Ruth2 v4 Rigging

Sean Heavy has documented a process to add an armature/rig to the Ruth2v4 open source mesh avatar and to export components of the avatar for Second Life and OpenSim using the Onigiri Blender add-on. These notes are to provide some initial help while the process is being tested. The blog post will likely evolve as the process is tested and refined.

From the Ruth2 repository at https://github.com/RuthAndRoth/Ruth2 obtain ./Mesh/Ruth2_v4/Ruth2v4Dev.blend

Steps 1-14 is just a one time setup for rigging:

1. Open the Ruth2v4Dev.blend file.
2. Save it somewhere safe or a temporary location for testing.
3. Select the mesh object Ruth2v4; copy ∓ paste it.
4. Rename the pasted version to Ruth2v4_ForRigging, to avoid confusion.
5. Hide all but the object Ruth2v4_ForRigging, also to avoid confusion.
6. In the Onigiri menu->Rig Creation tab, click on “Enable additional choices”.
7. Click on “Add Female Default Devkit Rig” to create a rig for Ruth.
8. It helps if you select the new rig; go to the “Object Data Properties” tab (looks like a guy running); click on “Viewport Display”; check “In Front” to see the rig easier.
9. Select the object “Ruth2v4_ForRigging”.
10. Go to the “Skinning/Weights” tool in Onigiri.
11. With “Ruth2v4_ForRigging” selected, click on “Lock Mesh(s)”. This should put it’s name in that field.
12. Select the Onigiri rig.
13. With the Onigiri rig selected, click on “Lock Weight Sources”. This will parent the armature to the mesh.
14. Note that this newly rigged mesh will not work well in SL/OS. Some parts are not rigged correctly, but this does not matter since we won’t be using this rig in SL/OS.

Save this as a .blend file so it is available with these setup steps already completed.

These instructions are for rigging the actual mesh objects for use in SL/OS:

1. Go to the “Skinning/Weights” tool in Onigiri and keep the newly created mesh, “Ruth2v4_ForRigging”, and it’s rig visible.
2. Make visible the next mesh or meshes you want to rig for SL/OS (say Ruth2v4Business + Ruth2v4Hands).
3. Select it/them (e.g. Ruth2v4Business + Ruth2v4Hands).
4. With your yet to be rigged mesh object(s) selected (e.g. Ruth2v4Business + Ruth2v4Hands), click on “Lock Mesh(s)” in Onigiri. This should put its name or a number of meshes in that field.
5. Select the mesh “Ruth2v4_ForRigging” (not the rig, just the mesh) and click on “Lock Weight Sources”. This should put it’s name in that field, but not attach the rig yet (unlike before).
6. Click on “Parent Armature Only”
7. This will rig your mesh object (e.g. Ruth2v4Business + Ruth2v4Hands) for SL/OS.
8. Select this mesh object(s) (e.g. Ruth2v4Business + Ruth2v4Hands) and click on “Export Mesh For SL / Opensim” in the Onigiri “Mesh Export” tab.
9. Name the exported Collada file and save it. You should be able to import this DAE file into SL/OS.

Repeat these last 9 steps for all mesh objects you want to rig and import to SL/OS.

SL/OS Mesh Import Settings:

1. Model name should be set to something sensible.
2. You could set the level of Detail for “Lowest” to 0 and under Physics set that to Lowest.
3. Under Rigging, “Include skin weight” should be ticked (as it is by default).
4. “Include joint positions” does not need to be ticked (as it also is by default).
5. Then hit “Calculate weights & fee” and upload.
6. Attach the uploaded mesh to a suitable attachment point.
7. Texture it with Bakes (Head, Upper and Lower as appropriate) or suitable textures.
8. Optionally add the Ruth2v4 scripts from the Ruth2 GitHub repository or as available inworld to connect up with the Ruth2v4 HUD.