.

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