Placement of COG and Hips

Rigging
#1

Hi,

I understand the topic is a bit trivial but hopefully, you’ll hear me out.
Normally, I placed the COG and hips both at the roughly same position with a small offset to avoid skin mirror weights problems.

Here is also a few images I was thinking on possible placement of Hips/Cogs in relation to the thigh joint.

Just wondering if I’m doing it right or is there a better way of doing things? What placements do you prefer?

Thank you for looking at my problem.

#2

I think usually I end up putting the leg joint a bit lower than the hips. The hip joint, I usually put right around the middle of the mass of the pelvic area. It really depends on your character too.

One thing I often do - especially for cartoony characters - is add a “hip clavicle” with a little IK chain that lets the animators move and adjust the entire angle of the hips. It is not anatomically correct, but it lets you fix a lot of extreme poses.

image

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#3

Thanks for the response @clesage.
The “hip clavicle” is new to me. Thanks for pointing it out.

What I usually do just have direct control on the thigh_IK_joint. It does not control the angle of the thigh but only the position.

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